This was my first FOSDEM without a predefined tight agenda, so I could enjoy more than ever the event. I had a lot of fun and could talk to many people with no stress.
I attended to several talks. I must say that I didn’t like many of them. I’ll mention the best ones, for different reasons:
- Wayland
- MER
- Qt5
- LibrePlan
- OpenAdvice
- OpenMoko Freerunner
- Why the community should welcome Average Jane and Joe
Obviously I didn’t attend to most of the talks. There were more than 400 in one and a half day.
I spent most of the late Saturday and Sunday around KDE stand. Many KDE members where there and I could talk to most of them. I would like to mention Jonathan Riddell’s work, specially in these hard times for him, Jonathan, you rock!
It was very cold in Brussels. We reached -14ºC the first night. Simply too much for a Canary Island guy. The beer was warmer than the weather. That was weird. Thanks to the Kolab guys, Paul and Georg, I could drink some very good beer and visit cool bars I’ve never been before.
As you know, we are having a hard time in Spain, specially if we talk about unemployment. Free Software sector is doing quiet good though. On our recent history, one of our structural problems have been exportation. Last two years, due to the internal the economic crisis, we have raised them by 30% and FLOSS companies are no exception. Many Spanish companies had presence in FOSDEM 2012.
On Sunday night I organized a networking dinner with some Spanish FLOSS companies and a representative of the Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Brussels. KDE Spain, Zentyal, Gestiweb, Igalia, Carlos Sánchez and others (up to 24) were there.
The goal was that these representatives could know some entrepreneurs and how the FLOSS sector is doing in Spain. Next year, the day before FOSDEM 2013, we plan to organize in the Spanish Embassy in Brussels some networking activities between Spanish FLOSS companies and foreign corporations attending to the event.
FOSDEM has a great program, but networking is as relevant as talks. So don’t don’t miss it next year. See you there, hopefully, with better weather.
toscalix 