OSCon 2007

While my blog may not have reflected it, I really am going to OSCon this year. In fact, I’ll be presenting both a tutorial ([http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12808 Pro PostgreSQL]) and a regular session ([http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12801 Intro to PL/PHP]). I’ll also be in town Sunday, so I should be able to swing by the pre-OSCon [http://developer.postgresql.org/index.php/OSCON07PGDay PostgreSQL] [http://www.postgresqlparty.org/ activities], and also plan to attend Thursday’s [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/14593 PostgreSQL BOF]. Looking at this years schedule, I am happy to announce that my streak of 4 straight years of presenting across from MJD is still intact, though I am rather bummed that I am presenting the same time as Theo, his [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12458 Scalable Internet Architectures] is a really good talk that I’d happily sit through again. Looking at the rest of the conference, it seems light on PostgreSQL bits, and really on DB related content in general, which is making me really appreciate [http://www.pgcon.org/2007/ PGCon] even more, but there are some other interesting looking talks I plan to swing into, like [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/13062 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for Technology], and [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12908 Rails Under the Knife] (Yes, I still think Rails is the best MVC framework available). There are a couple of non-postgresql database talks I’m looking forward to as well, such as [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12415 Open Source Transactional Storage Engines] (which is really a MySQL specific talk) and, in what I find an ironically titled talk, [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/14679 Databases Don’t Matter] from the folks who bring you the open source database that doesn’t matter, Ingres. [[image /xzilla/templates/default/img/emoticons/wink.png alt=”;-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” /]] And what’s an opening OSCon post without an extra complaint or two? I just want to gripe that Friday this year seems to contain all of the one-off digital lifestyle sessions running concurrently, rather than spread throughout the conference. IMHO a conference of OSCon’s size and diversity should really have a “misc talks” track that caters to the person who doesn’t see anything else interesting in a given time slot, so they dip into talk on [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12153 OSS and Robotics] or [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/14648 how open source effects the economy] or [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2007/view/e_sess/12550 whats going on with copyright]… ie. topics that touch on lives of technology enthusiasts, but from a recreational standpoint, where you don’t need any prior investment of time like you do with a PHP or a Linux Kernel talk. My .02 anyway, hope to see you there! [[image /xzilla/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png alt=”:-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” /]]