FOSDEM is coming: Brussels, February 25th and 26th
FOSDEM is Europe’s best free software event. In the whole World, I’d guess it’s in the top 5. It’s happening next weekend, here in Brussels, and I’m really looking forward to it.
Most events which attract members of our community have a load of proprietary software vendors and advocates who have businesses or technologies which simply co-exist with free software and even compete against free software. FOSDEM is one of the best because it focusses solely on free software.
Richard Stallman is among the speakers, as usual, and FSF Europe will have a big stall and will be talking with people and selling t-shirts and other free software things. It would also be a good place to sign up to the Fellowship of FSFE (which is a good idea for a load of reasons).
It is pretty rare for me to meet face to face with the people I work with. Some months, I have zero face to face contact with anyone from the free software community. Such contact is part of everyday life for members of some projects, but many free software developers, advocates, and campaigners work together for years while communicating mostly in writing across networks and sometimes by telephone.
Most of the talks are technical, but these are also interesting for non-technical audiences since they showcase the recent technical developments of free software. There are also some talks with a community, ethical, or legal focus and there are plenty of opportunities to eat and drink together.