Today, the most ambitious Free Software event of the Czech Republic officially opens registration! We’ve got an awesome event for you in store with sessions on all major subjects in Free Software and around it. Entry will be free of charge for everyone and we’ll give you 4 events AND a bonus track for that money! Read on to find out why you MUST be in Prague on October 20-23 2012.

On Ambitions

Most people don’t realize it but these days, Free Software runs the world. From supercomputers and servers down to mobile phones and embedded devices - Linux has a majority market share in practically every market. A few markets remain closed due to the overwhelming dominance of a single vendor, employing every user lock-in, digital restriction and legal loophole at their disposal to keep the market close to innovation and progress. But Free keeps chippin’ away at the power base of these behemoths - we are an almost unstoppable force. The Linux Kernel alone has over 2800 developers from more than 370 companies checking in a change set every 8 minutes round the clock, not counting all the rejected or modified patches. And while arguably the biggest project in Free Software (and the biggest single software engineering project the world has ever seen), countless other projects develop their own pieces of the puzzle that forms a Linux Operating System.

Working Together!

A little over 4 months from now, people from all around the world will converge on Prague to discuss the future of Linux and work on it. In two days of presentations and keynotes followed by two days of workshops and hack sessions, combined with parties and social events, discussions will be had, decisions will be made and code will be written.

Four-in-one

This event brings together 4 distinct yet complementary events in one place. The openSUSE Conference, the yearly gathering of one of the most significant Linux distributions, the LinuxDays, a continuation (under a new name) of Czech’s largest Free Software event, the first-ever Gentoo Miniconf and the hardcore hacker meeting SUSE Labs will all be under the same roof. On the two ‘LinuxDays’, all conferences will share one program, bringing together their expertise and knowledge for all to share in and learn from. On the following Monday and Tuesday, openSUSE, Gentoo and SUSE Labs will share hacker spaces where work can be done.

FUTURE MEDIA

To top it off, the team is currently working on setting up a 5th event as a feature track at the first day of the conference: FUTURE MEDIA. This track aims to widen the scope of the conference, bringing attention to the effects our work on Linux and Free Software has had on the world. Bringing together engineers and people who challenge the status quo with thought leaders and entrepreneurs, we’ll bring keynotes and sessions on topics including digital lifestyle and the impact of social media, design and the Creative Commons, the future of knowledge sharing, Digital Freedom and more.

But for now…

Today, we don’t have a final schedule for you - the Call for Papers is still open for your input! But it’s time to check flights, see if the hotels offer what you’re looking for and cross the dates in your agenda. And register!

Register on time!

It is important to register on time. No, we won’t shut you out if you didn’t register - but you do miss out on the conference badge, a bag with some goodies, a chance to support us (there’s a ‘supporter’ registration option of 50 dollar or 30 euro) and last but not least, food!! We’ll organize food for the attendees - but we can’t guarantee there’ll be anything left but scraps for those who didn’t register…

Here’s the registration link in English! And here you go if you prefer it in Czech.

See you in Prague!