Adam Lowry's Robotic Archive

Personally, I'm not terribly disappointed that OSCON's not in Portland this year. While the people it attracts are fantastic and there are great meetups concurrent to the event, I've had a hard time finding interesting things at the conference proper. But this year we've got Open Source Bridge, and I can't wait. That such a thing can come out of the community itself without corporate organization is mind boggling, and having seen the dedication and drive in the organizers and volunteers, I know it's going to be great.

The session lineup is incredible. There's a nice mix of some big-name names and new voices that I think will bring a fresh perspective. Three sessions I'm particularly looking forward to:

• Assholes are killing your project -- Anyone that's spent any time on IRC knows this, but every day it makes me cringe a bit more. What is the actual effect of self-appointed "enforcers" yelling RTFM?
• Configuration management panel -- a topic I really should know more about. Panels are sometimes hit and miss; you often don't get much depth. But since I know nothing but know I know nothing, I'm ready to absorb everything.
• Web server shootout -- fellow PDX Python attendee Michael Schurter is going benchmark crazy to try to tease out practical recommendations on what web servers to use for what tasks.

And finally, the 24-hour hacker lounge is going to rock. I might have to find some new projects to hack on to get the most out of it.