Fodem 2021: hundred servers instead of superfilled rooms

The Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting (FOSTEM) is the big open source conference in Europe. So far, thousands of open source developers in Brussel were found every year in the winter. Last year, Fosdem was one of the last coarse conferences before the outbreak of the SARS COV 2 virus was paralyzing all such events. This year, the developers and open-source fans meet virtually in IRC channels and on the Messenger platform Matrix. The lecture will take place by video column and are embedded in your own messenger.

Almost 100 cloud servers, according to the organizers of the Fosem for a smooth process. And for that that – in the twenty-year history of the conference probably once – every lecture can be pursued by all potential prospects. Normally, Fusem is bought for the limited number of seats in the lecture space and the overload of public transport on the way to events. And of course for the bad weather in Brussel in February.

Somehow different than usual

But this year the fostress is different than usual. Although there are so many forwards like past year – a total of more than 500 hours of video content, according to the organizers – and except for the absence of Keynotes are also covered by the usual topics. But a common beer event in the loudest and superfest pub Brussels is something other than a chatroom in the browser. Such a conference is much more than its lecture program.

Furthermore, for many open source developers, the only chance of the year is the people with whom they work together every day together in their favorite project, sometimes. For many developers and open-source fans, the conference in the cold rooms of a Brussel Universitat was the highlight of the year.

Back to basics

After the increasing politicization of past conferences, the open source developers at the fostrie seem to reflect on the foundations this year. Maybe that’s why the circumstances of the conference have changed around the lecture around so much. In 110 different digital lecture space this year turns a lot about the basic open source technology, the modern cloud infrastructures on the run. But also end-user software, database and programming technology and one or other private hacking project. As expected, there is also a series of presentation on open source collaboration techniques, video conference systems and several entries to make schools with open source software fit for distance lessons.

The carrier are almost all recorded before and has been tailored to the right long, which contempted to the tight schedule of the conference. And so far, the technique seems to play: both in the browser and in a series of apps on the Linux desktop functioning the video stream and the associated chat rooms of the virtual conference very solid. A considerable performance, considering that this type of conference implementation is new for the FOSDEM organizers wholly. What is probably because you are acting from the matrix.ORG Foundation was supported, whose open source messaging protocol fosdem brings in 2021 into the study of the participants. You do not need an account or even the element messenger. Each can simply be video-present in the browser and follow the appropriate chats without registration. Only those who participate in the chat and ask the lecturer in QA sessions questions must create a matrix account.

The 100 Cloud servers are also rented only for the period of the conference. The FOSDEM organizers already played the hope for the conference that the FOSMEM 2022 can take place again as usual in the cold Brussel.