LCA2009: Organisers take a bow

By Sam Varghese
Friday, 23 January 2009 11:32

Opinion and Analysis

Exhausted but overjoyed with the outcome, the co-organisers of the 10th Australian national Linux conference say they would be willing to play host again - but certainly not for a couple of years.
Ben Powell and Leah Duncan said they had wanted to transplant the community feel that is so much a part of Tasmania to the conference; both felt they had succeeded to a large extent.

The numbers were down somewhat this year, something Powell put down to the prevailing economic conditions. "We had a total of 540 delegates, including the day visitors," Duncan said.

"We could have accommodated as many as Melbourne did last year," Powell said. "But the conditions are not good."

He said it would not affect them budget-wise; acting on the advice of their financial controller Garry Harradence they had trimmed all excesses and would return a profit after all expenses were met.

But there was no lack of anything at the conference this year. Internet access, both wired and wireless, one of the main needs at a conference where every geek and his dog has a laptop, worked flawlessly for the most part right from the day before the conference.

Duncan said Steve Walsh and John Dalton should take the credit for that. "The University of Tasmania has been really helpful to us and their IT Resources and Asset Management Services should share some of the praise if things have worked well."

The experience of organising the conference has, in some way, emboldened both Duncan and Powell to contest the Linux Australia elections; they are two of the seven who are bidding for the three seats on the committee.

Voting ends tonight and the results will be known on Saturday at the organisation's annual general meeting.