LinuxWorld 2004 In Review

Google

Off in a corner, I saw the friendly colors of the Google logo. Now there's a company that has it together. I walked up and heard the end of a conversation,

"So, what are you here for?"
"Oh. Google is hiring. We thought we'd find some good people here." They looked at me awkwardly. I looked back and felt equally as awkward.
"What I want to know, is how Google does it? I mean, I use Google for everything!" someone from behind me gushed.
"Pigeons, of course!" I replied, without thinking.

A few years back, Google had posted a humorous explanation of their patented 'Pigeon Rank' technology . Before I had a chance to think, my brain wired directly to my mouth, and I started talking.

"The droppings are converted into all those little white pixels" It was too late to stop now, so I finished delivering Google's self-parody.

Instead of chuckling, the Google representatives glared at me. I don't think they knew what I was talking about. I moved on.

OpenACS

Back in the other corner, well-obscured, was the Free Software Foundation, the creators of the GPL license and the originators of the ideas that birthed Open Source. I donated some money and walked back to the OpenACS booth to see what Patrick was doing. He was talking to a much taller, equally-pudgy guy in khakis and a baby blue button down shirt.

"Hi, I'm Malte Sussdorff , and you are Nathan?"
His high-pitched, good-natured voice matched his round smile and unassuming, neatly-combed blond hair. I asked him about OpenACS, a toolkit for Web communities. Most sites that use OpenACS, Matle explained, don't need to develop any code. The ACS system comes with many modules out of the box that perform most Website tasks.

OpenACS seemed like just a nicely-integrated content management system. Nothing earthshattering. Then Malte showed me DotLRN, an open source application written with OpenACS. Simple on the outside, DotLRN can manage an entire university's internal Website needs, from signing up for classes to collaborating with professors and other students. Each student can organize a personal portal with appointments, class times, and club meetings easily at hand. Teachers and students can use DotLRN to create screen presentations, share bookmark lists, create photo galleries, chat online, keep track of class discussion, distribute news and assignments to class members, collect uploaded assignments, and even distribute grades. Revision history is tracked on nearly everything. DotLRN was funded by a number of top universities, including MIT, Cambridge, Heidleberg University, and the University of Sydney, who didn't want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a solution they couldn't control. So they created DotLRN and placed it under an Open Source license so each university could customize it to their individual needs.

Mambo

Next to OpenACS was Mambo, a traditional PHP/MySQL content management solution. The Mambo booth was packed with twentysomething, chic, New York Web designers sporting trendy semi-dyed hair that was styled oh-so-carefully. These kids were too sexy even for Starbucks. There was even a girl, but she stayed behind the other designers and didn't field many questions.
"Classic booth babe," Patrick later remarked.

Mambo's crowning feature was a javascript dropdown menu for administrative actions.
"Will it work on Konqueror or Apple's Safari?" I asked the rep.
"Not completely," he replied, moving deftly to the next question. His form-fitting sweater assumed different poses as he talked. I didn't ask him about CSS menus.

While a nifty tool, Mambo seemed to be too modular. Each feature in the software fits nicely into a layout box, but they don't interact with each other very much. Maybe I'm being too hard. Most content management solutions are like that, but I had just seen some very tightly integrated software at the OpenACS booth, and I was hungry for more.
"Does it support version tracking on documents?"
"Well, we have our own version tracking, but if you'd like to advance on it, you can."

He started talking to the people behind me, and I moved on. In the next row of booths, a large throng crowded around a users group showing off a home-built, Linux-based Dance Dance Revolution console.

Around the corner, I came upon friendly territory, the New York PHP Users Group. Here, a diverse group of elderly, middle-aged, and teenage programmers swapped battle scars and coding tips. I talked to designers, I talked to programmers, I talked to a Web host owner.

"Hey, you ought to check out our mailing list."
"Yeah?"
"It's pretty active. We have nearly a thousand people on the list. Here's the address: nyphp.org"
"I'll take a look."
"Also, we have a lot of speakers come to our meetings. Every time there's a meeting, we upload it to our Website in MP3 format. We would welcome anyone to join in, even if you're not from New York."
"Thanks."

Opposite the NYPHP booth burst lively chatter from an amplifier. It looked like a radio show was interviewing open source programmers. I didn't stop; I had one last area to check out before I returned to help Patrick.

MySQL

Finding the MySQL booth was easy. I just followed the halo. Underneath a massive canvas disc circled by dolphins and the company name, the MySQL area looked like a futuristic gameshow. A curved wall on one corner proudly displayed marketing information, and wide, decorative podiums grew from the plush carpet as if connected to the corner by invisible spokes.

The podiums sported large LCD screens; there was one for each of MySQL's strategic partners. I listened to one company's representative talk about database clustering solutions, high availability and single points of failure. After that, I skipped the others and went right to the main MySQL podium.

"The next point release of MySQL, due in a few weeks, will offer a number of improvements, including SubQueries and Stored Procedures. There are also going to be a number of improvements to Referential Integrity within the database. MySQL Version 5, which is due in the summer, will allow in-memory databases..."

"Nice" I said.
He hardly paused. He was on a roll.
"...as well as synced databases for high availability. It will also support advanced replication features and database clustering."
"Well, that will definitely make a lot of people happy. Anything else I should expect from you guys soon?"

He directed me to a podium at the opposite corner. "Talk to one of the guys over there about the new GUI tools we're developing."

As I walked over, I heard him tell another attendee, "No, we're not really trying to compete with high end databases like Oracle. They have their niche, we have ours."
I chuckled. Replication and clustering comes out this summer, and they're not trying to compete with the big boys. Yeah right.

"They told me to ask you about some new GUI tools" I asked the crisply-dressed salesman at the podium. He handed me his card, plugged his laptop into the large LCD and fumbled around for a bit. It wouldn't boot.
"Sorry about that. That's why we always have a backup, eh?"
The salesman touched the latch on one of the props and pulled out an Apple PowerBook. He closed the prop. Clever, I thought.
But he couldn't seem to get the LCD to work properly.
"Do you mind if I give you a hand?" I asked and quickly helped him set up the display.
"Thanks, I don't use a Mac too often." After all, it was LinuxWorld.

The salesman launched Windows on the Mac through VMWare, started the new MySQL Administrator software, and launched into his pitch.

"No more configuration files, if you don't want to use them. Everything you can configure in MySQL is configurable here, from users and privileges and backups to diagnostics and statistics." I was impressed.

"The alpha for this tool should come out in early February. It's programmed natively in both Linux and Windows, though an OS X version will follow. In fact, this is just the first of several tools."

Behind me, ten to fifteen people pressed close to hear the news. It was Friday, he had spent two days refining his talk, and he had an attentive audience. He was in the zone.

"MySQL is under contract to produce a SQL query builder and an MS Access-like graphical database layout designer by the summer. They even hired four new programmers just to work on GUI tools."

The best thing about it? Every GUI tool will be released under the GPL and will be absolutely free. He finished his pitch and turned away from me to speak to those behind me. I stood there a while, but he was focused on the crowd. The pitch was beginning again, so I left.

I looked at the title on the card: GUI Programmer. Where do they get these guys?

Meeting Maddog

On my way back to the OpenACS booth, I noticed a large man with a dark blue sweatshirt, his frizzled grey hair fleeing his head in all directions, topped by a huge floppy hat. It was John Maddog Hall, one of the Sacred Kernel Developers.

I stopped to talk to him. More grandfather than geek, Maddog was the most personable soul I met all day.

"Hey, here's my card. I have family near you. Send me an email and I'll come talk to your Linux Users Group."
"Really?"
"Sure. I'm looking forward to your email. Seeya later."

I rushed to tell Patrick. As I explained, Malte heard me say something about MySQL's new features and excused himself to see if MySQL will support features needed by OpenACS.
"I hope I didn't offend him" Patrick said.
"Eh?"
"I'm on the Atkins diet, right? Well, I have a tin of Vienna sausages I got at discount. I'm supposed to eat mostly protein for this diet."
"And?"
"Well, I offered some of them to Malte. I thought he might be hungry. But he declined."
"Maybe he wasn't hungry?"
"Well, he's not from Vienna. He's from Hamburg."

Now it was my turn to give out a pitch as I helped staff the OpenACS booth. I mumbled out references about Vertical Enterprise Solutions to business owners and told the IT staff of Rutgers University about Web application toolkits in Diverse Software Ecosystems. When I needed to know something, I nudged Patrick, who was handing out business cards like candy, drumming up business for his Web hosting company.

Then I noticed grinning techies heft bags of loot onto their shoulders (Oracle was giving away beanbag chairs) their bodies pulsing in the flashing lights of a forklift. I looked at my PDA for the time. The conference was over. As I zipped my backpack closed, Javits Center employees pulled up squares of carpet and stacked them onto rolling carts.

One by one, the glowing, blinking lights on the rackmounted servers went out. Without this crazy LED disco show, the conference floor looked drab. The last few exhibitors trundled their suitcases toward the large glass facade, and I snapped a few last photos. Patrick and I walked back into the biting wind toward the Copacabana's. LinuxWorld was over.

We watched the attendant extract Patrick's car from its place in the hydraulic rack. It was going to be a long drive home.