iXsystems staff attended LinuxFest NW on behalf of the FreeBSD Project this past weekend. Bellingham Technical College was packed with nearly 2000 attendees, the largest turnout ever for this show.
“For being in a town that is quiet, spread out, and full of green scenery, the community at LinuxFest Northwest resembled that of a close knit and engaging one, all with the shared interest of software and tech. The group was diverse, ranging from all ages. I met several attendees from California, which helped me feel right at home, in addition to speaking to those who had a similar interest in open source technology.
I had a lot of quality conversations with people who already knew about FreeNAS and PC-BSD, as well as those who were new users and intrigued to hear about what the software has to offer. Those that heard about FreeNAS or PC-BSD several years ago were delighted to try out the latest versions when they swung by our exhibit.
LFNW definitely met my expectations of what an open source trade show should be like. As a promoter of FreeBSD, I felt welcomed and that captured the spirit of the free software community to me.”
LFNW definitely met my expectations of what an open source trade show should be like. As a promoter of FreeBSD, I felt welcomed and that captured the spirit of the free software community to me.”
Cao Pham, iXsystems’ Visual Marketing Specialist
In addition to providing the opportunity to meet existing BSD aficionados and convert new users, Jupiter Broadcasting did a live broadcast of the BSDNow and Linux Action Show podcasts from the conference.
“LFNW was a fun conference to attend this year! It had been 6 or so years since I last visited, and seeing how much it had grown was encouraging. During the conference Allan Jude and I spent some time on the live Jupiter Broadcasting feed, doing an impromptu BSDNow show, which was good since it gave us the opportunity to interject more BSD into the conference.”
Kris Moore, Director of PC-BSD Software Development and Co-host of BSDNow, states,
In addition we did some “Man on the street” type interviews, asking other exhibitors about their thoughts on BSD in general, and found out that one of the BitCoin vendors uses FreeBSD for the entire backend.
We also scored an interview with a local business, (which will air on a future episode of BSDNow), discussing their experiences of ZFS on Linux, and the fact that they are iXsystems customers (partly because they heard iX advertised on BSDNow, which was neat).”
In addition to promoting FreeNAS and PC-BSD at the FreeBSD Project booth, donations were collected for the FreeBSD Foundation, and Dru gave a well-attended talk on What’s New in FreeNAS 9.3.
All in all, a good time was had by all at this year’s LinuxFest NW. The spirit of camaraderie and good will at this show makes it a community favorite. As stated by David Valencia from our Sales Team, “I never tire of going to LinuxFest Northwest (LFNW). It is fun seeing old friends and making some new ones too. I also enjoy being an exhibitor and talking to open source aficionados, from the old warriors that have been around from day one, to the Bellingham Technical college (BTC) students learning a skill set that will serve them for life, and to their little brother and sisters who seem to know more about open source than they should. It is great being around a community that supports what I have chosen to do for life.”
We look forward to participating in LinuxFest NW once again next year. In the meantime, we’re gearing up for BSDCan!
