In less than 24 hours, barring events that cannot be foreseen at this time, I’ll be boarding a JetBlue flight in Portland for the first of two hops to Portland, OR. Given how jealously I guard my weekend time, the decision to travel on a Saturday would raise eyebrows among the people that know me well.
In this case, however, I was happy to make the exception to give a keynote at UbuntuLive. Not just because I hadn’t realized that I was sacrificing a weekend when I signed up, but because I consider it a debt unpaid. Canonical, through its sponsorship of the Ubuntu project, has provided RedMonk with desktop and server operating systems that effectively run our business, with no financial reward in return. Thus when I was asked to speak at UbuntuLive, it seemed only fair that I return the favor.
I’m the process of putting the final touches on the deck that I’ll be delivering on Sunday morning, pitching a middle relief role between starter (Mark Shuttleworth) and closer (Jeff Waugh), and while I can’t promise anything revelatory I can tell you that the deck stylistically is a significant departure from anything you’ve seen from me before. You all can tell me whether that’s a good or a bad thing after I post the slides following Sunday’s talk. Some of you will get the joke immediately, the rest of you will likely be moderately to completely confused. The important thing is, I like it.
In more important news, I’ve settled on a date and time for the event of the year: the RedMonk afterparty. Originally I’d considered trying to organize something more formal and structured, but a.) that’s too much work, b.) there are three parties minimum every night already, and c.) the afterparty format seemed to work beautifully at JavaOne. So while venue is still TBD (suggestions for House of Shields-like venues (read: dive bars) welcome), plan on this: Tuesday, 10 PM-ish till we get kicked out.
Head to whatever party you want Tuesday, just make sure you end up hanging with the cool kids when Tuesday night rolls to a close. No excuses, even for Wednesday’s keynoters. RedMonk will be sponsoring a round or two (hence the preference for a cheap venue), but if you miss them you’re on your own. Stay tuned here for details, or give me a call day of the event @ 866.RED.MONK and I’ll catch you up.
For those of you not attending UbuntuLive or OSCON, I’ll be returning to the office Thursday afternoon, and am reachable via the toll free in the meantime.
