INDUSTRY

Every April computer buffs from all across the Pacific Northwest trek to Bellingham for Linuxfest Northwest. "Professional or not, they are either involved with or curious about Linux and other Open Source software," says Bill Wright, a co-organizer. "We believe it's the quality of the show plus the prominence and prowess of the presenters that attract all those visitors," he adds. The elaborately planned event is scheduled for April 17 at the Bellingham Technical College campus. The College is also the generous host. It is organized by a consortium of LUG's (Linux User Groups) led by BLUG of Bellingham and includes groups from Seattle, Tacoma, Kitsap Peninsula, Vancouver, B.C. and Victoria, B.C. "There is an all-star list of presenters this year," says Leland Anderson. "We're proud to welcome Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP language, representatives from Sun, IBM, PNW Laboratory, Ximian, KDE, and a number of authors." Event: LinuxFest Northwest 2004 Place: Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham Wash. Date: April 17, 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM For information contact: Leland Anderson, (360) 733-6010 Highlighted speakers include: Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP scripting language: The PHP scripting language. Tim Witham, Lab Directory for Open Source Development Labs (OSDL): OSDL and the Linux 2.6 Kernel. Charles Ditzel, Partner Area Technologist for Sun Microsystems: Linux at Sun: from Server to Desktop. Chuck Gray, IBM's Senior Linux Strategist, Linux IT architecture for the Western Region: Linux Solutions for Business. Tim Witteveen, Research Scientist at Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNW National Laboratory: PNNL High Performance Linux Cluster. Jackson Harper, Ximian Mono Project: Developing Web Applications with Mono. Aaron Seigo, KDE team: What's New in KDE 3.2. There is a full list of presenters on the LinuxFest Northwest website. Admission is free. The public is invited and will find material appropriate to computer users having a wide range of interests and expertise. "We have at our disposal for presentations the entire brand new Haskell building and equipment at BTC," says Wright. Lectures at introductory to advanced levels will be presented by these and other experts in Open Source technology. There will also be a number of vendor exhibits and, of course, the "legendary" annual raffle of valuable computer products and novelties. A detailed schedule of events, updated regularly, can be found on the Linuxfest Northwest website, at http://www.linuxnorthwest.org. Of the ever popular Linuxfest raffle fund raiser, Bill Wright assures, "The raffle this year is going to be great. There will be plenty of books and Linux distributions to give away." He explains, "We raise a significant portion of the money for our costs, and donate some to the Electronic Freedom Foundation." The fest will provide plenty of resources for people just beginning to learn about Linux. "Linux is easier than ever to use," he said. "We'll have an open lab full of computers for people to try out Linux on, and there will be plenty of people there to answer questions." "The Tacoma Linux User Group will be conducting the first ever LinuxFest Northwest 'key signing party' this year," says Ken Hughes, co-founder of TACLUG. "People can come to the key signing party to verify the digital signatures that they use to mark their email as authentic. Please stop by the TACLUG table to find out more." A key signing party is a social activity of a sort, where users of the widely popular encryption program, PGP, exchange verification of each others' digital signatures. Another Fest first is the audience participation trivia contest "Alpha Geek." According to Chuck Wolber, its originator, "It's the standard trivia contest fare with some interesting twists and turns. I'm not sure it's worthy of a headliner presentation or anything, but it is a lot of fun and the audience really gets into the show." Vendors and demonstrations are listed on the "Exhibits" page of the website. Businesses, organizations and individuals interested in participating should get details by sending email to: exhibit@linuxnorthwest.org or by contacting Leland Anderson at (360) 733-6010. Figure 1: Highlighted speakers. Please see http://linuxnorthwest.org/ for the full list. (Speaker, Credit, Topic) Rasmus Lerdorf Creator of the PHP scripting language The PHP scripting Language Tim Witham Lab director for Open Source Development Labs OSDL and the Linux 2.6 Kernel Charles Ditzel Partner Area Technologist for Sun Microsystems Linux at Sun: from server to desktop Chuck Gray IBM's Senior Linux Strategist, Linux IT architecture for the Western Region Linux Solutions for Business Tim Witteveen Senior Research Scientist at Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNW National Laboratory PNNL High Performance Linux Cluster Jackson Harper Ximian Mono project Developing Web Applications with Mono Aaron Seigo KDE team What's New in KDE 3.2 Brian Hatch Author of Hacking Linux Exposed Linux Security Tom Eastep Creator of Shorewall firewall Shorewall in the Enterprise Dee-Ann LeBlanc Author of Linux for Dummies Bringing Mainstream Games to Linux Chris Negus Author of Red Hat Bible and Linux Toys Fedora/Redhat Troubleshooting Chuck Wolber QuantumLinux.com, co-author, Linux Toys Alpha Geek Jed Reynolds (360) 220-6095 Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG)