Jon Daniel dot Net

It’s September and that means it is almost time for Ohio Linux Fest 2007! For those of you who don’t know Ohio Linux Fest is the largest conference and expo for Free and Open Source software professionals and enthusiasts in the Midwest. This is the second year I will be in attendance, and I cannot be more hyped up. Since May when I started at Wellspring I have learned a great deal about PHP, Linux, and Open Source Software in general so am really excited to actually be able to exchange ideas with other attendees instead of last year when I just sat there acting confused. Last year I heard some really great talks on Google and Open Source, Integration with Single Sign On, rBuilder, the Gnome Project, and optimizing queries in mySQL.

This year I am epically excited because my friend Dave will be speaking on Software Usability. From my understanding, the speech will be based on a paper Dave wrote his senior year, regarding how developers can make software easier to use for everyone. This is becoming more and more important every day as software becomes more of and integral part of our every day lives.

There are a number of other speakers I am interested in, but the one that is really driving me is a talk by Jon ‘maddog’ Hall. ‘maddog’ is responsible for making me excited about programming when I began to loose my drive late last year. For those of you who remember, in August/September of 2006 I was really feeling the strain of life come crushing down on me. Partly this was due to Clarion’s inability to keep the CIS students driven to have an interest in their profession outside of the class room. To make a long story short I was feeling very run down, and I was really wondering why I even bothered with outside projects. Personally I felt defeated. But then after hearing maddog’s speech on how quickly the open source community was growing it really energized me to keep my head up and keep working as hard as I could. I can honestly say that if it was not for that speach I would probably be working as a .NET developer somewhere with my spirit broken.

Zack, Colin, and I (plus a number of others) are going to be making the trip down to Columbus Ohio and see all the sights. So if you are interested then let me know and we can arrange to meet up in Columbus. Sorry, but I do not have any more room in my car or hotel room so unless you have made prior arrangements with me you will need to find your own ride and lodging. Luckily I will be staying at the Drury Inn & Suites, the official hotel (w00t!), so if you want to hang out the night before then just let me know.

One only problem I am foreseeing is that Ohio Linux Fest occurs at the end of the money, so money may be a bit tight for me around that time. All “beer money” for this money will be put toward Ohio Linux Fest, and the rest will be donated somewhere. So if you are really feeling generous please “Buy Me A Beer”.

Take care all you Linux geek, and see you in Columbus!