My first Linux Expo was informative and easy to navigate, much like a good database. I arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday to a full parking lot. That is usually a good indicator that an expo is going to be successful.

As I entered the expo registration area I was directed by a perky greeter who pointed me to the self check-in area. Within three minutes I moved through check-in, got my printed badge, bag, shirt, and schedule and was on my way into the expo floor. My favorite conversation was with one of the gentlemen involved in Haiku, an open-source desktop operating system. The program is still in development and not for production sites but sounds fascinating. Good luck to Haiku.

I enjoyed meeting the fine folks at Silicon Mechanics who had one of the nicest booths, best T-shirts, great literature, and a good sales presentation. Oh, and they seem to have good products at a good rate. Bravo fellows, very professional. I attended Seth Kenlon presentation on Video Codecs and the Free World and found it interesting and informative. Seth is a video editor who helped me better understand everything from the economics of Codec (Code/Decode) to the “how-to” aspects of preparing and encoding video.