There’s a Linux Expo going on in Taipei. I’ve seen the banners lining Dunhua Rd. However, I can’t find the URL registration site for it or any other information about it. IBM is one big sponsor but it’s not on the IBM site.
I saw the signs and have been looking for it and finally found it. It is running in conjuction with the Taiwan Computer Applications Show at the World Trade Center. Here is the website for the Linux Expo (in Chinese):
Looks like the presentations took place on Thursday and Today, but they are suppose to have booths from RedHat, Novell (SuSE), and IBM all during the computer show.
I’m pretty sure the event being held is for “embedded Linux” and not a general, user-oriented exhibition. Check the webpage carefully before braving the traffic.
Yeah, there was the Embedded Linux Symposium on the 28 and 29 in Xinzhu. There was also a “digitization of the governement” conference in Taipei on the 29th and 30th. There is not a lot of detail on what type of booths will be at the TPCA, but I was already planning to look around the rest of the show for gadgets anyway.
Recgonizing me is simple. Just look for some big white guy that doesn’t appear cool enough to even attend a Star Trek convention. I will be wearing what I wear every day, jeans and a dark t-shirt with some pithy geek slogan across the front.
My avatar is my Vino with a big “geek” bumper sticker across the front, and LNX, Atari, and anti-RIAA stickers on back. I have shirts that match the geek sticker and the anti-RIAA. Man, I am such a loser.
I just came back from that two-in-one expo. The “Linux Expo” is about half a dozen booths tucked away in a corner with bugger all in them. Even the people staffing those booths looked embarrased by it.
And as for the rest of the expo… “computer applications”? Aside from a couple of stalls selling pirated, emulated arcade games (man that takes some big hairy bollocks), a handful of stages full of so-so dancing girls who didn’t look like they even wanted to be there promoting online games (with nothing else there, just the dancing girls and the stage. Oh, and maybe some computers to try the game out on), a few stalls that looked straight out of your local night market selling old games cheap, and maybe three (at most) smaller local game companies, it was the consumer whore’s Computex. Bugger all by way of “applications”, just an arseload of MP3 players, keyboards, mice, joypads, camera, and laptops. What a waste of my time that steaming pile was.
Thanks for the review. I wasn’t sure what it would be like after looking at the webpage, It did look like the embedded Linux conference in Xinchu could have been interesting, but it was only for people in the industry. It is kind of sad, I know that IBM is hyping it up along all the roads around Dunhua and Anhe. I still may check it out, but from your review it now sounds more like one of those computer shows that travel around the US and stop at fairgrounds.
Let’s just say it moved from a To Do to a To Do if I have time and am in the area.
Bear in mind, I didn’t really know what I was looking at in those half-dozen stalls anyway - it could well have been mindblowing and revolutionary, but to someone whose knowledge of Linux barely goes beyond “make install” it was fairly shit. And no, no free stuff in that little corner. Bugger all free stuff in general actually.
Around 3 years ago, the government made some big noise about moving to Linux. They even offered a few courses in the colleges (I know somebody who took one, and said it was good). Then the government dropped it like a hot potato - maybe Bush rattled Chen Shuibian’s leash after Microsoft complained, but I’m not sure. Anyway, Taiwan today is most Microsoft-addicted place I’ve seen. All the government offices are Windows, 100%. The Linux college classes have been dropped, but you can take a Microsoft Word for Dummies class. I’m surprised they haven’t outlawed Linux here yet. Anyway, it’s mostly the foreigners in Taiwan who use Linux now. Meanwhile, mainland China has a big Linux initiative going. Very sad indeed.
It is pretty much an open secret that if you make noises about moving to Linux, Microsoft will be all over you offering massive discounts, free training, and all sorts of other extras. Because of this, some companies/governments will intentionally play this card to get those discounts.