FLOS Caribbean: Success! (Part 1)

The
Free, Libré and
Open Source" (FLOS) Software Conference here in Trinidad
and Tobago went off without any obvious hitches, thanks to the
administrative staff of the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies
and the ever present Trinidad and Tobago Linux User Group
volunteers. The conference brought together an unprecedented amount
of talent and experience for the first time in Trinidad and Tobago,
and this was it's greatest success.The conference was held in the
Eric
Williams Plaza on the 16th floor. Yet the conference view
itself was even better - full of people who were actively
participating in discussions with the speakers and between
themselves. In fact,
eGovOS couldn't have
possibly picked a better site for the conference than the
organizers did - the DotOrg pavilion on the ground floor was a
thriving area with people from the various Trinidad and Tobago
government ministries and bank offices in the building.The speakers were nothing less than excellent, and it's
impossible to mention every contributor in a simple article.Dr. St. Clair King (Ixanos Limited) was a rare treat as he
put everything into a local perspective very early in the
conference. His comments on the development of the local region's
Information Industry allowed attendees to see immediately how Free
Software and Open Source affected the future of the region - and
even poignantly showed how everyone at the conference itself was a
part of that vision. Robin "Roblimo" Miller gave a much broader
view in some respects, but he gave very specific examples on how
the region could benefit from Free Software and Open Source with
precedents which he has seen over time. With Richard Jobity
(President of the TTLUG) as Chairperson, discussion related to Free
Software and Open Source in context really kicked things off with
the energy and flavor that would be maintained throughout the
conference by local and foreign speakers combined.David Sugar (FSF, GNU Bayonne, GNU Alexandria) and Roger
Peña Escobio (Informed, Cuba) kicked off the second day in
much the same manner with the 'Business, Government, Education and
Gender Legal Issues' session. Small businesses and librarians
really got a treat on a second day with special sessions for their
respective groups. Steve Traugott's talk on "Automating the systems
administration function in the enterprise" was a thought provoking
session for everyone involved, and was a rare treat as well.In fact, Steve's comment at the end of the conference echoes
on the TTLUG mailing list in words, but also in spirit: "The
Trinidad and Tobago Linux User Group is probably the future of IT
in Trinidad and Tobago". Hearing that from an outsider - a member
of the SVLUG - really fired up the mailing list and community
spirit.The unfortunate part of all of this was the lack of
development - hacker - related topics. As one of the last speakers
of the conference, I was faced with 45 minutes to speak directly
about software development. There were 6 developers in the audience
of approximately 40 (the attendees were split into separate
tracks), which is symptomatic of a problem that needs to be
addressed: More hackers. The TTLUG answer is - "we'll fix
that!"Attendance at the conference was great, and it was amazing to
meet some of the people who came to the conference. We had people
from all over the Caribbean, a few of whom I had met and had the
great pleasure to speak with at length. This was not just a
conference for Trinidad and Tobago. This was a conference for the
Caribbean and South America. Hallway conversations were amazing, as
people doing similar things throughout the region met for the first
time. Where there were isolated people before, there is a stronger
community now.The break room on the 16th floor gave a breathtaking view of
the Gulf of Paria - in a manner, it was symbolic of this inaugural
conference. At this level, it's easy to imagine government
officials and ranking banking personnel eating lunch and enjoying
this astounding view - yet isolated from the ground, from the
people on the street. They do not smell the sea port or feel the
heat at street level. They do not taste the dust in their mouths at
this level, and all looks well. At the ground floor, things look
different - and at the conference, things were no different. There
is a serious disconnect between formal and informal communities,
and that is the key issue to resolve - both groups need each other,
and hopefully both groups understand this.The DotOrg pavilion was mired by the security of the
building, yet rose and surpassed the challenge. The Trinidad and
Tobago Linux User Group, the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society
and the Trinidad and Tobago Apple Community were out in force at
their booths - and the normal traffic for the building was drawn to
these booths as well as the sponsor booths. It was common to see
CDs being burned as Pink Tie Linux (use your imagination), Knoppix
and the GNU Win II CD sold out. These and the people who handled
the administrative issues are the unsung heroes of the conference.
The energy on this first floor was amazing, and even more amazingly
- it never stopped. In fact, it carried over to a nearby Pizza Hut
after the conference until it closed.As the first conference, nothing was perfect - and it's safe
to say that such conferences will never be perfect. There is much
more to write about regarding this conference, and there will be
much more over the next week. This conference touched off a chain
reaction that is immeasurable, and every single person who was a
part of it has become part of a stronger and thriving
community.Taran Rampersad is a software developer and consultant based
out of Trinidad and Tobago, and was a speaker at the FLOS Caribbean
conference, and can be reached at KnowProSE.com. He is still
wondering if he's been accepted as a member of the Free Beer
Foundation.

email: info@ssc.com