JaviVázquez

Continuing with the search of sponsors for GUADEC 2006, we have created a section with information for them in the GUADEC website.

If you are considering financially helping this GNOME conference, please check the GUADEC 2006 sponsor’s brochure.

Last week I assisted to several conferences in Málaga, during the OSWC. 3 days really nice sharing time, conversations, beer… with many great people concerned about the future of free software and a free (freedom) society.

In one of the conferences, there were 4 public administrations (Junta de Andalucía, Junta de Extremadura, Generalitat Catalana and Generalitat Valenciana) sitting in the same table, talking about their projects and also about the difficulties to collaborate among them.

Obviously, they first have to promote the collaboration inside their owns organizations before trying to work with other organizations, to spread from inside the characteristic culture of free software communities .

Anyway, although this lack of collaboration, I was really jealous listening to the activities of these governments about Free Software and Information Society, because Galicia, my country/region, has not started anything relevant yet.

During the conference, Marcelo Branco –softwarelivre.org– was pointed as the new person hired by the Generalitat Catalana to promote the collaboration among governments, not only in Spain, but worlwide. I met Marcelo in Santiago de Compostela 8 months ago, and I really think he could be the right person to such a hard task.

I was speaking with Elena Veiguela, coordinator for the promotion of the Information Society in Galicia, and I introduced them to each other, hoping that Galicia joins the initiative for a free software collaboration world, and our people can enjoy the new knowledge society we do not know yet.

Marcelo is probably coming to Galicia in March to speak with different people of Xunta de Galicia, and I hope we can meet again, because I learn a lot each time I am a few minutes with him.

Good luck Marcelo!

Tomorrow, February 15th, starts the II Open World Software Conference, held again in Málaga.

This conference is already one of the most important events about Software Libre (free/open source software) in the whole world, and definitively the most important of the year in Spain.

I am going to be there the tree days it lasts, from Wednesday to Friday, and I hope to meet all the friends related to free software I cannot see in the rest of the year. See you all in Málaga!

GUADEC 2006, The GNOME conference, will be held in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Catalonia – Spain) from the 24th to 30th of June.

The 7th annual GNOME users and developers conference will bring GNOME Foundation leaders, individuals, business and governments together to discuss about the present and future of the most popular free (open source) desktop.

I am helping the organization, probably well personalized this year in Quim Gil, with the search of sponsors to fund this meeting and financially help the GNOME Foundation.

If you are a marketing responsable in an organization interested in GNOME, please contact me to fit in one of the 3 sponsorship levels:

• Cornerstone
• Gold
• Supporter

Look in your pockets, GUADEC 2006 needs you! 🙂