Screaming Penguin

HEIGHT=225 WIDTH=400>LinuxExpo Review: Well, as I reported earlier I did go to Linux Expo but only for the last day, Saturday, because of my schedule. I assumed Saturday would be the BIG day, being the ONLY weekend day it was open and being the finale. WRONG. Saturday was LAME. I was very dissapointed in LinuxExpo and I probably wont return. The Atlanta Linux Showcase is better ( href="http://linuxshowcase.org">Linuxshowcase). I made it Saturday afternoon. I had to beg to even GET IN. They apparently had some serious scheduling and planning problems and EVEN though the website said the floor was open 10AM to 2PM they were DISCOURAGING people from entering! I was not the only person outside and irate at the organizers. I drove from Atlanta (at my only opportunity, after work on Friday!) The last thing I was expecting was LIP while trying to get in and support Linux and spend some cash with the exhibitors. I bet none of the exhibitors were aware of the fact that visitors arriving after 12PM on SAT were discouraged. BULLSHIT in my opinion and if I was an exhibitor I would have been more pissed off than I was as a patron. Come on fools, ITS SATURDAY, all I want to do is see the exhibit floor! Eventually I just walked away from the lady who said she was in charge of everything, she said she was the BOSS and that was it, no deal (Stacy Dobson if anybody cares.) I just walked past her to the entrance and told the doorman I dont have a badge, she wont let me buy one, I just want to see the floor, and I am going in! She followed me, listened as I explained to the doorman. They then looked at each other and said go ahead, 5 minutes. So after all that hassle, I was in. Other potential patrons were still out front arguing about getting in. I admitted I was a little late, but it was my only chance to get there. I said to the guy at the entrance, man, its Saturday, the floor is full, whats the big rush? The doorman explained to me that the organizers of LinuxExpo had saved a few bucks and only had the space rented until exactly 2PM, not 2:30, not 4, 2PM. So they were discouraging visitors and yelling at exhibitors to tear down by about 1:30, even though 2PM was advertised. What a joke. It goes without saying that they didnt want my money or interest for the Extreme Linux seminar either, oh well. After my frustration, which was somewhat brought on by my own tardiness, I admit, but ridiculously exagerrated by piss poor management. I enjoyed the exhibits. I wandered around for about an hour, even after cleanup was forced on the exhibitors who were still selling stuff. All of the exhibits were top notch, staffed by freindly folks and very cool. Once inside the show was a little small in scale, but very well done by the exhibitors. Of notable stature were the IBM, Oracle, SGI, HP, SUSE, RHAD, Extreme Linux (way cool rack beowulf exhibit), LinuxCare, LinuxToday, Linux Journal, and LinuxMall exhibits. I got some great books, t-shirts, a CD of every distribution represented, stickers, brochures and general show junk. I was going to buy a t-shirt for each one of you, but they kicked me out right as I was going for my wallet, sorry. In conclusion, good show, but, very poorly organized and planned. Next time I wont bother, I dont want to inconvenience Stacy Dobson or any of the organizers who said I was "making her job difficult." Geeze, sorry! Tell that to the 7 vendors who got my money!