Hi Everyone,
Since Nandalal asked, I will share something about the O'Reilly open source convention
for
those who did not attend this year.
Starting with some general observations -
1) This is the first time that I have gone to an
"open source" convention. However, I have presented at software conventions
(commercial) and computer science/neuroscience/psychiatry meetings (academic) before
AND, in comparison, I believe the O'Reilly convention promotes more lively and
intensive exchange of ideas than most meetings that I have been to.
2) In part, it may be because all software and methodologies presented are easily
accessible and available via download/web-site. Also, people are less defensive and
more open to discussions/disclosures due to lack of proprietary interests in obscuring
information (because of pending grants/papers or marketing considerations, or they
don't think weaknesses in their systems/approach can be obscured anyways).
So, this spirit of openness is never "spoken of", "touted", or emphasized - but it
is always felt and experienced during sessions and interaction between participants.
It is truly a remarkable consequence of the Richard Stallman vision.
The scientific method at its finest!
3) People are very friendly, helpful, energetic, AND hard-working! Sure, many are
young but sessions run to 10/11pm everyday! This, I have not seen in any other meeting
to-date. Many people even hang-out afterwards conversing in the hotel lobby and
everywhere. Of course, many people carry laptops with wireless networking and work
furiously all day long.
Now, some specifics -
1) Linus (Linux) and Stallman (GPL) were not there but ES Raymond (Cathedral and
Bazaar), Bruce Perens (Open source definition), Larry Walls (inventor of Perl) were
there.
I saw a movie called "Revolution OS" that documented the free software / open source
movement. Raymond and Perens were there to discuss the movie before and after the
viewing.
Linus, Stallman and many others are in the movie. It is a very informative documentary
and I highly recommend it (too bad it is not yet released to the public). It is a good
movie to show the spouse so he/she can understand why we work so late into the night.
:-)
2) Guido van Rossum (inventor of Python) was scheduled to speak but family emergency
forced him to cancel last minute. Python is strong but Perl still has a greater
following - which is reflected in the number of Perl vs. Python
sessions at the convention.
3) I attended several SOAP / XML messaging sessions. Specifically, jabber, xbeans, and
openadaptor are very promising for use in the OIO system.
4) Jboss is promising for OIO on Java. Enough said. :-)
5) PostgreSQL is strong but needs replication capabilities. MySQL has recently
achieved that milestone and could catch up in other ways (e.g. transaction ACID). The
PostgreSQL and MySQL teams are on good terms but are engaged in friendly (but intense)
competition.
I had a chance to talk to Jan Wieck (senior software engineer at GreatBridge) who is
researching ways to implement replication for PostgreSQL. He is a very sharp guy and
has a few good ideas on how to do it.
Now that I have learned GnuMed is also using PostgreSQL (and Python too), the future
of
PostgreSQL is even more important to the open
health community.
6) I met Jim Fulton, Tres Seaver, and Amos from the Zope team (was Digital Creations,
now Zope Corporation). I had a chance to learn Zope's Content Management Framework
(=CMF, Tres Seaver) and new Page Template language (Jim Fulton).
They, in turn, heard me talk about the OIO
system and how it is synergistic with the CMF. :-)
7) The OIO session went very well (except 10
minutes overtime). The demo ran on the TxOutcome.Org's public access server (via the
Internet) and did not break :-).
People were impressed with the XML-mediated plug-and-play forms and integrated data
analysis capabilities. I also demo'ed the brand new
"Local Text" feature to show how one could track
"Accounts" rather than "Patients" by modifying
the local text.
People asked questions about OIO's implementation strategy. Many commented that they
will download it and take a closer look.
One person came up afterwards and told me that the OIO system is the coolest "app"
that he has seen! It was very gratifying to share
one's work with peers and receive positive remarks.
In Summary -
Software research is still in its infancy and the "free" and open source way does make
collaboration much easier (even in person).
There are lots of active/energetic projects and participants in the "free" software
community.
In many ways, I see this as the future of software research and development.
Cheers,
Andrew
---
Andrew P. Ho, M.D.
OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes
TxOutcome.Org (hosting OIO Library #1)
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
University of California, Los Angeles
On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 18:25:48 nandalal wrote:
>Hi Andrew,
>When you return or while you are there give us a feedback on the
>conference, on anything interesting happening and the people you meet. Did
>you meet Linus?
>Nandalal
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