LCA2009: Rusty's baby turns 10

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 20 January 2009 13:06

Opinion and Analysis

The next conference was solicited by the Sydney Linux User Group. They wanted to change the month when it was held, which meant that the next conference was held 18 months after the first, in January 2001.

The name was changed by the Sydney organisers and both the name and month have been constants ever since. In Sydney, the conference ran over four days. It was in Adelaide in 2004 that the conference ran as long as it does now - from a Monday to a Saturday.

The system of submitting a bid to play host came about when the LUG in Perth approached Linux Australia with a video, documenting what they could offer. This was after the third conference had been held in Brisbane as it was the next closest mainland city.

As Russell was the founder, in the early days people tended to ask him who should be the next host. "It seemed kind of odd to me," he said. "In Perth, we formalised the process of having a team from the previous hosting city visit to provide information to the organisers of the next conference - what we call the 'ghosts' session."

These days, Linux is of interest to every big technology vendor and the number of professional delegates has grown by leaps and bounds.

"The commercial interest has kind of simmered and gradually come to the boil," said Russell. "Our sponsors have always understood that the character of the conference must remain the same - informal, technical and primarily for geeks. But we have always had very good experiences with our sponsors."

This year, the numbers are a bit down. Generally the conference attracts about 700 people, with the size of the venue being the limiting factor. This time, economic conditions have also played a role in keeping the numbers down.

"It's a leap of faith to move off the mainland," Russell said. "But then every year it's an inexperienced team. Every year they change several things - a third of these fail, a third will be okay and a third will become classics."

The mini-conferences first surfaced in Brisbane and Linus Torvalds made his first appearance at LCA in Perth. "There's something happening every year - this year, a group has come down from Perth by bike," Russell said.

He has no regrets about dipping into his own savings to start the ball rolling. "By the end of the week I know I'll be drained but incredibly happy. I'll know that I've missed something or the other here or there - but that's the best problem to have."