O'Reilly to Oregon: We're Leaving (On A Jet Plane)

The O'Reilly Open Source Conference — OSCON — has made its home in Portland, Oregon since 2003, but won't be any longer, as the event's organizers have decided to pull up stakes and — like many other technology groups — move to California's San Francisco Bay area.

The move, which leaves Portland without a major Open Source event, is a response to rising travel costs and the huge numbers of technology-oriented people in the Bay Area population, says O'Reilly's Gina Blaber. "[I]t makes sense to put a large event like OSCON in the Bay Area, where there is a huge local population for whom travel is not a significant issue." The conference brings in around 2,000 attendees each year, making it the largest annual conference in Portland.

For the time being, O'Reilly is signing Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye, though the company has reportedly expressed an intention to return to Portland at some future date. There are no current plans to do so in the works, however, suggesting it may be some time before Oregon hears OSCON singing Someday We'll Be Together.