September 30th, 2008
Do we need a LinuxCon?
The Linux Foundation has announced it will host its own, user-and-developer conference in Portland next September, dubbed LinuxCon.
Having lost O’Reilly’s OSCON three weeks ago the good people of Portland are thrilled, and my former co-blogger here, Joe Brockmeier, gave the press a statement of support.
It’s designed to take place alongside the Linux Plumber’s Conference, which drew a reported 300 to a building in the city’s Pearl District over the weekend.
While that’s a good start, it’s a long way from the crowds that filled the Portland Ballroom in the Oregon Convention Center last summer.
With gas still around $4 per gallon and air travel a nightmare it seems pretty risky to add a third major event to the 2009 calendar.
The foundation’s Executive Director, Jim Zemlin, said this is being done in response to demand, and that the event will include a trade show along with conference and workshops. He has been briefing the media about it the last two days.
A successful show could eventually prove a major profit center for the Linux Foundation. Many trade groups host their own shows and the biggest events, like CES and CTIA, are big money spinners.
But there is risk here. While community manager Brian Proffitt blogged about the new show today on the foundation’s Web site, and a Web page has been created for it, there was no press release out on it as of 1:28 PM Eastern today.
It’s not too late to turn back, Jim.
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Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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