Ubuntu Inside Out – Free Software and Linux Days 2010 in Istanbul
In early April, I visited Istanbul to give a keynote at the Free Software and Linux Days event. This was an interesting challenge, because this was my first visit to Turkey, and my first experience presenting with simultaneous translation.
In my new talk, Ubuntu Inside Out, I spoke about:
- What Ubuntu is about, and where it came from
- Some of the challenges we face as a growing project with a large community
- Some ways in which we’re addressing those challenges
- How to get involved in Ubuntu and help
- What’s coming next in Ubuntu
The organizers have made a video available if you’d like to watch it (WordPress.com won’t let me embed it here).
Afterward, Calyx and I wandered around Istanbul, with the help of our student guide, Oğuzhan. We don’t speak any Turkish, apart from a few vocabulary words I learned on the way to Turkey, so we were glad to have his help as we visited restaurants, cafes and shops, and wandered through various neighborhoods. We enjoyed a variety of delicious food, and the unexpected company of many friendly stray cats.
It was only a brief visit, but I was grateful for the opportunity to meet the local free software community and to see some of the city.
We'll see | Matt Zimmerman 
KDE releases irregular?
Not since 4.0. Since then about every 6 month there was a release. A little strange that you don’t know that.
But I guess not everybody can know everything, like me ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE#Release_cycle
But other than that it was a very good and interesting talk.
Tom
April 15, 2010 at 17:11
I haven’t gone back and checked the talk, but I believe the question was why Ubuntu chose GNOME over KDE. At the time (2004), this was an important difference between the two.
This has definitely changed since then. I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear enough in my response. Thanks for the feedback!
Matt Zimmerman
April 15, 2010 at 17:37
How lucky you are. Istanbul and Jerusalem are two cities I would love to visit, for nothing else than the world history in each city. From Constantine to Justinian to the Great Schism yo the Fourth Crusade to the fall of Constantinople and the birth of the Ottoman Freaking Empire. From Suleiman the Magnificent to the Old Man of Europe, the alliance with Germany at the start of the first World War and the rise of Ataturk… one would be hard pressed to find a city that has more frequently been so pivotal in world history.
What were your impressions of the city? My girlfriend who had visited there several years ago said that it was wall to wall people and she was unable to see much besides them.
Lemonshark
April 16, 2010 at 01:57
I am now on a bus to İstanbul :) I visit nearly every weekend a good historical city but also modern. Yes it is crowded but not “wall to wall people”.
phx
April 16, 2010 at 23:12
I found the city to be large and dense, and for a Londoner that is saying something. :-) The weather was very good, and the cost of goods was pretty reasonable (again by London standards).
It took some time to get used to the many loudspeakers which broadcast religious singing several times per day, even quite early in the morning.
The main roads have a lot of foot traffic, but I wouldn’t call it a crowded place as a pedestrian. There did seem to be some overcrowding of cars, though.
Matt Zimmerman
April 17, 2010 at 21:46
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