2016 started off with a bang. Linux dominated CES, where many Linux-based products were showcased. The first month of the year also brought us one of the largest community-driven open source events of North America — the Southern California Linux Expo, aka SCaLE.
The 14th edition of this event was held at the Pasadena Convention Center in warm and sunny Pasadena, California on Jan. 21-24, 2016. What impressed me the most about the event was the “scale” of organization. SCaLE is similar to European FOSDEM in the sense that it’s fully organized by volunteers and managed by a committee including Hriday Balachandran, Larry Cafiero, Ilan Rabinovitch, Gareth J. Greenaway, and Ron Golan, who, along with about 100 other volunteers, make SCALE happen.
Mark Shuttleworth’s Keynote
This year, Canonical co-hosted their Ubucon Summit at SCaLE. A highlight of the first day of SCaLE was a keynote by Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth at Ubucon Summit.
Shuttleworth talked about celebrating the diversity in the open source world and mentioned how Ubuntu is growing to address different needs from different markets — from IBM mainframes to drones to smart cars.
At night, Jon “maddog” Hall, Jono Bacon, and 14-year-old Keila Banks delivered separate presentations on the past, present, and future of Linux and open source. Hall and Bacon returned to the stage to remember Debian founder Ian Murdock who passed away recently. The night ended with a “Linux Sucks” stand-up routine by Bryan Lunduke.
Conclusion
This was the first time I had attended SCaLE, and I loved it. I really liked the fact that the entire event was organized by volunteers. Additionally, it offered the whole package — there were serious talks, there were celebrities, there were kids, infants, and even dogs. And, there was non-stop entertainment including stand-up routines, game night events, and Bad Voltage.
I am going back next year!
