I was amused to see ComputerWorld annoint Oscon as the next Comdex. While I think we’re a long way from the monstrosity that was Comdex, it’s certainly true that our move to the Portland Convention Center was a watershed event both for the conference and for the open source communities who meet there. The scale and style of the booths was indeed very different than anything we had in the past, and the convention center setting made the conference a bit less intimate than its previous hotel settings. I think we can improve on the social dynamics of the space if we stay there next year, and of course, we intend to keep the content and the community the primary reason for people to attend the O’Reilly Open Source Convention. That being said, it was terrific to attract more sponsors, more new product announcements, and larger booths, because the exhibit hall is also an great part of the conference experience.
