what are we doing today, brain?

I was invited to a keynote speaker at linux.conf.au. My talk will be about designing reliable operating systems. I’d like to introduce a new metric: LFs — Lifetime Failures, the number of times the software has crashed in the user’s lifetime. My TV has LF = 0. My stereo system has LF = 0. My car has LF = 0. My computer has LF > 100. I want a computer system with LF = 0 - Andy Tanenbaum

A great interview with Andy Tanenbaum, one of the keynotes speakers on the linux.conf.au 2007 programme.

Only 2 1/2 weeks to go! Last tickets are going fast so register quickly!

More than 50 women have signed up to the traditionally male dominated event, which represents approximately 10% of the overall number of registrations. - Chris Duckett, Bulider Au

Full story here.

And that number has now risen to about 65 women, about 12% of the total registrations, awesome! It isn’t by any count the best we can do, but it is the best we have done. Hopefully this’ll encourage more female geeks to come and enjoy linux.conf.au

Over the coming few weeks we are going to have several high profile interviews published at ZDNet/Builder Au and Computeworld/Linuxworld. Hopefully that should help whet everyones appetite for linux.conf.au in only 3 weeks!!

What will your main message be to attendees at linux.conf.au? - Howard Dahdah

I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently and I’m still not sure where it’s going to go. I suspect some mix of design vs. practicality, how we can compete better in free software vs Microsoft and Apple, and what it takes to do something that’s truly interesting. It’s coming up with good illustrative examples that’s hard. I guess people should just come and see! - Chris Blizzard

Get the full story.

“LCA has got a fantastic reputation globally as being the world’s best technical open source conference,” said Pia Waugh. “Every year we have people like Linus [Torvalds], Keith Packard, Bdale Garbee, Dave Miller, lots of really famous names who come to the conference and love the conference.

“It’s very much a community event where great people come together to talk about great things, and the fact that your average young hacker who’s only just started in the community can rub shoulders with the best in the world … not only keeps the community close and exciting and interesting, but also [provides] a way to grow the future of the community”

Read the entire story here.

We’ve added a Sydney page to the linux.conf.au website so you can plan your travel, eating arrangements, the closest pubs and what clothes to bring. There is also a list linked on the Sydney page called Out and About with extra activities that might be of interest outside the UNSW area.

Only 3 1/2 weeks to go!!

We’ve just hit 500 registrations for linux.conf.au. This means there are only about 150 or 200 tickets left, so get in and register now to reserve your spot, or miss out on all this!

I just heard the pleasesendustolinuxconfau have hit $5000 and mostly from the contributions of Aussies and hackers around the world. It is pretty amazing to see who is donating, and it shows just how much people want to come to the “best technical FOSS conference in the world”!

AMEX wasn’t initially set up for the lca payment gateway, however we’re in the process of getting this done now. So for all the AMEX card holders coming to lca, this should be done in the next 2-3 days, hopefully just in time for earlybirds with AMEX to pay. I suggest anyone in this boat (earlybird AMEX holders) should organise alternative payment plans as a backup for if we can’t get this in time for the 8th.

All the earlybird registrations for linux.conf.au have till the 8th December to pay. You should have received reminders by now about this, and if you have any issues or haven’t received your invoice by email, please simply log into the website (using “forgotten my password” if necessary) and then confirm your profile (you’ll be able to change details) and then proceed with payment to lock in the earlybird rate for you.

450 people registered! Places are limited so if you haven’t yet signed up for the best technical FOSS conference in the world, get to it! Remember, students get a very special price to encourage their participation!

Check out the linux.conf.au Open Day website, as registrations are open, and we’ve just added one of our most exciting exhibits to it, a real live One Laptop Per Child prototype! Come along and see for yourselves something that will change the world for the better, revolutionise the desktop and make Linux the most widely deployed desktop in the world!

Open Day is a free event for the public with dinner provided and over 40 exhibits including gaming, solar panel cars, making movies, podcasts and more! Let your friends and family know, and get registered!