[NYCBSDCon] NYCBSDCon Workshop proposal

[Jason Dixon]

Hi all,

First off, let me say a quick "howdy" to everyone working on NYCBSDCon
2010.  As George will attest, your event has always been one of my
favorites.  I look forward to it for months every year;  needless to
say, I was so disappointed there was no conference in 2009 that I had to
start DCBSDCon just to tide me over.  ;)

With that out of the way, I wanted to run an idea by the committee that
I think might make an interesting event at this year's NYCBSDCon.

If you've been following the news lately, you're probably aware of
Oracle's disbandment of the OpenSolaris project.  This has sent
shockwaves through the Solaris and general UNIX communities.  The
OpenSolaris project had built up a very loyal following over the years,
thanks to technologies like Solaris zones, Dtrace, ZFS and LiveUpgrade.
Leading up to the recent announcement, many users and companies began to
look at alternatives to Solaris because of concerns over Oracle's lack
of communication and general disrespect towards their Open Source assets
obtained through the Sun acquisition.

FreeBSD is a great option because of its tradition for innovation and,
of course, its more recent adoption of many Solaris technologies like
Dtrace and ZFS.  As someone who's active in both the BSD and Solaris
communities, I've seen interest in alternatives like FreeBSD pique over
the last few months.  The recent announcement by Oracle has lit a fire
under many companies to begin looking for serious exit paths away from
OpenSolaris.

Therefore, I'd like to propose an extended workshop (or series of mini
workshops) at NYCBSDCon to serve a dual purpose.  First, to extend an
invitation to Solaris transplants, demonstrating how the BSD projects
offer a compelling platform that includes many of the awesome
technologies that they're used to.  Second, to highlight those same
technologies for existing BSD users who might be unfamiliar with, or not
otherwise exposed to these features on a daily basis.

That said, I expect this workshop would appear to more seasoned veterans
and businesses that already use BSD in an "enterprise" capacity.  As
such, you might consider promoting this within your network of
BSD-friendly employers and sponsors around NYC city and state to gauge
the level of interest.

Sorry for the extended post.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a
man of few words in person, but you just can't shut me up over email.
;)

Thanks,

-- 
Jason Dixon
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net/