OStatic

In a year that's been pretty rough on commercial conferences, community run events like FOSDEM, SCALE, SouthEast LinuxFest, LinuxFest Northwest and this past weekend's Ontario GNU Linux Fest are thriving. Why is that? Community conferences win out for a number of reasons.

Attending conferences is a big part of my job, and over the years I've started to take note of what events are worth attending and which events aren't. By and large, it's the smaller community events that are worth your time and money.

Silicon Florist blogger Rick Turoczy is reporting that the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) 2010 is returning to Portland, OR next year. Organizers moved this year's event to San Jose to San Jose, CA and by the time the conference was over, they were already telling attendees OSCON 2010 would most likely be held once again in Portland.

Organizers claimed the move to San Jose was prompted by the high cost of travel to Portland and its cramped convention facilities. The reasons for moving back to Portland for OSCON 2010 are much more elusive, but Portland's mayor confirmed it has signed a contract to play host next year.