‘Til All Are One

The second Open CeBIT in Sydney ended last week. Forming a section of the much larger CeBIT expo, Open CeBIT focused on open source technologies and solutions. I was involved in three stands: BizCubed (my employer), Linux Australia and Open Source Industry Australia.

In the market, FOSS is clearly maturing and becoming more mainstream. At a CeBIT a couple of years ago, I’d be answering basic questions like, “what is open source?”, “what is Linux?” and “how do you make money?” This year, I didn’t get any questions like that at all. Most people knew something about Linux and FOSS, and just needed some direction to get started.

We had much interest in community and general usage at the Linux Australia stand. Our Fedora, Ubuntu and Edubuntu discs were popular. Of immense popularity were our OLPC XOs, thanks to OLPC Australia. Visitors were genuinely interested in the units, and I didn’t hear any negative feedback at all. I do believe that a lot of people did understand that this is an education project for children in the developing world and not just a laptop project.

At the Open Source Industry Australia stand, I spoke to many people who were interested in deploying FOSS solutions to solve specific problems. Many of these people would not have considered FOSS in the past, so clearly our message is resonating.

Coming up in a couple of weeks (June 14-15) is the Education Expo. We’ve always been successful there, and all signs point to us repeating that.

LotD:   MacGyver is favourite disaster hero

Things have certainly been crazy as of late. Being elected onto the SLUG Committee (at the March AGM) has given me a greater appreciation of local community issues and of what it takes to co-ordinate a group. At the same time, managing the Linux Australia stand at Open CeBIT has also been a tremendous learning experience. My official report is here.

I’ve had a few requests to elaborate upon the ‘brush with death’ mentioned in that message. Driving home after the second day of CeBIT, I experienced a car accident. While travelling at at least 60km/h, I somehow lost consciousness, and woke up phoughed into the side of another car. Fortunately, the car was parked and unoccupied. Nobody was involved aside from myself. The car was a write-off, but the passenger cabin was fully intact and I experienced no injuries. The other car was part of a company fleet, and its custodian wasn’t bothered much at all. Insurance took care of the costs on both sides.

I was quite shaken after the crash, and I very nearly didn’t go to CeBIT the next day. After being cleared by a paramedic and two doctors (one on the night of the crash and another the following morning), I decided that I wasn’t going to let this get in my way. It was probably the best decision that I made, since it forced me to get back on my feet doing something that I love, rather than sitting at home in misery. I was unable to moderate the Linux Australia panel discussion that I had helped to organise, but I was there at the stand just like on the previous two days.

Otherwise, CeBIT was a resounding success. It proved to be a fantastic springboard for us to launch the inaugural SLUG Bootcamp. More on this later.

I can’t fully explain why I blacked out in the first place. When I was younger, I would occasionally black out under certain circumstances. Neurologists at the time couldn’t identify what it was, but told me not to worry about it. I was probably just exhausted, from the exhibiting all day, the planning in the lead-up to the event, my new job, TAFE, and various other things. The doctors that I spoke with agreed with me that it was probably just a microsleep.

I’m still recovering from the after-effects of the accident. I get stressed more easily when driving, but I can feel that slowly receding with time. Most of all, I feel exceptionally lucky that I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else.

LotD:  IBM PC Real Time Clock should run in UT

It’s New Year’s Day in the Tamil calendar, so happy new year! I didn’t know about this until only a few days ago, and coincidentally I concluded my job yesterday. Also coincidentally, yesterday was Friday the 13th. So it looks like I might be at the mercy of two superstitions, one good and one bad. I’m hoping that at worst they cancel each other out, leaving the commencement of my new employment next week to be a neutral affair.

LotD:  Nigerian students power up their laptops

The unholy combination of work and study have devoured me over the past month.

One point of mention is an interview I had with James Purser for Open Source On The Air. Having never been interviewed before, I was rather nervous. I was also waiting to be accepted or declined as an Ubuntu Member at the Community Council meeting, which only increased my anxiety. It also didn’t help that it was past 10pm, and I was suffering from a lack of sleep. If I sound dopey, please keep those points in mind. With that disclaimer announced, I think I conducted myself quite well.

In other news, I’m glad to hear that my nomination of Elkbuntu for the Linux Australia People’s Choice Community Member of the Year Award (wow, that’s a mouthful!) was heeded. Congratulations, Melissa! I am looking forward to drinking that beer!

Link of the day: Paris Hilton vomits while singing

For some reason, I’m reminded of the title of a 1980s sitcom. No, my name is not Charles, thank you for reminding me.

My manager arranged to go on leave over the fortnight school holiday period, and in his pre-holiday euphoria he decided to leave the responsibility of performing his duties with myself.

Almost immediately after his departure, things began to go beserk. A rash of strange and urgent issues cropped up, and that was on top of the unfinished business he had left us with (although to his credit, he did his best to minimise that). Things which were seemingly complete reared their ugly heads once more, and I was left to tidy the mess.

I took the role most seriously, to the point of putting in one or two extra hours of work per day. I was stressed to levels that I had not experienced in years. I’m so incredibly grateful that this leadership stint coincided with TAFE holidays, otherwise I don’t know what I would have done.

An important skill is an ability to juggle many tasks at once. I am not terrible in that respect, but you could not exactly call me adept, either. Had I had more experience (lower context switching latency, etc.), I might have completed tasks more quickly, but we were so overworked that I don’t think the difference would have been significant.

I was painfully aware that once my fortnight was over, I would have to revert to my previous status and once again work on an equal level with these people. I certainly did not wish to burn any bridges. This forced me to walk a tightrope when it came to weilding authority.

Communication is certainly the key to effective management. I would not have gotten anywhere without constant liaison with my co-workers and other managers in the company. On the whole (and despite a few stressful incidents), I was well supported by everyone else in the company. As a caretaker, I did not consider it to be my place to make any policy changes, but certain circumstances forced us to adapt. Under advisement from above, I implemented a few tweaks to our procedures, hopefully for the better.

My manager has been back for three days, and only today do I feel like I’m back doing my old job and not his. There were a few odds-and-ends to tie up even after his return, and it took him a little while to get back into the groove as well. I think we have both re-found our respective places, though. The feedback I have received has been very positive, and I have been asked to consider taking on certain duties on a permanent basis. I’ll have to take some time to reflect upon the past couple of weeks before I can give an appropriate answer.