[ILUG] e-XPO

[John P. Looney]

On Thu, May 11, 2000 at 11:21:52PM +0100, Niall mentioned:
> 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

 For me were:

 Standing in front of the microsoft stand, with a large inflatable Tux,
with the microsoft employees (and some visitors) staring at us, wondering
what we were doing, and Dave shaking a lot with nervousness, as it was
quite likely we'ed all get chucked out.

 Talking to the nice men from Aladdin, about their little "16/64k
EEPROM on a USB dongle" thing, that they were giving away. And the fact
that they would send me an SDK, and some extra info, to judge the scope of
writing linux drivers for it (SSH and PHP private keys on a keyring
people!!!).

 Talking to a nice man from a courseware group, about Him writing linux
courses (they already have some written), then giving them to ILUG for
free, to be taught to members, and the us being paid to give feedback, for
the next version of the courseware.

 Checking out the kit Zoom were selling: 10cm by 3cm by 6cm box, with an
ethernet port, ISDN port, and power port, running embedded linux, a
webserver for configuration, DHCPd, with 128bit stuff for VPNs, NAT, IP
chains....for £250!!! (and loads of more high end stuff, but nothing you
could put in a shirt pocket).

 Talking to a nice man about finding loads of linux contractors that would
do some development & support of a commercial product. And then seeing him
squeal in delight when I beamed him my business card from my Pilot (his
pilot was just bought the day before!).

 Talking to the really nice (and some were quite pretty) Corel people, who
gave us about 150 CDs to give away - and as we were leaving, gave us as
much again, for people to bring home. If anyone knows a good way of
putting these CDs of Corel Linux to use, drop a mail to the list. They
gave me and Ronan Kirby a great big inflatable Tux too. 

 Corel linux is for *new users* that won't be doing server stuff. If you
are on ILUG already, I don't want to waste Corel's valuable CDs on you.
These are for peoples mums. Secondary schools. Office secrataries. Stuff
like that.

 Oh, and talking to that mad belly dancer that reckoned I was quite
fetching, while hugging said inflatable Tux. That was fun.

 I'd do that again.

Kate

-- 
"The fool must be beaten with a stick, for an intelligent person 
the merest hint is sufficient"                -- Zen Master Greg