Czajkowski

After a non evenful journey over to Orlando from Ireland and meeting up with some folks Sunday night in the bar which was great as I got to put the faces to the IRC nicks.  Sleep was had!… Monday kicked off with chatting with folks over breakfast then we headed down to the Keynote.  Which was kicked off by Jono covering some of the stuff that will be happening this week. Did you know…….This is the 14th release…

* Application Developers

* Package Selection and System Defaults

* Performance

* Multimedia

* ununtu the project

* hardware compatibility

* cloud infrastructure

If you are trying to following the sessions and want to keep track of the documents, have  a look at the new documentation path for sessions:  session proceedings.  Goto https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDSProceedings/N

What I came up with was an idea to work on Wiki clean up information moved to askubuntu.com and we’re going to have a session on this on Wednesday morning!

I’ve been organising events for Open Source in Ireland for a while now, and I’ve always wanted to see more government organisations get behind them and also come along.  I started talking to Dave Scanlon about this and he has gotten on board and gotten Enterprise Ireland to organise an event for Irish business to learn more about Open Source, it’s benefits, uses and how they can use, compete and excel using it.

Interested in learning more about how Open Source Software can help your business? Want to attend a free conference where you can hear renowned industry speakers such as Mark Shuttleworth and  Simon Phipps discuss how Open Source can help give your company a competitive advantage in your market?

Enterprise Ireland and the Enterprise Europe Network Ireland are co-hosting the “The Business Value of Open Source Software� seminar on the 16th November 2010 as part of the Enterprise Europe Network Technology Roadmap series, and in conjunction with the team here at BestConnected. With keynotes from renowned international speakers discussing how Open Source Software can deliver lasting business success, as well as practical insights into how the technology can be utilised across your organisation to deliver significant competitive advantage, this event is not to be missed.

Delegates at the event will be afforded an opportunity to discover how other businesses are using world-class Open Source Software to add value in every aspect of their business processes, including Content Management, Customer Relationship Management, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, and Virtualisation. This seminar aims to highlight the value of Open Source Software as a business enabler, and not simply a business model.  In addition to the networking reception, there will also be a technology showcase where the best of Irish Open Source Software will be on display.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Mark Shuttleworth: Founder of the Ubuntu Project, a popular Linux-based operating system that is freely available worldwide with desktop and server editions. Mark currently leads design and product strategy at Canonical Ltd, the company behind Ubuntu. Canonical provides support on a commercial basis for the free Ubuntu operating system.
• Simon Phipps: A well-known and respected leader in the Free Software community, computer industry veteran Phipps has been involved at a strategic level in some of the world’s leading technology companies. In 2005 he was appointed Chief Open Source Officer at Sun Microsystems, coordinating Sun’s extensive participation in Free and Open Source software communities until he left in 2010.
• Ronan Kirby: Ronan Kirby is Business Development Director for the Red Hat software ecosystem in Northern EMEA. During his long tenure at Red Hat, Ronan has held multiple leadership roles, on both the commercial and technical side of the organisation. Most recently, Ronan was a core member of the Boston MA based RHEL Product Marketing Team, which has business ownership of the flagship Red Hat product. Ronan also acts as a Senior Adviser in Technology for the European Bank (EBRD), where he engages directly in economic development work in developing economies across Siberia, Mongolia, Central Asia and the Balkans. Before joining Red Hat, Ronan accrued considerable expertise, through a range of leadership roles in Internet Service Providers and Integrators.
• Tim Willoughby: Tim is the Assistant Director of the Local Government Computer Services Board (LGCSB), and has worked in the agency for more than 10 years in several technical roles. He has been working in the public service for 18 years in several engineering, technology and ICT roles. From his early days as a computer teacher through to his current role, he has had a passion for technology, particularly to understand and harness it for use in government. Mr Willoughby is responsible for research and development in the LGCSB and represents Irish Local Authorities on several cross government and cross business committees.

This event is free-of-charge, but spaces are limited: you can register for the event here. You can also Talk to dave on Twitter if you’ve any questions:

In case you missed it on the mail  in all of the excitement  there is going to be a party on Friday night of UDS this time with a spin to it. Dress as your favourite film star/icon and bring the fun and excitement of the cinema to UDS. Orlando is the home of Universal studios and the movies and what better way to celebrate the end of UDS than a night feeling like a star. You can dress up or down as much as you feel comfortable with. And as it’s a party, there will be food, drink, music and enough fun for you to let your hair down. You might find some ideas here or over HERE .

Now to start thinking……  Looking forward to meeting folks next week at UDS

I recently gave a presentation to final year students at UL and prior to me talking their lecturer had asked them for comments on topics they’d like to hear from people.  This one line stood out to me and I added it to the presentation as it really hit home for me how I’ve gotten a job from being involved in open source and something that I love.

I’ve been very fortunate in the jobs that I’ve done they’ve been enjoyable and paid well so I’ve been able to attend and participate at events in other countries which is great.  It’s opened a world that I could not have known about had I not gotten involved in open source and not gotten the bug about wanting to know more and get involved.  I know many people who work 9-5 and don’t enjoy their work or would love to be doing something else but haven’t yet found the opportunity.  Don’t lose faith or sight that it is possible to get your dream job but do realise it may not be the first or the second or any time soon after you finish college.  It is better to be working in a job and meeting people and learning about new technologies or taking part in workshops it will also benefit you in the long run.

For me being involved in Clubs and Societies in UL was one of the best things I got from college.  I made some fantastic friends and got involved on committees and councils and in many ways gave me a good heads up on things were done in the real world. From being involved in Skynet, to being on the Clubs and societies exec to being societies officer and also community officer I learnt a lot about dealing with people and how things were run. It also showed me being just a student in my class wasn’t enough for me and not if I wanted to learn about things that weren’t on the syllabus.

I just thought I’d share this with people, just because you are currently studying one area doesn’t mean you won’t end up in a completely other area.