Codethink is sponsoring Akademy 2018 and I am attending.

Back in July 2017 I wrote a blog post, published by Codethink, explaining why is a good business to support community driven FOSS events. This post is related to that one.

I will be attending to Akademy 2018. It will take place in Vienna, Austria, from August 11th to 17th. I will be there representing Codethink, which is a proud sponsor of this 2018 edition.

I attend regularly to Akademy since, as most of you know, I have been an active contributor, a user of the software, a supporter of some of their activities and/or a KDE e.V. member for some time now. I learn a lot during this event, and not just about KDE related topics.

This edition has several specific points of interest to me:

• I am involved in a project called BuildStream, a FOSS integration tool for declarative systems and applications. Currently its main user are the GNOME integration team and the Freedesktop SDK project. We would like to expand our user base among communities like KDE.
• Freedesktop SDK are a platform and a SDK runtimes for flatpak apps and runtimes based on freedesktop modules. Several colleagues of mine are behind this project that is about to release a new version.
• A year ago, during an Akademy BoF, some KDE contributors decided we wanted to put some effort towards enabling KDE software on automotive. This year the first modest results will be presented to the wider KDE community. I have been preaching about this move for some time now so it is exciting for me to see others involved and making progress.
• I will attend to the KDE e.V. Annual General Assembly. KDE e.V. is the organization that supports the KDE community which is an important activity.
• I will update my working laptop from openSUSE Leap 42.3 to Leap 15, taking advantage of the presence at the event of a couple of former colleagues from the extinct openSUSE Team at SUSE, and Slimbook, the guys I bought my laptop from. Make sense, right?
• Codethink is always looking for talent willing to move to Manchester, UK, or exceptionally, work remotely. Come talk to me if you might be interested.

It will be, as usual, a great event. See you all there.