foss.in Day 5

this was the last Day at foss.in - and once again it was perfect organized, yes there were uncertainties during the cfp and schedule in front of the event but i learned that it was not easy to run the event anyway, because of the worldwide crisis. So all in all they did a very good job for taking care for all during the event and especially for us foreign speakers - a big thanks goes to the Organizers Atul, Gaurav, Sheela, Shilpa and Tejas and many many more ...

I expected more people on a saturday because there is no work and no school - most visitors attented the talks so we had less of them at the booth. It was also the last Day for me to work with Susmit and we had a heated discussion with Dimitriz about - how community/membership management should be done.



Susmit had to leave the conference a bit earlier - alone to meet him and interact with him as a new/old friend was worth the trip - it will improve the results of the work we have to do in the next months. It was funny that we share almost the same thoughts about how things in Membership Management should work.

I attented the last Keynote which was a talk about robotics - the speaker talked about his internship in the US and also about his work at the US University. One example he showed was a walking robot for offroad terrain. Because i was involved in military technology in my past, i clearly saw the military usecase and i asked myself how one can intervent such things through electronic counter-measures and if they take care for security measures while they develop and implement the code for the robots with a security stack or something like this. Maybe the OSSTMM is also worth a look for them.

Atul - the Organizer gave the closing note - i could not get all of it, because i had to leave earlier- but from what i could hear, it inspired the indian people and he gave them confidence in their work and their future!

After a big goodbye to all the Fedora-People i left the conference to take a shower, change my clothes and pack my bag. I lost my phone in the Cap which drove me to the hotel, but after 60 minutes the driver brought it back to the hotel - wow, the people here are great!

Right now i am sitting on the Airport in Bangalore and wait for my flight - it is sad but it is time to leave india. It was a wonderfull time here and i hope i can come back one day. I want to say thank you to all here at foss.in - and especially - alphapetical ;) - Hiemanshu for the friendship and taking care for me and helping me over the Streets, Kushal for his warm welcome and his support during the stay, Rahul for his openess, the clear words and his humor, Rangeen for taking care that i had a phone to reach everyone in the world and his help, Shrink for the young fresh spirit and for the luck i will have from now on ;) And of course Susmit for being a friend and a big help!

Update: Arrived Save at Frankfurt Airport ;)
Update: all my Pictures from the trip

foss.in Day4

Another great Day at foss.in 2009 - Bangalore.
I watched the vlsi/eda talk and found him very user centered i wished the speaker had also talked how to become a vlsi/eda foss contributor. Especially for FEL. All in all the Presentation had a lot of content and it was presented from a windows machine what is a bit unlucky on foss.in from my pov. Afterwards i had a nice conversation with the speaker Swapnil about his possible contributions to FEL.

I had a lot to struggle with the Internet-Connection, which was the reason that i broke the Verification Page yesterday - but it is solved ;)

During the Day i had a short trip to a Shiva Temple with Hiemanshu and Shrink, which was a very "different" but nice expirience ;) - including walking barefoot ;) - both made me a present - a "laughing budda" - and from now on i will put it on my Desk for luck



Driving with the Auto-Rikshaw in Bangalore is also a special thrill!



Back at the event there was a lot distraction and we did not get really something done - we made a lot jokes and had a lot of fun about some spelling mistakes.



Afterwards we went out for Dinner and Hiemanshu has always a lucky hand with very good local restaurants - Paneer Makhani, Dal Kolhapuri, Navratna Korma, Kashmiri Pulao - thanks for taking care Hiemanshu!

foss.in Day3

The interaction with the Contributors - not only from the Fedora Project - is really great. From my outsider point of view the different projects here in india are more open and there is a real interest in things that other Projects have achieved.
I have done some booth duty work today and i noticed that there are only students. Obviosly their teachers have no classes at this day because the whole bunch of people is at the event - so they could go with them and learn something new. In other Countries i have seen - even the Professor is doing booth duties at a Project Booth. From my POV it is time for teaching the teachers in india how foss works. And if we can do that in the States or in China why not in India? The Students were mostly very formal and lacking a bit independence in finding own ways to solve things or get things done. So the teachers maybe forget to teach them how to evolve to become a independend thinking mind.

I also had some nice expiriences by explaining people the spin concept and that it is the perfect instrument to gather people around an idea to motivate them to contribute new things with all the benefits it brings to fedora.

I had also a short workout with Susmit on some stuff that we want to solve while i am here in india.



Related to the "unofficial" Security Spin Workout, Hiemanshu took action and moved the stuff from the fedorahosted spinspage to the new place where it belongs ;) and we will work on the improvement

The lunch was great it was Vanghi Bath and Aloo Parantha - the organizers still deserve a lot compliments of taking care for everything.

In the later afternoon we left the venue for a short shopping trip.



Hiemanshu had a small collision with a Motorbike in this street and i learned some new inter-social things about india ;)

And btw - if you need an PHP Lesson in Bangalore i know a place for that!



Tomorrow i plan to attend the "VLSI/EDA Ecosystem and impact of Free and Open Source Movement" talk to give Chitlesh a feedback about it, and of course joining the Fedora People with our Activities.

foss.in Day 2 is running

today is our Fedora Project of the Day - i had the honour to start the talking track and i felt well with my talk - let's see if there is some feedback in the next hours, you can download the presentation from -
http://jsimon.fedorapeople.org/fedora_osstmm_secspinv2.pdf

just a minor correction - Hiemanshu - s/pushed me over the street/helped me over the street. It turnes we get some more things from the wishlist packaged soon. And i am quite confident that we can move to LXDE fast.

Btw. i like the taste of indian food and i enjoy the different tastes - today i had "wheat dosa" for lunch - great




Finally i met Susmit the first time - we have worked together for month's now and to meet him is a very good expirience.

Hiemanshu turned out to be one of the fastest troubleshooters i have ever seen - impressive - the infrastructure team can be happy to have him.

More later ;)

foss.in Day 1

From the first day impressions it is an good and eager event, foss.in work's torwards the same approach as we do in the Fedora Project with our FAD's or FUDCon's - to show something or at least kicked it off, at the end of the event.

We have a Fedora Project Table/Booth and i have done some duties there which is always fun for me. Maybe i could win a new Contributor from the OWASP-Project who will help us to work on WebApp Testing Tools for the Security Spin.

The local Fedora People do a great job of taking care for me - you will not believe me, how dangerous it is to cross the streets here, - if bungee- or base-jumping did not thrill you anymore, you should give this a try.

Dimitriz gave his very first Keynote in his life at the end of the day and he did very well, eloquent and smart!



in the evening we (9 local Contributors) took a Auto Rickshaw - test it to know how it feels - torwards an indian restaurant, where i had chicken and some sort of bolognese sauce with thin dough cake's which was delicate.



there are so many impressions i can not write them down here - i will write a longer summary on my way home.

Fedora Gang

the indian Fedora gang gave me a warm welcome - right now Kushal, Rahul and Hiemanshu are around and it feels good to be with them.

foss.in is started!

First i have to say that the organizer did an awesome job in taking care for the speakers - big thanks for that!

The place where i stay is the Brigade Homestead - which is very nice and i feel very comfortable to stay there.



The Conference Place has a lot space and is an ideal place for such event. The organizers took care for breakfast - i love the coffee here ;) Right now i am sitting in the Opening Keynote and the vision they have for the conference is very strict but interessting and i think i like it ;)

Landed in Bangalore

After a nice 09:00 hours flight i arrived safe in Bangalore - tired now - go to bed ;)