Yes, there’s a big news update for FUDCon Toronto 2009, the upcoming Fedora Users and Developers Conference in Toronto from December 5-7 — check out all the details in the announcement.
Pre-registration is already open on the wiki, where you can find loads of other information and maps as well. (We’ve already got 20 people signed up and it’s only been open a few hours!) Pre-registering gets you a couple extras, like lunch each day, a bit of schwag, and a pass to FUDPub.
But FUDCon is absolutely free to attend, whether you pre-register or not, and FUDCon is open to everyone, since time immemorial. (Or at least since we started having them years ago.)
We will have some special “getting-started” user sessions on Saturday, December 5, as well as our always-popular developer tracks and hackfests throughout the length fo the conference. We’re also planning some sort of refereed or pre-sorted content, in addition to BarCamp format talks, so everyone will be able to find Do you have an idea for a session or a hackfest you’d like to run? Then write your idea on the wiki.
There’s never been a better time to come to a FUDCon than the upcoming FUDCon Toronto 2009. It was my first FUDCon back during the release of Fedora Core 5 that really cemented my relationship to the community. I loved meeting all the various people involved everywhere in the Fedora Project, hearing about cool technical advances, sharing anecdotes and experiences, and simply having fun. Every FUDCon has had the same effect, not just for me but for plenty of other attendees.
I’ll never forget the fellow who came up to me at the last North American FUDCon, in Boston last January, to tell me about how he came up from Florida to attend. He wasn’t sure what to expect but loved every minute. The more he talked about it, the more enthusiastic he got, and the more he smiled — and so did I! The enthusiasm was infectious, the best kind of viral communication.
FUDCon is so great for giving people that juice, the positive reinforcement we all need to remind us what a great thing Fedora is, and why we all gather to create and spread free software. And it will come right after the release of Fedora 12, so we’ll have a lot to celebrate at the same time. I’m really looking forward to this next iteration and the renewed challenge of the next release of Fedora, even as we gear up for the Fedora 12 Beta coming later this month.
We’ll have more information coming shortly about some pre-sorted tracks, and other juicy news. Stay tuned to the fedora-announce-list for all the latest updates.