Communicating freely


Archive for May, 2007

Zurich tales

Friday, May 18th, 2007

It’s a lovely afternoon here in Zürich.  Birds are singing outside the office, trams are rolling past, and occasionally the coffee machine is clicking as it keeps the pot warm.

This morning I cycled to work.  It’s a lovely feeling to ride beside the river.  Sometimes working in the technology field means that we lose sight of nature.

Hm.  Do we need organic PCs?

Dinner in Italy

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

I had intended to post here again during the conference in Italy, but my laptop battery was a bit too low.  The Swiss plugs don’t work in Italy, and I couldn’t find anyone with the same type of laptop cable as me.  

Anyway, that’s life.

On my last night in Italy I was taken out for dinner with Umit and Stefano from Hacklab Cosenza.  They decided to introduce me to some local dishes.  There was chestnut bread, bean and mushroom soup, local sausage, grilled potato and a nice rose wine from the region.  Stunning stuff.  I cannot recommend the Cosenza food highly enough.

The next morning it was a 5am start for the long drive to my airport.  We arrived exactly on time and before I knew it I was in the air.  In the blink of an eye the weather changed from sunny South Italy into a rather gloomy Swiss Spring.  Ah well. 

At the Italian conference on Free Software (day one!)

Friday, May 11th, 2007

I’m currently sitting in the main lecture room of the Italian conference on Free Software in Cosenza, Italy.  Stefano is sitting beside me and we’re both being very digital (our laptops are active).  Armijn Hemel of gpl-violations.org fame is keeping me company on Jabber.  It’s a Free Software family moment.

Speaking of family, at this very second Plussy, the FSFE fellowship logo, is on-screen as a border in a presentation.  A professor who developed a tool to teach programming is speaking.  He’s talking in Italian, but the interpreter is doing a very good job of making sure I know what’s happening.

It’s a very good atmosphere here.  Loads of fellowship people, lots of interesting conversations.  I’m reminded of the dynamics of the FOSDEM conference (which was a ball), though this conference is less technical.  Updates to follow…if my laptop battery holds out…