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Posted to dev@harmony.apache.org by "Geir Magnusson Jr." <ge...@apache.org> on 2005/06/10 18:55:30 UTC
Apache Booth At JavaOne
All,
The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year. We will be staffing
the booth with projects, each project there for 2 hours or so to tell
people about the project and the ASF in general.
If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, add your name here :
http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta/ApacheAtJavaOne2005
geir
--
Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437
geirm@apache.org
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Dmitry Serebrennikov <dm...@earthlink.net>.
Greetings,
Has the time been selected? I'm sorry if I missed it. Could someone
please repost it?
If not, how about Monday or Thursday (both days after 5 pm would work
for me).
By the way, there is another conference concurrently at San Francisco -
Oreilly's Where 2.0, which is about location-enabled technologies (gps,
google maps, mobiles, etc). They have a component, which is open to the
public. It's the Where Fair, on Wednesday 29th from 7:30pm to 10:00pm. I
don't think you have to register or anything - this part is open to the
public.
Here's the URL and some info:
=======================================
General Conference Info
----------------------------------------------------------
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/where/
Location-aware technologies combined with mapping and other data are
poised to create a whole new class of web apps and services. Maps are
becoming an interface, helping us to visualize and access a variety of
data. Location is fertile ground for hackers and researchers who mash up
Google Maps with Craigslist or plug restaurant info into dashboard
navigation. Call centers, insurance agencies, transportation companies,
and retailers are finding unconventional internal uses for location
technologies too.
But where is location-based technology leading us in the larger sense?
And where's the business model beef? The first Where 2.0 Conference
brings together the people
<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/39/speakers.html>, projects
<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/where2005/view/e_sess/7098>, and
issues <http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/39/program.html> leading
the charge into this technological frontier. Join us to debate and
discuss what's viable now, and what's lurking just below the radar.
===============================
The Where Fair
-----------------------------------------------
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/where2005/view/e_sess/7098
The Where Fair is a science fair-style event that gives participants a
first-hand look at just a few of the intriguing location-aware
technologies lurking just below the radar. Fair-goers can discuss the
ideas behind the demos with the creators, and learn how these
unconventional new technologies can be adapted into existing business
strategies. Where Fair projects are being selected from research,
academia, and yet-to-be-discovered entrepreneurs. The Where Fair
complements the conference's exhibit hall, which will showcase
state-of-the-art systems, apps, and services in the location space.
Cheers
Dmitry
Tom wrote:
> +1 and just looked at the schedule:
>
> Tuesday evening is not good as it overlaps with the open JCP evening
> which goes on till 9pm.
>
> Monday and Wednesday are some receptions / bashes (which I personally
> wouldn't mind skipping), and Thursday seems open, so perhaps Thursday?
>
>
> PS: I have a Pavilion pass for Monday, so if you still need help at
> the Apache booth for velocity/harmony that day, let me know.
>
> Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
>
>> Not yet, but we still should certainly do it.
>>
>> As a default, the Thirsty Bear is a great venue because of the
>> "architectural discussion support products" created there on site
>> and made available for purchase :)
>>
>> What times are good for people?
>>
>>
>> On Jun 21, 2005, at 7:54 AM, Joel Neely wrote:
>>
>>> There was some talk earlier about a Harmony conversation outside the
>>> official J1 program.
>>> Has anything firmed up?
>>>
>>> -jn-
>>>
>>> On 6/10/05, Geir Magnusson Jr. <ge...@apache.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year...
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Tom <ec...@gatewide.com>.
+1 and just looked at the schedule:
Tuesday evening is not good as it overlaps with the open JCP evening
which goes on till 9pm.
Monday and Wednesday are some receptions / bashes (which I personally
wouldn't mind skipping), and Thursday seems open, so perhaps Thursday?
PS: I have a Pavilion pass for Monday, so if you still need help at the
Apache booth for velocity/harmony that day, let me know.
Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
> Not yet, but we still should certainly do it.
>
> As a default, the Thirsty Bear is a great venue because of the
> "architectural discussion support products" created there on site and
> made available for purchase :)
>
> What times are good for people?
>
>
> On Jun 21, 2005, at 7:54 AM, Joel Neely wrote:
>
>> There was some talk earlier about a Harmony conversation outside the
>> official J1 program.
>> Has anything firmed up?
>>
>> -jn-
>>
>> On 6/10/05, Geir Magnusson Jr. <ge...@apache.org> wrote:
>>
>>> All,
>>>
>>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year...
>>>
>>
>>
>
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by "Geir Magnusson Jr." <ge...@apache.org>.
Not yet, but we still should certainly do it.
As a default, the Thirsty Bear is a great venue because of the
"architectural discussion support products" created there on site and
made available for purchase :)
What times are good for people?
On Jun 21, 2005, at 7:54 AM, Joel Neely wrote:
> There was some talk earlier about a Harmony conversation outside the
> official J1 program.
> Has anything firmed up?
>
> -jn-
>
> On 6/10/05, Geir Magnusson Jr. <ge...@apache.org> wrote:
>
>> All,
>>
>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year...
>>
>
>
--
Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437
geirm@apache.org
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Joel Neely <jo...@gmail.com>.
There was some talk earlier about a Harmony conversation outside the
official J1 program.
Has anything firmed up?
-jn-
On 6/10/05, Geir Magnusson Jr. <ge...@apache.org> wrote:
> All,
>
> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year...
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by ac...@apache.org.
>
> No - we're not. It was a donation of Gluecode's booth by IBM.
>
Cool...thanks!
>> Therefore, it might not be polite to pee in our host's sanka humm?
>
>
> From what I gather, Sun has no problem with the ASF having a booth at
> the show. (This is an ASF booth, not a Harmony booth...)
>
> The ASF has played and will continue to play a big role in Java through
> it's open source projects, both those that are JSR compliant, and those
> that do non-JSR things.
>
> geir
>
Sorry I didn't mean it that way if it came off that way. Just saying
that JavaOne isn't the place to be critical of Sun (speaking from
experience). Informing about cool Apache stuff incuding Harmony is good.
-Andy
--
Andrew C. Oliver
SuperLink Software, Inc.
Java to Excel using POI
http://www.superlinksoftware.com/services/poi
Commercial support including features added/implemented, bugs fixed.
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by "Geir Magnusson Jr." <ge...@apache.org>.
On Jun 12, 2005, at 6:18 PM, acoliver@apache.org wrote:
> I suspect that Apache is not paying for the booth.
No - we're not. It was a donation of Gluecode's booth by IBM.
> Therefore, it might not be polite to pee in our host's sanka humm?
From what I gather, Sun has no problem with the ASF having a booth
at the show. (This is an ASF booth, not a Harmony booth...)
The ASF has played and will continue to play a big role in Java
through it's open source projects, both those that are JSR compliant,
and those that do non-JSR things.
geir
--
Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437
geirm@apache.org
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by "Geir Magnusson Jr." <ge...@apache.org>.
On Jun 13, 2005, at 10:21 AM, Stefano Mazzocchi wrote:
> acoliver@apache.org wrote:
>
>> I suspect that Apache is not paying for the booth. Therefore, it
>> might
>> not be polite to pee in our host's sanka humm?
>>
>> Besides, waht good is it? A much bigger accomplishment is seeing
>> lines
>> of code committed. That would accomplish more frankly.
>>
>
> True.
>
> But having some floor peer pressure change Gosling's perception of
> 'people run to the hills' would help not hurt in that above process.
I think that having a session on Harmony would help people there at
JavaOne get a better understanding of who we are as a project, what
we want to do, and what the ASF is about. If you can spend some
time, please sign up to help.
geir
--
Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437
geirm@apache.org
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Stefano Mazzocchi <st...@apache.org>.
acoliver@apache.org wrote:
> I suspect that Apache is not paying for the booth. Therefore, it might
> not be polite to pee in our host's sanka humm?
>
> Besides, waht good is it? A much bigger accomplishment is seeing lines
> of code committed. That would accomplish more frankly.
True.
But having some floor peer pressure change Gosling's perception of
'people run to the hills' would help not hurt in that above process.
--
Stefano.
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by ac...@apache.org.
I suspect that Apache is not paying for the booth. Therefore, it might
not be polite to pee in our host's sanka humm?
Besides, waht good is it? A much bigger accomplishment is seeing lines
of code committed. That would accomplish more frankly.
netsql wrote:
> How much funds? I might donate %.
>
> (I have a hard time deploying applications... other than to OSX. When
> Harmony becomes available, I imagine it to be easier to deploy. I
> mean... look at LimeWire, mine is similar issues.)
>
> .V
>
> Dmitry Serebrennikov wrote:
>
>> I just put together a simple mockup of this kind of a flyer. Please
>> take a look at
>> http://www.jsdiinc.com/harmony/ossjava.html
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>>
>>
>> Dmitry Serebrennikov wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> Here's an idea that occurred to me yesterday after reading Geir's
>>> post about booth at Java ONE. I think this is a good opportunity, but
>>> needs more thoughts.
>>>
>>> You know how James Gosling keeps saying that Sun's customers tell
>>> them they would run for the hills if Java was opensourced, etc.,
>>> etc.? Well, JavaOne is a gathering of just these types of customers,
>>> and they will be walking around the pavilion, possibly stopping by
>>> the Apache booth. What an opportunity to validate (and hopefully
>>> disprove) that assertion! If we could just come up with a way to poll
>>> people as they stop by the booth, we might have an excellent argument
>>> to counteract Gonsling's FUD/misunderstanding (whichever it is).
>>>
>>> Not only that, but at the same time we could actually educate people
>>> on (a) what OSS is *really* all about, (b) what Apache and Harmony's
>>> intentions are for Java (no incompatibility, just improvement), (c)
>>> about work that has already been done by other OSS projects in the
>>> Java VM field (gcj, classpath, etc).
>>>
>>> Without the booth, there will be a few people that come the
>>> OSS-related sessions, fewer still will be at the Harmony session. But
>>> the booth changes things. If we conduct this kind of poll at the
>>> booth, and generate buzz about the booth at the sessions, we could
>>> reach vastly more people! Of course the booth is meant to be shared
>>> between all Java-related Apache projects, but isn't Harmony kind of
>>> an overriding umbrella that relates to and benefits all of these
>>> projects? Logically, it makes sense to have Harmony represented at
>>> the booth at all times, even if politically this may require
>>> negotiation. But maybe having a poll station and a stand with
>>> questions (see below), even as the rest of the booth is devoted to
>>> other topics, wouldn't be that difficult?
>>>
>>> Isn't this an exciting opportunity? What I envision is something like
>>> this. Like I said, this requires more thought on exactly how to do this.
>>> We present people with a series of questions, maybe 3 or 4, designed
>>> to spark their interest and explain benefits of a fully-compatible
>>> OSS Java implementation to them. At the end, we ask - Would you
>>> support an open source Java implementation that delivered the above?
>>> Yes / No. This could be printed on a largish poster so that people
>>> see it over the heads of others and also printed on postcard-sized
>>> sheets of paper. Under the poster and next to these postcards we put
>>> two fishbowls with big "Yes" and "No" scotch-taped to them. They grab
>>> the postcard, mark off their answer, fill in a comment if they want,
>>> and drop it in the right bowl. It might be good to ask for their name
>>> and org, but I'm not sure. Having that would help with legitimacy,
>>> but it's too much work to fill out and will cause lots of work for us
>>> to sort though anyway.
>>>
>>> I don't suppose we are going to have one of those card readers there,
>>> will we? I think they cost extra.
>>>
>>> Now, the postcards have an additional benefit. It's a matter of funds
>>> to print more of them, but the more we have, the more we can use
>>> them. We can distribute them at the entrance, cafeteria, etc. We can
>>> distribute them at sessions. The cards would also have the booth
>>> number on them to draw people in. They could even be as small as
>>> business cards, but they will be hard to see then. This would also
>>> just draw people to the Apache booth in general, so other projects
>>> might even be interested in supporting this idea as well.
>>>
>>> So, what about the questions? Here are some ideas.
>>> At the top, in large font, a big draw-in header. Something like: Is
>>> Open Source Java a Good Thing?
>>> Then something like this:
>>> <bold>Have you ever found a bug in Java that broke your application?
>>> You could have just fixed it, but had to work around it
>>> instead?</bold>
>>> OSS Java will not only let you fix it and distribute your code with
>>> your application, but you would benefit from other people making such
>>> fixes, while you can just focus on your work and stop wasting time on
>>> workarounds!
>>>
>>> <bold>Do you work with a platform that Sun's Java does not support?
>>> Have you ever wished that someone would just write a good
>>> JVM for it?</bold>
>>> OSS Java with a vibrant community will provide an incentive to do
>>> just this. Because codebase is shared and understood by many people,
>>> the cost of adding a new platform becomes smaller over time, while
>>> the benefits become larger!
>>>
>>> .....
>>>
>>> It needs a third one, but I can't think of one right now. I think we
>>> absolutely need to emphasize rigorous compatibility. But I can't
>>> think of how to put that in this format at the moment. Thoughts?
>>> Comments? What other benefits do we want to highlight?
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Dmitry
>>>
>>>
>>> Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year. We will be
>>>> staffing the booth with projects, each project there for 2 hours or
>>>> so to tell people about the project and the ASF in general.
>>>>
>>>> If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, add your name here :
>>>>
>>>> http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta/ApacheAtJavaOne2005
>>>>
>>>> geir
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
> .
>
--
Andrew C. Oliver
SuperLink Software, Inc.
Java to Excel using POI
http://www.superlinksoftware.com/services/poi
Commercial support including features added/implemented, bugs fixed.
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by netsql <ne...@roomity.com>.
How much funds? I might donate %.
(I have a hard time deploying applications... other than to OSX. When
Harmony becomes available, I imagine it to be easier to deploy. I
mean... look at LimeWire, mine is similar issues.)
.V
Dmitry Serebrennikov wrote:
> I just put together a simple mockup of this kind of a flyer. Please take
> a look at
> http://www.jsdiinc.com/harmony/ossjava.html
>
> What do you think?
>
>
>
> Dmitry Serebrennikov wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> Here's an idea that occurred to me yesterday after reading Geir's post
>> about booth at Java ONE. I think this is a good opportunity, but needs
>> more thoughts.
>>
>> You know how James Gosling keeps saying that Sun's customers tell them
>> they would run for the hills if Java was opensourced, etc., etc.?
>> Well, JavaOne is a gathering of just these types of customers, and
>> they will be walking around the pavilion, possibly stopping by the
>> Apache booth. What an opportunity to validate (and hopefully disprove)
>> that assertion! If we could just come up with a way to poll people as
>> they stop by the booth, we might have an excellent argument to
>> counteract Gonsling's FUD/misunderstanding (whichever it is).
>>
>> Not only that, but at the same time we could actually educate people
>> on (a) what OSS is *really* all about, (b) what Apache and Harmony's
>> intentions are for Java (no incompatibility, just improvement), (c)
>> about work that has already been done by other OSS projects in the
>> Java VM field (gcj, classpath, etc).
>>
>> Without the booth, there will be a few people that come the
>> OSS-related sessions, fewer still will be at the Harmony session. But
>> the booth changes things. If we conduct this kind of poll at the
>> booth, and generate buzz about the booth at the sessions, we could
>> reach vastly more people! Of course the booth is meant to be shared
>> between all Java-related Apache projects, but isn't Harmony kind of an
>> overriding umbrella that relates to and benefits all of these
>> projects? Logically, it makes sense to have Harmony represented at the
>> booth at all times, even if politically this may require negotiation.
>> But maybe having a poll station and a stand with questions (see
>> below), even as the rest of the booth is devoted to other topics,
>> wouldn't be that difficult?
>>
>> Isn't this an exciting opportunity? What I envision is something like
>> this. Like I said, this requires more thought on exactly how to do this.
>> We present people with a series of questions, maybe 3 or 4, designed
>> to spark their interest and explain benefits of a fully-compatible OSS
>> Java implementation to them. At the end, we ask - Would you support an
>> open source Java implementation that delivered the above? Yes / No.
>> This could be printed on a largish poster so that people see it over
>> the heads of others and also printed on postcard-sized sheets of
>> paper. Under the poster and next to these postcards we put two
>> fishbowls with big "Yes" and "No" scotch-taped to them. They grab the
>> postcard, mark off their answer, fill in a comment if they want, and
>> drop it in the right bowl. It might be good to ask for their name and
>> org, but I'm not sure. Having that would help with legitimacy, but
>> it's too much work to fill out and will cause lots of work for us to
>> sort though anyway.
>>
>> I don't suppose we are going to have one of those card readers there,
>> will we? I think they cost extra.
>>
>> Now, the postcards have an additional benefit. It's a matter of funds
>> to print more of them, but the more we have, the more we can use them.
>> We can distribute them at the entrance, cafeteria, etc. We can
>> distribute them at sessions. The cards would also have the booth
>> number on them to draw people in. They could even be as small as
>> business cards, but they will be hard to see then. This would also
>> just draw people to the Apache booth in general, so other projects
>> might even be interested in supporting this idea as well.
>>
>> So, what about the questions? Here are some ideas.
>> At the top, in large font, a big draw-in header. Something like: Is
>> Open Source Java a Good Thing?
>> Then something like this:
>> <bold>Have you ever found a bug in Java that broke your application?
>> You could have just fixed it, but had to work around it
>> instead?</bold>
>> OSS Java will not only let you fix it and distribute your code with
>> your application, but you would benefit from other people making such
>> fixes, while you can just focus on your work and stop wasting time on
>> workarounds!
>>
>> <bold>Do you work with a platform that Sun's Java does not support?
>> Have you ever wished that someone would just write a good
>> JVM for it?</bold>
>> OSS Java with a vibrant community will provide an incentive to do just
>> this. Because codebase is shared and understood by many people, the
>> cost of adding a new platform becomes smaller over time, while the
>> benefits become larger!
>>
>> .....
>>
>> It needs a third one, but I can't think of one right now. I think we
>> absolutely need to emphasize rigorous compatibility. But I can't think
>> of how to put that in this format at the moment. Thoughts? Comments?
>> What other benefits do we want to highlight?
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Dmitry
>>
>>
>> Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
>>
>>> All,
>>>
>>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year. We will be staffing
>>> the booth with projects, each project there for 2 hours or so to
>>> tell people about the project and the ASF in general.
>>>
>>> If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, add your name here :
>>>
>>> http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta/ApacheAtJavaOne2005
>>>
>>> geir
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Dmitry Serebrennikov <dm...@earthlink.net>.
I just put together a simple mockup of this kind of a flyer. Please take
a look at
http://www.jsdiinc.com/harmony/ossjava.html
What do you think?
Dmitry Serebrennikov wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Here's an idea that occurred to me yesterday after reading Geir's post
> about booth at Java ONE. I think this is a good opportunity, but needs
> more thoughts.
>
> You know how James Gosling keeps saying that Sun's customers tell them
> they would run for the hills if Java was opensourced, etc., etc.?
> Well, JavaOne is a gathering of just these types of customers, and
> they will be walking around the pavilion, possibly stopping by the
> Apache booth. What an opportunity to validate (and hopefully disprove)
> that assertion! If we could just come up with a way to poll people as
> they stop by the booth, we might have an excellent argument to
> counteract Gonsling's FUD/misunderstanding (whichever it is).
>
> Not only that, but at the same time we could actually educate people
> on (a) what OSS is *really* all about, (b) what Apache and Harmony's
> intentions are for Java (no incompatibility, just improvement), (c)
> about work that has already been done by other OSS projects in the
> Java VM field (gcj, classpath, etc).
>
> Without the booth, there will be a few people that come the
> OSS-related sessions, fewer still will be at the Harmony session. But
> the booth changes things. If we conduct this kind of poll at the
> booth, and generate buzz about the booth at the sessions, we could
> reach vastly more people! Of course the booth is meant to be shared
> between all Java-related Apache projects, but isn't Harmony kind of an
> overriding umbrella that relates to and benefits all of these
> projects? Logically, it makes sense to have Harmony represented at the
> booth at all times, even if politically this may require negotiation.
> But maybe having a poll station and a stand with questions (see
> below), even as the rest of the booth is devoted to other topics,
> wouldn't be that difficult?
>
> Isn't this an exciting opportunity? What I envision is something like
> this. Like I said, this requires more thought on exactly how to do this.
> We present people with a series of questions, maybe 3 or 4, designed
> to spark their interest and explain benefits of a fully-compatible OSS
> Java implementation to them. At the end, we ask - Would you support an
> open source Java implementation that delivered the above? Yes / No.
> This could be printed on a largish poster so that people see it over
> the heads of others and also printed on postcard-sized sheets of
> paper. Under the poster and next to these postcards we put two
> fishbowls with big "Yes" and "No" scotch-taped to them. They grab the
> postcard, mark off their answer, fill in a comment if they want, and
> drop it in the right bowl. It might be good to ask for their name and
> org, but I'm not sure. Having that would help with legitimacy, but
> it's too much work to fill out and will cause lots of work for us to
> sort though anyway.
>
> I don't suppose we are going to have one of those card readers there,
> will we? I think they cost extra.
>
> Now, the postcards have an additional benefit. It's a matter of funds
> to print more of them, but the more we have, the more we can use them.
> We can distribute them at the entrance, cafeteria, etc. We can
> distribute them at sessions. The cards would also have the booth
> number on them to draw people in. They could even be as small as
> business cards, but they will be hard to see then. This would also
> just draw people to the Apache booth in general, so other projects
> might even be interested in supporting this idea as well.
>
> So, what about the questions? Here are some ideas.
> At the top, in large font, a big draw-in header. Something like: Is
> Open Source Java a Good Thing?
> Then something like this:
> <bold>Have you ever found a bug in Java that broke your application?
> You could have just fixed it, but had to work around it
> instead?</bold>
> OSS Java will not only let you fix it and distribute your code with
> your application, but you would benefit from other people making such
> fixes, while you can just focus on your work and stop wasting time on
> workarounds!
>
> <bold>Do you work with a platform that Sun's Java does not support?
> Have you ever wished that someone would just write a good
> JVM for it?</bold>
> OSS Java with a vibrant community will provide an incentive to do just
> this. Because codebase is shared and understood by many people, the
> cost of adding a new platform becomes smaller over time, while the
> benefits become larger!
>
> .....
>
> It needs a third one, but I can't think of one right now. I think we
> absolutely need to emphasize rigorous compatibility. But I can't think
> of how to put that in this format at the moment. Thoughts? Comments?
> What other benefits do we want to highlight?
>
>
> Regards
> Dmitry
>
>
> Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
>
>> All,
>>
>> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year. We will be staffing
>> the booth with projects, each project there for 2 hours or so to
>> tell people about the project and the ASF in general.
>>
>> If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, add your name here :
>>
>> http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta/ApacheAtJavaOne2005
>>
>> geir
>>
>
>
Re: Apache Booth At JavaOne
Posted by Dmitry Serebrennikov <dm...@earthlink.net>.
Greetings,
Here's an idea that occurred to me yesterday after reading Geir's post
about booth at Java ONE. I think this is a good opportunity, but needs
more thoughts.
You know how James Gosling keeps saying that Sun's customers tell them
they would run for the hills if Java was opensourced, etc., etc.? Well,
JavaOne is a gathering of just these types of customers, and they will
be walking around the pavilion, possibly stopping by the Apache booth.
What an opportunity to validate (and hopefully disprove) that assertion!
If we could just come up with a way to poll people as they stop by the
booth, we might have an excellent argument to counteract Gonsling's
FUD/misunderstanding (whichever it is).
Not only that, but at the same time we could actually educate people on
(a) what OSS is *really* all about, (b) what Apache and Harmony's
intentions are for Java (no incompatibility, just improvement), (c)
about work that has already been done by other OSS projects in the Java
VM field (gcj, classpath, etc).
Without the booth, there will be a few people that come the OSS-related
sessions, fewer still will be at the Harmony session. But the booth
changes things. If we conduct this kind of poll at the booth, and
generate buzz about the booth at the sessions, we could reach vastly
more people! Of course the booth is meant to be shared between all
Java-related Apache projects, but isn't Harmony kind of an overriding
umbrella that relates to and benefits all of these projects? Logically,
it makes sense to have Harmony represented at the booth at all times,
even if politically this may require negotiation. But maybe having a
poll station and a stand with questions (see below), even as the rest of
the booth is devoted to other topics, wouldn't be that difficult?
Isn't this an exciting opportunity? What I envision is something like
this. Like I said, this requires more thought on exactly how to do this.
We present people with a series of questions, maybe 3 or 4, designed to
spark their interest and explain benefits of a fully-compatible OSS Java
implementation to them. At the end, we ask - Would you support an open
source Java implementation that delivered the above? Yes / No. This
could be printed on a largish poster so that people see it over the
heads of others and also printed on postcard-sized sheets of paper.
Under the poster and next to these postcards we put two fishbowls with
big "Yes" and "No" scotch-taped to them. They grab the postcard, mark
off their answer, fill in a comment if they want, and drop it in the
right bowl. It might be good to ask for their name and org, but I'm not
sure. Having that would help with legitimacy, but it's too much work to
fill out and will cause lots of work for us to sort though anyway.
I don't suppose we are going to have one of those card readers there,
will we? I think they cost extra.
Now, the postcards have an additional benefit. It's a matter of funds to
print more of them, but the more we have, the more we can use them. We
can distribute them at the entrance, cafeteria, etc. We can distribute
them at sessions. The cards would also have the booth number on them to
draw people in. They could even be as small as business cards, but they
will be hard to see then. This would also just draw people to the Apache
booth in general, so other projects might even be interested in
supporting this idea as well.
So, what about the questions? Here are some ideas.
At the top, in large font, a big draw-in header. Something like: Is Open
Source Java a Good Thing?
Then something like this:
<bold>Have you ever found a bug in Java that broke your application?
You could have just fixed it, but had to work around it
instead?</bold>
OSS Java will not only let you fix it and distribute your code with your
application, but you would benefit from other people making such fixes,
while you can just focus on your work and stop wasting time on workarounds!
<bold>Do you work with a platform that Sun's Java does not support?
Have you ever wished that someone would just write a good JVM
for it?</bold>
OSS Java with a vibrant community will provide an incentive to do just
this. Because codebase is shared and understood by many people, the cost
of adding a new platform becomes smaller over time, while the benefits
become larger!
.....
It needs a third one, but I can't think of one right now. I think we
absolutely need to emphasize rigorous compatibility. But I can't think
of how to put that in this format at the moment. Thoughts? Comments?
What other benefits do we want to highlight?
Regards
Dmitry
Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
> All,
>
> The ASF will have a booth at JavaOne this year. We will be staffing
> the booth with projects, each project there for 2 hours or so to tell
> people about the project and the ASF in general.
>
> If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, add your name here :
>
> http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta/ApacheAtJavaOne2005
>
> geir
>