From 9 to 12 June 2010 Europe’s most important meeting place for the Linux and open source community will be taking place in Berlin. Around 10,000 visitors from around the world are expected to attend LinuxTag in the trade fair halls on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. They will be finding out about and exchanging views on free software and open source operating systems. An outstanding programme of papers featuring well-known speakers from developer circles and from major companies such as Google, Sugar CRM Inc., Canocical/Ubuntu and even Microsoft will provide first-hand, in-depth information for developers, users and interested visitors alike.
A total of 43 companies and 75 independent projects are displaying new hardware and software solutions as well as innovative services. Open source software has become firmly established. Well-known companies such as Mozilla, Google, Tarent, Astaro, IBM and Microsoft are exhibiting at LinuxTag. Exhibits on display by independent projects include OpenStreetMap, currently being used as a navigation system by the Brandenburg police forces, data protection projects, and free multimedia applications for the home cinema.
At the opening event conducted by the non-commercial sponsor LinuxTag e.V. a jury presented the students Andre Kasper and Jan Philipp with the Graduates’ Award sponsored by Univention, an exhibitor from Bremen. They developed a tool for viewing object-relational databases. To date programs of this kind have only been able to display relational data.
On 9 and 10 June at the Public Authorities Conference the programme will feature case studies and speakers relating their experiences. Those taking part include the Federal Agency for Security and Information Technology (BSI) and the Federal Agency for Information Technology (BIT). Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, Government Commissioner for IT, is acting as patron of LinuxTag.
Michael Kleinhenz, member of the extended board of LinuxTag e.V.: “In the long term open source has huge potential for saving costs. Thus it is all the more important to make funds available for research and investment, in order to get even more companies, public authorities and administrations to make use of open source. Open formats which everyone can use free of charge also increase transparency and improve security. More IT decision-makers should take this into account. LinuxTag contributes towards raising awareness of open source even more and thus propelling it even further.“
Jens Heithecker, Director at Messe Berlin: “Being so close to administration and government in the capital LinuxTag in Berlin promotes the use and even wider dissemination of open source, for example through the Public Authorities Conference. With its outstanding conference featuring a wide-ranging programme and the highest number of independent projects anywhere in the world under a single roof LinuxTag leads the way for the international open source industry and community.“
Successful industry platform
LinuxTag 2010 will be showing what the open source industry and community have to offer in a display area that is 25 per cent larger than at last year’s event. Topics will span the past, present and future. Thus IBM will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of running the Linux operating system on its System z mainframe. The Linux environment on the mainframe helps customers achieve a cost-efficient and optimised IT environment.
The mobile internet boom poses new challenges for manufacturers and developers. Through lectures and exhibits LinuxTag 2010 will demonstrate that free software represents a good choice here too. On Friday the track entitled “Mobile Phones“ will focus on Google’s Android operating system and on MeeGo, which is being promoted by Nokia and Intel.
When the first open source tablet computer is shown to a wider Linux audience the future will have become reality. WeTab from Berlin, a joint venture between Neofonie GmbH and 4tiitoo AG, will present its eponymous prototype at LinuxTag which runs under Linux and Android. Users can expand the WeTab in any way they please. Nor is the device under any single company’s control. Following the presentation on Friday 11 June, at 12.30 p.m. Helmut Hoffer von Ankershoffen, the managing partner of Neofonie GmbH and management spokesman, will be available for discussions on the stand of the Berlin Linux user group BeLUG. The BeLUG project, which is exhibiting at the fair, had previously supported presenting the computer at LinuxTag.
The “open source surgery“ at the entrance to Hall 7.2a, a first at this year’s event, will be helping visitors with information. LinuxTag experts will be on hand here daily from 9 to 11.30 a.m. to help visitors in their search for the right exhibitor or the right lecture.
Open programme of papers with international keynote speakers
With 301 lectures dwelling on 35 key topics the open programme of papers is the widest-ranging of its kind in Europe. High-ranking keynote speakers will be present, all occupying senior positions in their companies, organisations and projects, which reflects the conference’s role as a leading international event. They include Mark Shuttleworth from Canonical, Chris DiBona from Google, James Utzschneider from Microsoft and Larry Augustin from SugarCRM, as well as kernel developer Jonathan Corbet and Dirk Riehle, the first German professor of open source software.
MiniDebianConference with a focus on the Squeeze release
On 10 and 11 June the first MiniDebianConference will also be taking place. Stefano Zacchiroli, the new project manager of the Debian community, will open this meeting of independent developers. At LinuxTag the project will be working live on the Debian Squeeze release. More than 100 developers, maintainers and users from around Europe are expected to attend. At the Bug Squashing Party visitors can take a look at the work of Debian developers and find out how they too can assist with the Debian project. A small summit of LXDE developers from Taiwan will also be taking place to put the finishing touches to the graphic interface for Debian 6 and the upcoming Sidux release.
Business & Public Authorities Conference – users relate their experiences
The Business & Public Authorities Conference which takes place on 9 and 10 June at LinuxTag will dwell on the practical uses of open source software in companies and public administrative departments. The focus is on migration, case studies and reports as well as on business processes using Linux. Thus the Business & Public Authorities Conference targets decision-makers and strategists. Over the course of two parallel series of papers a total 43 users, system integrators and manufacturers will report on their experiences with free software.
Thus a report documents the experience of Immobilienscout24.de, Europe’s largest real estate portal, which shows that migrating to Linux not only potentially saves money, but resources as well. This Berlin-based company completed the changeover from Windows servers to a Linux environment while their systems remained up and running, and have reduced their energy consumption by 25 per cent and hardware costs per server by 60 per cent.
Fun and security all in one – the hacking contest
The hacking contest, which takes place on Friday, 11 June at 2 p.m. in the Open Source Arena combines fun and security all in one. Together with the main sponsor Astaro, a manufacturer of Linux-based firewalls, LinuxTag will be inviting amateurs and professionals to pit their wits on stage. To begin with two teams will be given access to one notebook each with a freshly installed, free operating system. Each team has 15 minutes to install loopholes in the security system to facilitate access later on. Thereupon the teams swap systems and during the next 15 minutes each team attempts to find and remove the loopholes previously installed by the other team. The teams then swap systems again and each team attempts to hack its way into the system and gain access. Teams with specialist knowledge at every level are invited to describe and demonstrate their ideas on safety loopholes, as well as the respective measures to block attacks.
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About LinuxTag
LinuxTag is Europe’s leading event on Linux and free software. This four-day event has been taking place annually since 2007 on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. It offers the very latest information for professional users, decision-makers, developers, beginners and the community. In addition to the program of papers and a separate congress for business and public sector authorities, LinuxTag traditionally includes an exhibition featuring projects and companies associated with the open source sector. LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin attracted a total attendance of 10,780 from all over the world. Verein LinuxTag e.V. is the non-commercial organizer of the event, which it stages jointly with Messe Berlin GmbH. More details can be found at www.linuxtag.org.