O'Reilly Media Open Source Conference

Everyone uses Linux: if they use Google, trade on-line, or use ATMs. Linux is the most ubiquitous OS in everything from cell phones to TVs, precisely because, Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation argues, it is free. As convergence between connectivity and device happens, network carriers and device-makers scramble to control a new service-based distribution. Zemlin urges continued protection and support of open-source through the filing of 'defensive publications' with the USPTO, and participation in several open-source projects.

Although the definition of cloud computing can seem somewhat cloudy, it's a good thing to understand for business. Canonical's Simon Wardley argues with humor that "the cloud" represents a natural marketing-cycle progression for IT; from innovation, to product, to service utility. Given the constant pressure toward commoditization, business must keep up, and consider offering cloud services. He introduces Eucalyptus, a tool to build, experiment, and test-deploy virtual enterprise cloud computing.

Tony Hey, head of Microsoft External Research, talks about how open access and open tools help build bridges between academia, industry and government to advance computer science, education and scientific research. Modern science increasingly relies on computation to collect, process, and analyze complex data - the challenge is to seamlessly integrate these into standard scientific methodologies and processes.

Every year, the United States government spends a huge amount of money on its web projects. At somewhere on the order of tens of millions of dollars per project, the majority of this money goes to few select software vendors. It would be nice, though, if some of it were to come to the open source community. Clay Johnson of Sunlight Labs tells us what we can do as open source developers to grab a piece of the action.

What's it like to be a woman in an open source project that's 99% men? What's it like to be a woman in a project that's 75% women? Kirrily Robert has worked on both kinds of projects. She talks about the differences and what one can learn from majority-female open source communities.

According to science fiction author Karl Schroeder, it is sometimes possible to get things done more efficiently by relinquishing the traditional methods of control. Open source, democracy, government 2.0, and the invisible hand of the free market are mechanisms that demonstrate of the success of this phenomenon of handing control to a self-willed entity. He calls this principle "rewilding", and tells how this metaphor relates to open source software and other contemporary technological trends.

The Obama administration is trying to create a new model where governmental openness is the norm, and collaboration between the open source community and the federal government may be a key to its success. Gunnar Hellekson says that by encouraging the government to adopt open source practices, the open source community can help the government do its job better, to everyone's benefit.

The web - vast, open, participatory, independent - is an unprecedented human construction. But could forces already be at work to rob it of its very essence? In this presentation from the O'Reilly Media Open Source Convention Mark Surman discusses how this marvelous, open, self-governing resource - taken for granted by so many - may not stand the test of time.

Everyone knows Google crawls websites - but did you know they also crawl your source code? Google's Open Source Programs manager Chris DiBona provides a quick but insightful look into the state of open source code on the Internet.

Built for portability, netbooks may represent the first computers conceived from the outset with Linux in mind. Intel's Dirk Hohndel describes the firm's strategic vision for Open Source using the netbook OS Moblin as an example.