May 2006

Today I put my Focus on free software philosophy and Ubuntu. First talk was about Friedrich Nietzsche and open source. It was given by a PhD of physics and philosophy. Luckily the speech is on the official DVD as well. So I could read it again at the train station. Two other highlights were the keynote speech of Mark Shuttleworth and the hacking contest.

If you're interested in the LinuxTag or one of the talks you can get most of the material at http://www.linuxtag.org/2006/.

I just got back from Wiesbaden. Indeed a nice exhibition. But don't ever tell those guys you aren't a coder. Otherwise they will talk to you as if you were 5 years old. Whatever. Today the best presentation was the command-line-marathon with Sven Guckes. This guy got EVERYTHING in command line. Starting from E-Mail, ICQ to WWW and text-editing. For my part, I'll stick to Thunderbird and Opera.

Another great talk was given by credativ GmbH CEO Michael Meskes. He discussed the issue, whether one can make a living from OpenSource by consulting and support. But he also admits that you still have to use proprietary products as well to fully satisfy all customers.

Good night then. I'm dead tired, since I didn't sleep too much on the train. (and almost missed it because of the vanity fair)

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Frankfurt for a Linux-exhibition. Finally all those little programs and projects that make up my OS get some sort of human face. Recently derStandard wrote that the main bias for Linux not being used in a business-environment is the shabby outfit, ie sandals and long hair. On Saturday Mark Shutterworth is giving a talk on his Ubuntu 6.06 aka "Dapper Drake".

Today I went to the travel office to check for an RTW-ticket. Since I've never been in a travel office before, everything is quite new for me. But it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The lady seemed to know what she's doing and the ticket turned out to be cheaper than I had expected. We'll see. On friday she will mail me an offer.

I always knew it, but never could really believe it. The day is coming, when my time in the bl** army is over and I'm free of any obligations again. Free to go wherever I want.

Although I must admit that those 8 months had their positive aspects as well like:

• loads of stuff to eat
• 15+ hours of sleep every day
• more pocket money from the state
• zero responsibilities since someone else does all the thinking for you
• some witty guys whatsoever

But as I said, its like living in the golden cage. Trade your freedom for comfort and security. That's definitely not my thing. I'm more the one to life in a shabby tent, hitchhike, cook yourself, party till dawn, meet other cultures, be flexible, spontaneous, open-minded and above all: change location from time to time (and maybe return of stay longer if it's nice).

I'm glad that this chapter is over and I can (actually I'm about to) write the next one. I will start studying economics and management in october, but before that there are still 5 (!) months of my gap-year left. Now I want to add some life and unique experiences to those months. I thought about starting with a short trip to Portugal and then doing a RTW-Trip. Let's see where this will take me.

For the moment: stay connected and don't hestitate to post your comments.

cheers,
scipio