Proprietary Software Funeral March - ApacheCon2008

Brainfood.com, Hotwax Media and 10gen sponsored a mock funeral for proprietary software at ApacheCon 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The funeral was done in full New Orleans style with a jazz band parade through the streets with a police escort. Surprised spectators were overheard asking, "Who's in the box?"

The destination was a music bar, but I turned back to attend the "Web Operations Battle Scars" Birds of a Feather session, so I didn't get to see how this little party died down... ahem.

If I were the type to catalog a list of things I want to do before I die, marching in the streets of New Orleans in celebration of a funeral might be in there. Even though this wasn't a real funeral, it was still a blast.

Lots of bikes in the Big Easy

In addition to liquor, gifts, and voodoo supplies, you see a lot of bikes on the streets of New Orleans. Check out these photos of the local two wheeled commuters.

Wednesday - Pics from New Orleans /Apachecon 2008

A full room at the opening plenary.

The stand-up version of this game isn't nearly as fun as the sit-down.

Awesome! Asteroids with nearly 40,000 credits on it.

Canal St. has an emergency lane/streetcar lane running down the middle.

How to pay for parking in New Orleans. I think you put in money or a credit
card and get some kind of parking debit card for the meters.

Streetcars are used here, at least in this district.

I think that's Lake Pontchartrain in the distance.

How thick is this glass?

View from the hotel window. This is looking to the northwest.

ApacheCon 2008 - Intro

Destination: New Orleans, Louisana, USA

Event: ApacheCon 2008

Goal: Learn more about Apache open source projects, with a particular emphasis on the HTTPD web server. I hope to gain more knowledge about how Apache HTTPD can better be used for high-volume, high-availability web sites. I also hope to learn more about simplifying configuration management, web search, logging strategies, and whatever else comes along. It would also be nice to network with other Apache HTTPD server admins and swap notes and war stories.

I also hope to have a little fun and get some rest with a full 8 hours of sleep each night in a big, soft, comfy bed with no distractions. I might even bring a book to read.

Updates: I will be experimenting with using this blog combined with photo blogging via Zannel.com and Shozu.com, and quick updates using Twitter.com. Feel free to interact with me via comments on the blog and replies to the twitter updates.