Switzerland to host Debian Conference 2013

March 1st, 2012

On February 20, 2012, the DebConf committee decided that DebConf13, the Debian developer conference of 2013, should take place on the shores of the Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, most likely in the middle of August. More details may be found on the organizers' wiki.

In a two hour meeting on Monday evening, the Swiss bid narrowly won over the bid from Riga, Latvia. Teams had been preparing their bids since mid-2011, seeking venues and local sponsors in their respective cities and countries.

The two bids both had character and unique identities. On the one hand, the Riga proposal was totally centered on city and university life. On the other hand, the Swiss bid aimed to bring DebConf to a setting that is known for its natural beauty.

Our proposal strongly focuses on the community gathering aspect of DebConf. Accommodation, hacking spaces and talk rooms will be at the same place with a beautiful view over the Lake Neuchatel and to Swiss alps. We'll have the whole holiday camp exclusively for DebConf , said Gaudenz Steinlin, member of the Swiss team.

The DebConf organizers congratulate the future organizers of DebConf13, and thank both teams for their efforts.

The venue decision for DebConf14 will be made in approximately twelve months. Proposals should be submitted by 31 December 2012 to be eligible for consideration.

About DebConf

DebConf is the Debian Project's developer conference. In addition to a full schedule of technical, social, and policy talks, DebConf provides an opportunity for developers, contributors, and other interested people to meet in person and work together more closely. It has taken place annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Scotland, Argentina, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. More information about DebConf is available from http://debconf.org.

This year, DebConf12 starts on Sunday 8 July, and ends Saturday 14 July 2012. The conference will be held in Managua, Nicaragua.

DebConf will be preceded by DebCamp, from Sunday 1 July to Saturday 7 July 2012. DebCamp is a smaller, less formal event giving an opportunity for group work on Debian projects.

On Saturday 7 July 2012, DebConf Open Day will take place at the site. The Open Day is a short conference aimed at Debian users, and others interested in learning more about free software.

More information about DebConf12 can be found on the conference website.

About Debian

The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of volunteers from all over the world work together to create and maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal operating system .

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at https://www.debian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.