Category: Government

Google party in Sydney

Yesterday Google had their opening party for the new Sydney office. They sent out invitations to the broader community and had about 300 people turn up, most of whom were of the technical variety 🙂 I had a fun night chatting to loads of SLUGgers, researchers, and of course the Googlers. It was probably one of the most diverse technical crowd gatherings in Sydney, which meant a load of fringe people got to meet each other.

Google have something like 15 engineers in the local office (mostly Google Maps people) and they flew in 15 engineers from their New York office who were fun and interesting. Google’s office is, very cool to say the least. Bright colours, loads of room, nice hardware, a pool table and excellent kitchen. It actually reminded me of when I worked at OneTel, whose offices were Feng Shui compatible (seriously!) with loads of fish tanks, bright colours and a spacious work environment.

Google are very proactively getting more women into Google, and it was interesting to talk to Lars about some of the rationale behind that:

1) they want the best engineers out there, female and male
2) they want their workplace to reflect the diversty of ideas and approaches in the global community
3) they want a great workplace that is comfortable and fun for everyone

Pretty sensible really 🙂 They had some cool Google girl shirts, and I’ll wear mine to the next slug meeting 🙂

Hats off to you Google, I can see why it has become an engineer’s Mecca and it is great to have a team on the ground in Sydney. We look forward to your engineers participating in SLUG and the local technical community 🙂

A “socially aware software engineer”

So while we were at CeBIT, I suddenly had this man appear in front of me with a microphone and a recorder asking if I’d do a podcast. I didn’t actually have a chance to ask who was the audience or anything because he switched on the iRiver and started recording. So I gave it my best shot. The gentleman had some great questions and turned out to be Bob Hughes who did a great podcast coverage of CeBIT. I was relieved to listen to it and find that my answers were kind of interesting (albeit fast) but really pleased when I heard the intro and summary he added to my talk. He talked about Open Source being important for people, and about us being socially aware and not like just another salesperson. It was fun 🙂 Thanks Bob for thinking of us to cover in your CeBIT podcast 🙂

Blogging from CeBIT

CeBIT has been going well. Loads of fun and the Linux Australia stand is constantly surrounded by 10-20 people. We are showing off tasty XGL, giving away FOSS CDs, and talking to loads of cool people. We also have loads more new people coming to SLUG next month, both newbies and techs, so make them welcome 🙂

From my perspective, community outreach events like being at CeBIT are really important both in growing our community, and in educating the masses about why the community is the backbone of Open Source, and its greatest asset.

Rock on everyone! 🙂

Linux Australia at CeBIT, come visit!

Linux Australia will have a stand at CeBIT tomorrow through to Thursday. We’ll also have a big demo zone where loads of cool FOSS stuff will be shown off from embedded, to desktop and server stuff. We’ll be running a panel session on Thursday afternoon where leading innovators in the Australian market will talk about why FOSS is invaluable to them in their industries and in innovating. That’ll be on stand P1 at the front of Hall 4. So come along, visit the LA stand and demo zone and check out the panel session. This is the first time CeBIT has had an Open Source display, so it’ll be very cool to be getting in front of ~25,000 consumers with FOSS.

Rock on Linux Australia! 🙂

“Not in our names”

This is brilliant! A bunch of Canadian musicians have got together to talk about how record labels proport to speak on behalf of musicians, but rarely do. They are speaking out about the suing of music lovers, the unfairness of DRMs & digital lock-ins, and how major labels are happy to use Canadian music, but not willing to promote Canadian bands. It is a great read, and really cuts at the core of a lot of issues with IP in todays world.

Disappointments in the desktop

I just read an article by a long term Windows user about his disappointment in Vista. I found it particularly interesting because there seems to be a wave of discontent spreading about Windows and a lot of people trying Linux. I think one of the most powerful things FOSS is achieving is getting people to realise the power of choice and the power of a high expectation from the consumer. I also find such articles interesting because I don’t really use Windows at all anymore, and it reminds me that I need to understand the issues facing Windows users in order to help them see the direct benefits to them of FOSS.