First weeks al Linaro and other things

I few weeks ago I announced I was joining Linaro. I work there as Director of Core Development Group. I moved from Prague to Cambridge (the original), that is, from continental to oceanic climate. From dry, cold in winter and hot in summer to wet, soft in summer and above zero most of the winter. In theory an improvement, you might think. Well, depending on much it rains. I will tell you better in spring.

A few days ago The Mukt published and interview where I explained a little what is Linaro and what do I do as Core Development Director. 

Core Development Group

I can add that Linaro is an engineering focused organization, divided in Engineering Groups. Some of them, like the one I am part of, are formed by several engineering teams, some of them called Working Groups. Core Development is formed by four:

• Kernel
• Power Management
• Security
• Virtualization

 You can find more details in the Core Development wiki page, at Linaro Wiki.

These first few weeks I have gone through the natural landing process, meeting my colleagues and managers, knowing how we operate, learning about my responsibilities, the work engineers are doing, the plans for the future, analysing our internal processes, etc. Nothing unusual in these cases.

In July I had the opportunity to attend to the Linaro Kernel and Power Management Sprint, hosted by one of our Members, ST, in Le Mans. It was a very interesting week.

Linaro Connect

My following event will be Linaro Connect, in San Francisco, USA, in September. Linaro Connect are the events where all the Linaro employees meet. Those of you who are familiar with the Ubuntu Developer Summit knows what I am talking about. Linaro Connect takes place twice a year in a different continent and it is also an opportunity to have a direct contact with our Members.

Factory as a rolling release: openSUSE development version

A few days ago it was announced that Factory moved to a rolling release model. So the first step of the 2014/2016 plan has been completed. I was very happy to see that the openSUSE team could lead the execution of this relevant step for the distro in time. The Development version of openSUSE is now a reality that not just can increase the overall number of contributors, but also bring significant innovation to SUSE Linux Enterprise integration process. Congratulations. I am very proud of being part of the team. I will always be.

I would like to specially congratulate Roland Haidl, the Director of Communities at SUSE. The most important (and hardest) thing you can get from a manager is trust, and the openSUSE team had it from him to build a good team, support the changes the team went through back in 2012 (tough times), stand strong behind the new strategy defined in 2013 and support the team during the design and execution of this first milestone. And he did this without making noise, letting the results speak. A management handbook success.

Personal challenges

On the personal side, relocating has taken most of my energy the last two and a half month. But I have managed to do/plan other things.

LinuxCon Europe

I am part of the LinuxCon Europe Content Committee. The last few days I have been evaluating, together with my colleagues in the committee, the abstracts presented. I has been an interesting work

LinuxCon Europe have very promising keynote speakers but the whole program will be filled up with first class contents.

Sometimes you never know what lives will bring you. I was invited to be part of the committee before joining Linaro. My work now is very related to the Linux Kernel and suddenly, last week, Linaro becomes a Linux Foundation Member. I do not want to think too much about coincidences vs. destiny but....

Akademy 2014

This year Akademy has moved to September and the dates collide with a personal compromise (a wedding) and the preparations for the Linaro Connect so I won't be able to attend. It will be the first time I'll miss it since 2005, when I attended for the first time. I am very sad about it. I tried but...

And it is specially sad for me because the new Treasurer will have to present the financial report about the past 2013, when I was the Treasurer. Being there should be the right thing to do. But I simply cannot make it.

I already missed Akademy-es 2014, that took place in Málaga and was organized by my former colleague Antonio Larrosa and sponsored by my former company, SUSE. I am not running away from KDE, I promise. The Calendar is working against me, that's all.

TEDxLaLaguna

I am a TED video consumer since some years ago, not many. Suddenly, I received a mail from a colleague at college giving me the opportunity to start.....and at home, in the Canary Islands.

Of course I want to try!

So in October I will be in Tenerife giving a TED talk in the local event TEDxLalaguna. Obviously I am already preparing the talk. Let's see how it goes.

As you can see, it is going to be an intensive year, after all.

Akademy 2012: my story

Another Akademy is gone. This was a good one. Beautifully organized (probably the best one), nice city, good venue... Of course it wasn't perfect, but I've been in way more expensive events where things didn't go as smooth as in this Akademy. Thanks to the Akademy-team for the effort. I liked Tallinn. I'll be back.

I didn't attend to this Akademy in shape. As you already know, two weeks before the event, I moved to Nuremberg to begin my new job at SUSE. Going through the last step of the hiring process, packing everything and moving in just some days was challenging. Add to that finishing the economic report to send it to KDE e.V. members before the event, catching up with KDE Connect activities (and the talk) and finishing the keynote preparation and arriving late at night to the hotel.....it is easy to understand why my keynote wasn't as good as I would like to, and you probably expected.

I'll do better next time. Sorry.

By Sunday I felt much better and my KDE Connect talk was a little better. I explained the basics of the program and I could talk to several companies about it. Congrats to the ones that got an Akademy Award. They are well deserved.

And then Spain won the Eurocup. Oh man, what a feeling. After so many years without winning, these last six years taste like glory for football fans like myself.

I don't even remember what I did the day after. Probably doesn't matter. I will never forget the feeling of knowing we are the best ever.

On Tuesday we had the KDE eV General Assembly. I presented the economic report and the conclusions. I feel good about the presentation since I think I managed to give the message I prepared clearly. I got elected as Board Member so I'm not 'temporary' anymore :-) Congrats to Pradeepto too, who also was elected.

By Wednesday I was in shape, so BoF were smooth.

As usual, when you come back home from these events.....you are exhausted. I was, once again.

I would like to mention here what I already expressed during Nokia's/Qt talk at Akademy. First of all, my respects for standing in front of KDE contributors. These things are not easy. Others in the past didn't even show up. You not just did, but also gave explanations. Yes, the ones you had, but explanations at the end. Thank you. It has been an amazing journey and more is yet to come. We in KDE don't feel this is the end but a new beginning.

I liked to see together once again the KDE Spain crew. They (ups, we) are not kids anymore. We are getting more and more responsibilities within KDE. This is the result of many people's effort, but above all, is the result of Albert passion, hard work and vision. KDE Spain is nowadays not just the most mature KDE little sister, but is also economically healthy and growing, Bilbao is trying to be selected to host next year's Akademy....

Albert...thanks.

The results of the election for the new Board came during Akademy. Aleix Pol is now the new President. He'll be a good one. Congratulations Aleix...and the rest of the new Board members.

I will write soon deeply about KDE Connect and the economic report. 

I have a final request for sponsors, as contributor........

Dear sponsors, in Free Software communities, there are people like me, who do not code, but still have a little sensible heart that suffers while watching others during several days having lots of fun playing like kids with nice new toys (devices) they receive from you during events. 

KDE Connect: becoming an official KDE eV program for organizations

During the last 3-4 weeks we have been testing if KDE Connect attract attention from different organizations. To do so, we have done the following:

• Make a presentation during  Akademy-es in Saragossa
• Talk to different organization representatives and KDE people at LinuxTag about the project to get feedback.

Both experience has been positive so we think we are now prepare for the following step, getting the ok from KDE eV to the Action Plan.

Back in February, I presented the project general design to KDE eV and we agree on keep pushing it,  creating a team and developing an Action Plan. After some work, it is time to discuss it. So within the Board of Directors first and then within the eV, we will discuss the proposal made by KDE Connect team to make sure KDE networking program for organizations is a success.

To reinforce the project, along with Akademy team, we have decided to organize a networking session during Akademy 2012, on Monday 2nd, during the afternoon, so organizations attending to our event can participate and get a clear idea of what KDE Connect pretend and how they can take advantage out of it.

If you are interested in attending please stay tuned to this blog or Akademy website. Participation will be free (of cost) but you'll need to register.

My activity as KDE Treasurer... so far.

KDE is a mature worldwide community FLOSS project. Contributors develop KDE Frameworks, Workspaces and Applications that are used by many people and companies around the world. Some of them get paid for contributing while others do it for fun. All them share an identity and some universal and specific values.

To sustain such a huge activity, resources are needed, and they need to be managed. One of those resources is....yes, money. One of the KDE eV Board of Directors goals is to build relations with organizations that could be interested in supporting KDE activity in many different ways. Supporting us economically is one of the relevant. To improve this goal, KDE eV hired a Business Manager, Claudia Rauch. You can check KDE Quarterly Reports to get information about our incomes and expenses.

KDE eV Board manage those resources, assuming the legal responsibility for them and making sure they serve to KDE goals. Claudia is also of great help in this goal.

Beside contributing in every aspect of the Board activity, as Treasurer, I have three major duties:

http://jointhegame.kde.org/

• Assume the legal responsibility for a correct management of the economic resources.
• Lead the creation of the budget, the financial reports and the everyday control of KDE eV resources. Presenting the year repost to the KDE eV assembly is a major milestone.
• Lead the economic discussions/decisions within the Board to take the better possible decisions to accomplish the action plan, guided by the strategic decisions.

I have previous and wide experience in business and professional associations but this is my first relevant experience as Board Member of a community project. As expected, there are many similarities and a few but relevant differences. Maybe one day I have time to talk about them. I think it could be an interesting post.

I'm still trying to catch up with my responsibilities and it will take me a little while to contribute at 100% but, fortunately, since I'm not working, I have some time to make this adaptation process shorter. The rest of the Board members and Claudia are helping me.

As you can see in the financial section of every Quarterly Reports, a big part of our economic effort is concentrated in two areas, Akademy and technical Sprints. The last couple of months, the Board is taking decisions that have a big impact, in terms of budget, on those two areas, so I've tried to catch up fast to participate with criteria, being useful.

The third week of May I will go to Berlin to work with Claudia on the 2011 report we will present to KDE eV during the General Assembly (check previous announcement), that will take place during Akademy 2012 in Tallinn. I have also to learn a little about German taxes/law that affect KDE eV so it will be more efficient to work at KDE office with her.

LinuxTag will take place during that week so I'll meet Cornelius Schumacher (KDE eV President) and Lydia Pintcher (Board member) there. We will have time to talk about what needs to be done during the second half of the year. With this effort, I expect to be prepare to defend the Board action from past and present year, in the economic area, during the General Assembly.

I have a second personal goal. My election as Board Member and Treasurer ends in Akademy so, no matter if I present myself as candidate for a full period election or not, I would like to leave to the next treasurer the most relevant/urgent decisions related with this year already taken, so he/she will have a few months for landing, evaluate and prepare the budget for next year with little pressure.

In future posts I will write about other aspects of the Treasurer job. I think that in general, they are not well known although they are relevant. During Akademy, Sebas and Lydia (Board Members), will give a talk about KDE eV. Don't miss it. It will be very informative.

KDE Connect progress

The last few weeks KDE Connect Team has been working on different areas. To know a little more about KDE Connect please check the end of this post.

Tools

Thanks to our awesome sysadmin team, we have a management tool to help us coordinating every effort we do. KDE Connect in not an isolated project. We already have or will have relation with many other KDE projects so we want to make sure we are prepared for growing without heavily increasing the administrative and coordination efforts needed to offer a high quality service.

KDE Connect will have mailing lists, IRC channels, forums...everything you expect from a community project. We will be open them up by demand, little by little. So don't expect them as soon as the project is launched.

Artwork and marketing

Asun Sánchez is designing our logo and we are preparing a brochure for organizations that might want to join us. It will include a basic description of the Program and the basic terms and conditions.

KDE Connect will be presented during Akademy-es that will take place in Saragossa from May 18th to 20th.

Akademy 2012 Program Committee has just communicate me that the KDE Connect talk has been accepted so we will have a presentation this summer at Tallin, Estonia.

Procedures and activities

We are also defining the basic procedures that will be followed by KDE Connect team and organizations involved. The networking activities are also being described so KDE Connect Team members can have clear guidelines.

Roadmap

The roadmap is also under development. The initial plan is to launch KDE Connect in May. We will organize several activities during Akademy, so we need to do some previous work with organizations that will attend to our central event.

If everything goes as expected, I will be attending to LinuxTag 2012 helping in KDE booth and doing some KDE eV Board work .

Join KDE Connect Team

I would like to thank all the people that is helping me in this idea. If you are a KDE members and want to get involved, get in touch with me.

KDE Connect previous references

• Please check the previous post about KDE Connect
• Other references:
• KDE Connect early definition
• Some thoughts about dealing with private information in KDE Connect
• KDE Connect structure (check my blog for previous articles since Nov. 2011.

About KDE eV, its Board of Directors and the Treasurer position

What is KDE eV

In order to get to the point where we are right now in KDE, coding is obviously not enough. To be able to ship KDE Platform, Workspaces and Applications, there are non-technicals activities that must be done in different areas. Some of those can be better accomplished creating a legal entity.

To support KDE in some of those tasks, we created some time ago KDE eV, a legal organization based in Germany. It is formed by some KDE members that want to put some time and effort in helping developers to concentrate in what they like the most.... coding, bug fixing, translating, designing, etc.. KDE eV support the community in four major areas:

1. Legal
2. Administrative
3. Economic
4. Institutional

It is important to focus on the verb support, which have little to do with drive or decide. This concept is not easy to understand and, in practice, it brings some challenges. But that idea is part or our identity and differentiate us from many Free Software projects. Like any other legal entity, KDE eV has some duties that we cannot avoid, obviously, but we work everyday to make that compatible with what our community want and demand.

To achieve this goal, we need to be constantly open to what the community is demanding and the best way to do this is involving in KDE e.V. those people who significantly contribute to our project.

A German eV is different in some aspects from a Foundation (in US for example) or an Association (in Spain for instance). These differences explain some of the limitations and improvements we can achieve. Legal entities are just instruments and there is no single universal tool that works for everything everywhere, right?

KDE Board of Directors

Like every legal entity, somebody must be responsible for actions and decisions taken, leading and representing the group. KDE eV Assembly elects a five Board members (individually) for a three year period. Different countries also have different ideas of Board rights and duties.

Please check KDE eV Statutes to know more about our organization.

KDE eV elects a Chairman (we call it President) and two proxies. One of them must be the Treasurer. As you probably know, Cornelius Schumacher is our President. Sebastian Kügler Vicepresident, Celeste Lyn Paul and Lydia Pintscher are also Board members.

Treasurer

A few weeks ago, Frank Karlitschek, resigned as Treasurer to focus on OwnCloud Inc., his successful new project, so a we had a vacancy.

The plan is to open an election during KDE eV Assembly, that will take place during Akademy, to elect a long term Treasurer. Until then, I've been elected as new Board member and Treasurer.

One of the things I would like to do during this period is to write about the economic aspects of KDE. Some of the information I will manage is confidential, but there is room for explaining a lot about how a community driven Libre Software project, like KDE, work. We usually do not have time for things like this but I hope I can, at least, write two or three posts about this topic before Akademy.

I don't want to finish without thanking KDE eV members for supporting me. I'll work hard to live up to the circumstances.

KDE Connect: preparing the new program

KDE Connect preparations keep going. Right now we are taking some key decisions for the future and also preparing the tools and some of the basic procedures to coordinate this effort. Every goes slow but forward. We are in no hurry since we want to make sure we do it well.

Yes, we changed the name. The Program won't be called KDE ON anymore but KDE Connect. We think is closer to the project goal.

KDE Connect is our effort to create an ecosystem of companies, educational organizations and non-profit entities around our community. We pretend to structure the early stages of the involvement these organizations that approaches KDE. But also we want to give them the chance to meet each other, interact and create new opportunities.

Right now we are recruiting a group of people willing to help us with little things or concrete tasks we need to do in order to launch the project as soon as we can, having Akademy 2012 as major milestone. We are also working on the tools we will use to manage the project and defining some procedures for simple and basic tasks.

I'm happy about how things are going since it looks like most KDE members understand how important and the relevant impact KDE Connect can have in the future for KDE. This is the first but mandatory step in order to create a medium term project. We will reach a point where most tasks and procedures will be defined so we will need some people to help us executing them.

Obviously, going through this process will mean that many of them will change. That is the good thing about working with smart people, right? They help you to turn good ideas into great projects.

Should we go for another Desktop Summit?

During more than a year, back in 2008 - 2009, I invested a good amount of hours, along with many friends, local contributors and companies, KDE and GNOME members, local public administrations and universities, sponsors, etc. to make true an attractive and risky idea: co-hosting GUADEC and Akademy in Gran Canaria. Two years later, another great group of people did exactly the same to take that idea further, creating a better defined product, the Desktop Summit.

The last few months both communities are discussing about the results of that effort and the challenges we have ahead us. I would like to share my vision. I've found tons of arguments to support it. It is pretty clear to me. I've just written what I think are the most relevant ones.

1. I've written in the past my concerns about keep laying most of the organization tasks on volunteers and pretending at the same time to celebrate a big and high quality event. That is simply impossible. Every time we get the best we can give. The question is if that enough to achieve our goals in the following years. Do we have other options? Our communities deserve and demand a well organized event. That takes a lot of resources and people. I have no doubt that sharing the organization tasks have made us more efficient.
2. The Desktop Summit is far from perfect. But both, GUADEC and Akademy are not either. Promoting the idea that globally we loose more that we gain by joining efforts is not accurate.
3. This joint conference is, by far, the biggest example of cooperation between two free software communities in history. It is an example, one more, of the idea that has bringing us here. Together we can do much more and much better. Supporting that this principle only works within our communities do not make sense to me. This is an universal principle.
4. During the past two editions, there haven't been any single key issue that could not be solved in the future by representatives from both communities with effort and honest negotiation. We are walking through an unexplored field. We have done many mistakes and many more will come. This is a well known situation for both, GNOME and KDE. We know we can handle it if we have a clear common goal. We've done it in the past within our communities and we can do it during the next Desktop Summit too.
5. KDE and GNOME boards have came to basic agreements that ensure a fair event for both communities in most basic aspects. Instead of concentrating our efforts on going 50-50 in every single detail, we should be putting our hands on multiplying the impact of our current efforts in every way.
6. From the economic point of view, we have a better chance to succeed together than by our own. This might not be true in every Desktop Summit for both communities, but in the medium term I'm sure the Desktop Summit will be more profitable than the addition of both, Akademy and GUADEC.
7. Our communities are mature. Both, KDE and GNOME have a well defined identity. We have a clear view of who we are and what we want. But most of the people out there don't know it. In fact, most of the people out there do not know we exist. We develop two great desktops but less than 2% of the market use it. Unless something dramatically change, we won't become relevant players in the next few years. We simply will face another "this will be the Free Desktop Year", once more. Our contributors, our developers, our users, deserve a different status quo. This event is, by far, the best opportunity we have to induce that change.
8. In order to increase our impact, we need to reach a wider audience. Our current efforts should be complemented with media coverage. The Desktop Summit is the most attractive product we can offer them to help us.
9. Having a joint conference do not put in risk our own branding. Fear is what is behind that idea. Fear makes us become conservative. Innovation, means exactly the opposite. Yes, the Desktop Summit is, somehow, about innovation.
10. Being conservative with less than 2% of market share, having a good product like we both, GNOME and KDE have, is a huge failure in many aspects. Not trying seriously to change that situation is assuming we belong to our projects just for our own interest. The current situation is totally unfair, not just for our communities, but for every single user out there. Having a great product is not enough. We have to do our best for people to know it and, hopefully, use it. Nobody will do it for us.
11. KDE and GNOME relation is not just about cooperation but about competition. Introducing this second aspect in a natural way during the Desktop Summit is good, very good. I would said that is even necessary. We just have to agree on the red lines. We can do it.
12. GUADEC and Akademy have a different structure. The Desktop Summit cannot replicate both. The structure of an event must serve the defined goals by the organizers with the available resources. GUADEC/Akademy and the Desktop Summit do not have exactly the same goals. Once we understand this, the structure conflict becomes an affordable problem. I like to think that we want something new, something bigger and, in the medium term, much better than what we have now.
13. The Desktop Summit takes a whole week. There is plenty of time for accomplishing GNOME and KDE self expectations and needs.
14. Yes, becoming mainstream means assuming sacrifices. We have to face the challenge of keeping that cool sense of friendship and personal contact we have in GUADEC/Akademy. I think there are ways of doing it. To enforce this, I want to say that I support the idea of doing the Desktop Summit every two years, instead of every year. I understand we cannot have it all. We cannot satisfy everybody during the Desktop Summit...but neither during GUADEC/Akademy.
15. Instead of dividing efforts, by celebrating the same year GUADEC/Akademy and the Desktop Summit (like some have proposed) I would increase the impact of the Desktop Summit by also hosting other desktops/distribution events like XFCE, OpenSUSE, Fedora, Linux Mint, Mageia, ODF, X.org.......Unity, Trinity (yes, why not?), etc. We have already taken the most difficult decisions.
16. We are in the position of incubating a movement towards Freedom in the mobile world by inviting key communities and stakeholders to join us under the Desktop Summit umbrella. At least it is worth trying.

For all the above, and many more arguments, I do not agree with those who want to stop celebrating the Desktop Summit, but I do not agree either with those who want to basically keep the Desktop Summit as a KDE and GNOME joint event. I'm one of those who think that we should move further, leading others with our same principles to share our effort and rewards.

What we did in Gran Canaria and Berlin is not the Desktop Summit we deserve, the one I want. I see them as steps in the right direction. Let's take the next one.

Akademy is over for me

I'm writing this while heading to the airport to go back home. It's been an interesting Akademy, well organiced and with a lot of good topics to disscuss. Last night we ended up in a karaoke...something unexpected but really fun. Listening people from Netherlands, India, México, Brazil and Spain singing together is not common, right?

This Akademy has also been a little different because of the World Cup. Obviously for all the spaniards that came to Tampere we have enjoyed it a lot. Let's see what happens this sunday against Netherlands. If we win.....Spain will be a huge party.

I've attended to several BoFs related with many different topics. I've also updated my laptop, tryed some new KDE features, talk about several little improvements and coordinated different actions I'll be helping on. Akademy is fun, but definetly means a lot of work of all of us.

As expected, my clothe doesn't fit into my bag. Buying clothe in the summer sales may cost me a lot....thanks God Antonio Larrosa is flying to Málaga in the same plane that I am and he has a little room in his baggage for some of my new clothe.

So, with a lot of hours of sleeping to take, a couple of extra kilos, a two weeks beard and tons of new experiences lived ....my vacations in Finland comes to an end. Thanks to all the KDE people and to the local team for organicing everything. See you all next year in the II Desktop Summit.

Let's do it

Sometime we concentrate on little things that matter a lot to us but has no impact on what we are doing. I frecuently come to disscussions in my everyday live in which I put a lot of my energy but, overall are not worth it. Sometimes I have people around me telling me that there's no point on "trying to win" those arguing but moving forward and pushing hard to accomplish the real goal. But sometimes I don't have them.

This Akademy is being great so far, but as always happens when innovating, I've seen a lot of tough disscussions. Some of them matters, and some don't. Or at least to the project as a whole or not to acomplish the global goal, which is to have a great product made by a healthy community and having a lot of people using it.

This article [1] [2] just got into my e-mail client and I want it to share it with you. Even if it's not totally true, it reflects how much work is ahead of us.

So let's concentrate more in what matters and a little less in other things. It is not that we are doing bad....I just want to share this feeling that we can do even better. There are tons of opportunities out there, and now we have a great product and the best community we've ever have.

Let's do it.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_market_share
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Operating_system_usage_share.svg

Akademy Day 3

Today I attended to my first KDE e.V. Assembly. Everything was on time, as schedule. Some points were interesting, and some very insteresting. Well....maybe not but hey...it was my first one so I'm not going to complain.

After having lunch with some KDE e.V. members, I went to the hacking area to resolve some urgent stuff from work and go back to KDE related activities, like having beer, etc. I have my schedule for attending several BoFs during the week...so I guess I'm prepare for the more technical part of the event.

After doing some some task related with KDE at Demola and having dinner I went to sleep early since I totally exhausted. It's been a great Akademy so far...and well organiced, by the way.

Akademy Day 2

After waking up late, I arrived at the Akademy place very late, but just in time for the Group Picture. The lunch was good and had some good conversations with part of KDE España. About 8-9 people from this organization are here. I'm having problems with my internet connection. I have screw up my Knetworkmanager, I think. I'm in a perfect place to fix it. There are tons of developers around.

After attending to some talks and the Akdemy awards, I went to have some beers with KDE España, after an internal meeting. Tomorrow I'll attend to my first KDE e.V. assembly.

Akademy 2010 Day 1

Conferences has started in Akademy 2010. The first conference was about MeeGo, done by the Meego leader from Nokia. Surpringly the two best arguments were given during the question turn by the KDE/Nokia member Suresh and the Intel representative, talking about Meego upstreamming the code. They ensured they do not allow code that is not upstream in the community projects Meego uses. Nice to hear, now they will have to prove it.

The second conference about the 7 Principles of Community projects was quiet interesting. I attended to the conference related with developing apps and place them on the Ovi Store. They have lowered down the price and allow people (not just companies) to publish their apps in Ovi Store.

After a few conversations with MeeGo people from Nokia and Intel I went to have lunch with some KDE folks. As always, it was a pleasure to talk not just about technology but about other things that motivates us. During the afternoon I saw the prototype of Plasma for N900 and I attended to a few more talks before watching Germany vs. Argentina (with about 30 germans), comming back to the Hostel and get into World Cup mode.

At night, at the MeeGo party, we could watch the game Spain vs Paraguay and drink some beer. It was fun.

Akademy 2010 Day 0

After spending a week visiting different places from the middle part of Finland with Nacho and Heidi Vilppola (thanks both for your hospitality) and their family I went to the train station to go down south to Tampere, where Akademy 2010 will begin tomorrow (saturdayjuly 3rd).

The train I was going to take was full so I have to wait an hour and a half for the following one, which makes the same trip as the previous one but takes one hour longer (4 instead of 3 hours). Not a good start.

I went with my friends to do some shopping while waiting for the train. It is summer sales period in Finland so I ended up buying some clothes at a real good price. In fact, now it doesn't fit into my bag. I have a problem....

When I got into the train....Jonathan Riddell was sleeping at my seat. What a surprise! He was comming from Oulu (a city which I also visited a few days ago). We haven't seen each other since GCDS, so we had some things to talk about.

So after all, not being able to travel in the train I was supposed to, was a good thing.

Once I arrived to Tampere and made my check-in in the hostal, I went to the welcome party/registration place. This is something we usually didn't do but since it worked well last year at GCDS, the organization has repeated this year. I had the chance to meet everybody and have some beers at night with the "spanish team". Tomorrow is when the real action begins.

What I've been doing lately and my near future plans

Lets begin like many people did before ....

It's been a long time since my last post.

Now... I won't bother you with excuses.

I'm helping (as part of ASOLIF) in the organization of the GNOME Marketing Hackfest, along with the regional association of free software companies from Aragon (CESLA), the Aragon Technological Centre (ITA), Zaragoza Municipality and the Regional Gov. Some well known GNOME community members like Vincent Untz, Stormy Peters or Paul Cutler, among others, are attending. I'll be in Zaragoza from next Tuesday until Friday afternoon, just in time to go to Bilbao for Akademy-es.

On thursday May 6th, apart from the GNOME event, I'll give a workshop (in spanish) about free software bussines models within ASOLIF. In this Federation many companies make money in different ways related with free software. I'll try to summarize the most relevant ones giving some keys about how to improve those models. 30 people are already registered which is an unexpected number for me. It's been a long time (about 5 years) since my last teaching session so I'm quiet excited about it.

The organization of the local KDE conference in Bilbao is going fine and a few days ago we had almost 70 people registered, wich is a good number. Some ASOLIF companies and the Regional association from Vasque Region (ESLE) are sponsoring (not much, but hopefully this is the first of many) Akademy-es. Check other sponsors through the website

Last week I was involved in the organization of III Encuentro ASOLIF, the Federation internal event, which take place each six months. It wasn't as crowded as expected (just around 50 companies during the two days, we expected around 75) but very interesting anyway. We will repeat it in October (it takes place every 6 months).

The week before that, on April Friday 16th, I went to the ODF Plugfest in Granada. The event was organized by another ASOLIF company, Opentia, along with other organizations. It was cool to see how the ODF standard is done and how is implemented in different applications, KOffice among them. Jos Van den Oeven was there and, on saturday, I went back to Granada from Málaga this time with my friend Antonio Larrosa. The whole ODF Plufest crew visited la Alhambra with an archeologist that worked there a few years. We got there at 16 hours and we left at 23. We all agree that it was a long but still awesome tour.

After Akademy-es, it looks like I won't have another event until LinuxTag, which is good 'cause I need a rest. But let's not say it loud, just in case...

I'm still thinking about staying at Berlin after LinuxTag until flying to Akademy 2010, at Tampere, Finland. Maybe I can work a few days in Berlin and then take some days off.

Gran Canaria Desktop Summit 2009. Feel the power of the desktop community

So Gran Canaria Desktop Summit 2009 dates are already official: from friday 3 to saturday 11 of july. Check the news on GNOME and KDE webs.

This is good news because you will be able to book your flight in advance. It is a strong recommendation from the local team. It is not that there aren't plenty of flights to Gran Canaria from all over Europe. It is a matter of getting them as cheap as possible.
1000 people are expected and most of them will want to fly on 3-4 of july, so it is possible you just have the chance to get tickets quite expensive for those two days if you wait too long. Once the registration is open, you will be able to book the hotel. This point won't be a problem since there will be plenty of room available at affordable prices.

If you are a member of the KDE or GNOME community it is obvious that you should be interested in attending to the event. But if you are not, or if you have friends that likes computers, there are few reasons for comming or bringing them during those days. There are tons of events all around the world related with free software. But this is a community event, not a regular one.

You will have time to meet the developers, talk to them, disscuss with them and do some hacking with them if you wish. You will be able not just to attend to conferences but to actively participate, feeling like an actor and not just a viewer. It is also a good chance to know how a community works, understanding its innovation process and becoming a part of this unstopable wave. But above all, you will feel the power of the desktop community, larning why we feel so confortable about what we are doing, so secure about we are on the right direction but keeping a strong critical attitude.

GCDS'09 is 100% community sofware libre in motion. You can come and become a part of it or stay home and loose the momentum. The Canary Islands are waiting for you.

Come to the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit: GUADEC + Akademy 2009. Come to the big one.

aKademy 2008

Akademy 2008 is close to end and I this is my own summary.

Organization and atmosphere

As it always happens, nothing is always perfect. But this year the job done has been amazing and the result is relevant. We will have to work really hard to make it better next year than this one. That is good news. The people related with the organization have done a good job and I only can thank them all for the effort.

Celebrating Akademy in the middle of europe (Mechelen, Belgium) has made possible that 350 people have came to the event. We expect 400 for next year, eventhough it will be in the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria). It seems that KDE is growing faster than it used to. Probably helps that KDE 4 is now a usable result in comparassion with last year, that was just a great idea in development. It is amazing that so many people have made agreements about desktop innovation and have respected the decisions taken eventhough the results are taking a long time to appear and many good job will be left behind (3.5 series). Although a lot of work is still needed, the actual state of KDE 4.1 makes more people believe it is not just possible, but it is desirable to keep pushing in this direction. KDE 4 series will be a perfect example of genuine innovation. I feel proud of being a tiny part of this.

Talks

This year I haven't been able to assist as much talks as other years since I had many things to accomplish during these days. In general I am satisfy with them. Maybe, since the project is getting bigger, we have to begin to separate pure technical confs. from other types of talks, since there are people and level enough to satisfy everybodys wishes. More non technicians are getting involved and they get absolutely lost in pure technical talks. The opposite also happens. Since there are only 2 days of talks, we have to be more accurate in the design of the schedule. But I inssist, this year have been a good one in this particular point.

The place

It is well known that sun and sea are a combination I need in order to be happy. From that point of view Mechelen is not the best place in the world for me. But, hey, it almost didn't rain and it hasn't been cold most of the time. So, comparing with other years...Mechelen was not bad at all. If next year in Gran Canaria rains, ... I'll shave my head. That cannot happen.

The job

Beside my homework, I of course attended to some BoFs related with next year event. Everybody looks happy about the job done so far. Everybody has gave us a lot of good energy and information related with present and past events. It will be extremely useful for us. I come back with tons of suggesstions and the feeling that co-hosting the event with GNOME have been a smart move made by both projects.

We need to become players of the same team to go for the 98% of the market that doesn't use any desktop libre. That is the real goal, the true challenge. Do we want to add efforts or play the game by our own? We will be able to answer this question after next year's event probably.

KDE-España

One of the multiple good news about KDE during aKademy 2008 is that KDE-España has born (or almost). We made a non official assembly here to talk about many stuff that our president, Albert Astals Cid, will explain soon. I'll just say that we have talk with Pedro Jurado (ermelenas) about collaboration between KDE-Hispano and KDE-España. Good things will happen.

Hopefully next year, in Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting, the association will have a general assembly, like GNOME-Hispano. It will be a huge chance for spanish developers to show how good we are doing.

GUADEC + Akademy in Gran Canaria...why?

Why do we think GUADEC + Akademy 2009 should come to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain? Well, here you have some ideas.

We have a compromise from the Gran Canaria island Gov and the Gran Canaria's college for spending a total of 250 thousand euros in this event. We will spend all the sponsorship we can get in other stuff because many of the things we offer will be already paid. Please visit this page to see the budget. It is well determined which concepts will be paid by the local organization: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Budget

But if money is not important for you, maybe the time you spend travelling is. There are a lot of companies that flies to Gran Canaria directly. When you get to Gran Canaria's airport, there is a bus that takes you to Las Palmas every 30 minutes. The trip takes 20 - 25 minutes and it leaves you at 10 - 15 minutes walking to any of the hotels we included in the wiki. All of them are close to the beach. So getting from the airport to any of the hotels is fast, cheap and easy: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Logistics

The Auditorium is in the city, not uotside of it, so there are plenty of places to go to eat or having a beer. That is really cool for going out at night so you don't need to pick up a car. If you prefer staying at the hotel hacking at night, the local organization will pay a room for hacking in two different hotels so everybody can choose what to do. There will be internet connection in those rooms, of course.

We have planned the visit to two different places of Gran Canaria for 1000 people, 500 hundred to each place. Enough buses will be rented with a guide that speaks english. Both visits are really cool so you all will have fun. We will also have tipycal Canarian food during the trip: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Official_planning#Sightseeing_and_touristic_visit

In order to ensure that the event will be more publicited than ever, the local organization will invite journalists from general international press and media (5 people). We want to make sure that the event has impact not just in technical media but in more general ones. We also will invite 5 representatives from oocidental african countries related with technology so they can get in touch with the free software community and begin to promote it in those countries. Our islands have a great relations in the area so this event can be used as a plattform to spread technology and free software among those countries: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Impact_and_publicity

Initially we have offered to celebrate the event from July 3 to July 11, but we can delay the event a week if it is neccesary. Gran Canaria is not too hot at that time since we have a subtropical weather so it is never too hot or too cold, but most of the year is sunny. That's why we are one of the most important touristic places in the world. In addition to that, we have a mature free software community. Both Canary Islands colleges have a Free Software Office that are part of the local staff, one of the oldest LUGs in Spain and the first spanish regional free software companies association are also a key part of it.

There is a lot of job behind this offer. We have been working for monthes to define every detail yo can see on proposal. Please, get into it and take time to read before voting. Even if you do not support us, you'll find out good ideas and interesting things you can suggest to other candidates now or in the future.

This is not a just a matter of where you want to go, is a matter of where would be better for both projects to celebrate the event.

I want to thank all the people that has collaborated with us in this project and also the people that supports us. This is beeing a great experience so far.

aKademy in the Canary Islands?

Sometimes it is hard or even impossible to achieve a goal no matter how hard you try. But sometimes things flow naturally and comes easier than you have ever expected. When I first told the people I work with that we should try to bring aKademy to the Canary Islands, everybody laughed at me. Few month later, some of them are even more excited with the idea of pushing hard to do it than myself.

We presented the idea to some people from the free software community here in the Canaries and they liked so we began to think about it was something we had to try. During aKademy 2007 I propose it to some of the e.V. members and they encouraged me to try it. So we are.

Now we are preparing a project to send to the e.V. to celebrate aKademy 2009 in Gran Canaria. We are working to compete with whatever candidate it shows up. Competition is good for everybody.

I hope we can finish our work soon and make a project we can be proud of. Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, sounds good for an aKademy, right?