‘Til All Are One

Last month’s SLUG meeting (Friday 28 July) was an interesting one for me. The SLUGlets topic was Web browsers, so I decided to volunteer my services to give a demonstration of my favourite, Galeon. Its philosophy of "The Web, only the Web" felt extremely refreshing back in 2000 when the world was dominated by Web browsers that were either integrated into some form of software suite or even into the operating system itself. Its position as a top-dog Web browser has since been usurped by its offspring, Epiphany, and its parent, Firefox, both of which have been clearly inspired by Galeon. Nevertheless, the slickness and functionality of Galeon has left it cemented as my Web browser of choice.

One thing I was not prepared for was a fair number of my co-workers to be present. That in itself was no surprise, given the SLUG-friendliness of my workplace. The effect of their heckling was another matter. Their light-hearted distractions may have diminished the quality of my talk, but they also made it much more enjoyable for everyone, including myself. This informality is a clear defining characteristic of SLUGlets as opposed to the Special Interest Talks, which are normally quite serious and intellectual.

I had also offered to give a "Privoxy in Under Five Minutes" talk as well, but unfortunately we ran out of time. Perhaps another time.

All in all, I am mostly happy with how things went. Sure, my talk could have been slicker, but nobody expects a professional presentation in SLUGlets. The fact that I was trying to demonstrate a Web browser without Internet access didn’t help either, nor did the time constraint. This was the first time I have done something like this, so I couldn’t have expected it to be flawless.