[ILUG] e-XPO

[Niall]

Well, the dust has settled on e-XPO 2000. Unfortunately, I couldn't join you
all this evening for wind-down drinks because of other commitments, but I
was there in spirit.

I think the show was a success for ILUG. For the couple of hours I was
there, the stand was quite busy, and the majority of people coming by had at
least heard of Linux. Personal highlights for me were

a) Talking to a man from a CD/record distributor who's considering where to
go next with an internal database application - they're currently running
something on an NT server. I was saying that a big Linux point for me was
reliability and stability. I mentioned a box I manage which has been up for
a year, and was last down 6 months ago for a new hard disk, and is next
scheduled for downtime sometime over the next couple of months for yet
another hard disk. I then asked him when his NT server was last rebooted to
which he answered - "Well, it did go down once or twice last week, actually"

b) Stepping onto the Microsoft stand wearing my T-shirt and getting really
filthy looks from some of their suits (I didn't realise where I was - I just
stood on the stand because it was between me and where I wanted to be :-) )

c) The Microsoft demonstration where a "This application has executed an
illegal instruction . . ." dialog box appeared. Fortunately, I only heard
about this - if I'd been there, I'd have ruptured something laughing :-)

This sort of writing often carries on with "I can't single out anybody for
special mention" but in this case I certainly can. Kudos has to go to the
people from CLUG, with Donncha in the driver's seat, who organised the whole
thing, got lent machines, got sponsorship for T-shirts, and took days off
work to come to Dublin (yeah, I know they grasp at any chance to do so, but
still . . .) to man the stand. I was there for a half day, but I work for
myself and my time is flexible - these guys took days off work, and incurred
personal travel expenses, and I think they deserve a big hand, and I sure
hope one of them got to take the Tux sex doll :-) home.

Peter's origami flyer was a big hit, but unfortunately I forgot to take some
home, so I can't try it out :-(


First LAID, and now e-XPO - is there anything these Cork boys can't organise ?

Once again, thanks to all - it was nice to put faces to some more ILUG
names, and I hope I was able to teach some of you young 'uns a thing or two
about professional trade show organisation, (which basically boils down to
"If it's not nailed down, . . . .")



Kindest regards,


Niall  O Broin