October 15, 2004
October 14, 2004
Episode Three, A Retrospective
The third installment of Ghent has now passed into history, and once again history will look upon it kindly. We all know sequels tend to a let down, but the Cocoon getTogether is definitely the exception rather then the rule. With each passing year, things only get better, the excitement only grows.
Thanks must go the organizers and sponsors of the event and especially the hosts Steven Noels, Marc Portier and Bruno Dumon. These guys, the Outerthought crew, are just wonderful people. Enough said.
The hackerton on Monday was a great success with a reported 47 bugs closed. This year’s open format was much appreciated by the participants. All the presentations on Tuesday were fantastic, a pleasant surprise came in the form of the last talk “Supporting non-Latin character sets with Cocoon” – by Torsten schlacbach. I found it particularly fascinating.
Extracurricular activities are an important part of the getTogether because a good project is more than about code its also about sense of community. With out a healthy community an open source project will simply languish. Needless to say, we all out did ourselves this year, the photos will lay testament to that.
Unfortunately I have not found the time to really contribute to Cocoon over the last year, but the Cocoon getTegther really installs a sense of motivation, it almost impossible not to catch Cocoon fever once again. In some ways it was a humbling experience to be surrounded by so many talented and motivated people. Cocoon seems to attract many individuals with multi dimensional talent, people who are simultaneously great coders artists/musicians and linguists.
Now the focus shifts to Frankfurt, we plan to hold a Cocoon stammtisch some time soon Stay posted.
More photos here.
October 12, 2004
New iPod Rumored
There are rumors about a new enhanced 60 Gig iPod with colour display coming out within the next 60 days! Wow! I need one! Shall I wait for this to come out or shall cave in and buy the existing model, now thats a dilemma. I guess this rumored ipod wont be too wallet friendly. :)
Notes from Ghent.
In a scene reminiscent of that famous Apple commercial from the early 80's Stefano Mazzocchi's (founder of Cocoon) video image towered over the hacketon larger than life.
Later, in the greatest of all Cocoon traditions, we headed off to the infamous Ribs restaurant. It turned out to be a record shattering night. By consuming four massive rib cages in quick succession, Marucs set the bench mark for Rib devouring debauchery.Those to follow in this tradition will certainly face a Herculean task matching or surpassing this feat.
A different side of Ghent revealed itself to us last night. Visiting the student quarter we discovered a lively part of town with packed bars and clubs. Not bad for a Monday night.
Pictures to follow...
October 11, 2004
Cocoon G[h]e[n]t together 2004
Once again we Ghent together!
This is the third annual Cocoon "conference". The good news is that the get together is only going from strength with each passing year. A lot more new faces here this year which is great. Im sure the whole event will be getting a lot of blog coverage... but i will add my two cents anyway
Today is the hackatom, where all the Apache Cocoon geeks get to get their hands dirty with the code. I am also looking forward to the Cocoon presentations tomorrow. Like the rest of the guys, will keep you blogged
October 06, 2004
Political Columnist
One should never discuss religion or politics… but today I will put my political columnist cap on, all be it, only briefly.
I chanced upon watching the presidential debates the other night, even putting “content” aside, George Bush was just plain awful! What, with all those “ums” and “ahs” and those pregnant pauses, it was little embarrassing but perhaps not totally unexpected. I was rather impressed with Kerry’s comparative eloquence.
What struck me most though, was that we didn’t hear anything new from the candidates, what we heard was just the oft regurgitated party “slogans”. It was as if both candidates were parrots brought up on nothing but a diet of their own TV commercials. Where was the substance? It was basically a case of John “I served in Vietnam” Kerry versus George “I hate flip floppers” Bush.
Do world leaders actually know any detail about the real issues? Or was the “content” intentionally dumbed down for the TV audience. I guess, repeat a simple slogan often enough and people might believe you.