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Linus Torvalds slated to speak at inaugural LinuxCon

When people start conversations about Portland, Oregon, being a hub of open source, the conversation inevitably turns to one particular topic ‘Well, you know, Linus Torvalds lives in Portland.’

Rick Turoczy on May 20, 2009

When people start conversations about Portland, Oregon, being a hub of open source, the conversation inevitably turns to one particular topic “Well, you know, Linus Torvalds lives in Portland.”

It’s played like a trump card. And while this is factually correct, it’s a little misleading. You see, Linus doesn’t often make local appearances. He’s here, but he’s not here. If you catch my drift.

And that’s why the news that Linus is going to speak at the inaugural LinuxCon in Portland is such big news: because we’re actually going to get to see that person who we often use as a defense for our open source cred.

As Mike Rogoway at The Oregonian posted on the Silicon Forest blog:

In fact, to my knowledge, this is the first time Torvalds will speak at a public event in Oregon since he moved to the state. (He accepted an award from Reed College several years ago, I know, but don’t believe he spoke there.)

In any case, it will be great to catch a glimpse of Torvalds in his adopted home town. Here’s hoping that becomes a more regular occurrence.

LinuxCon is a new annual technical conference, held in Portland, Oregon, that will provide an unmatched collaboration and education space for all matters Linux. LinuxCon will bring together the best and brightest that the Linux community has to offer, including core developers, administrators, end users, community managers and industry experts. In being the conference for “all matters Linux”, LinuxCon will be informative and educational for a wide range of attendees. We will not only bring together all of the best technical talent but the decision makers and industry experts who are involved in the Linux community.

(Image courtesy Christopher Neugebauer. Used under Creative Commons.)

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Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy

  1. JeniLey January 5, 2013 at 2:29 am

    I remember listening to his speech at the LinuxCon in Portland. That was quite a day!

  2. Randal L. Schwartz May 23, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    Linus attended a presentation I made about his “git” to the Portland Linux Users Group Advanced Topic meeting, at my request. He did “speak”, although the presentation wasn’t formally his… it was mine.

    So, I’ll claim half a credit for “first!”

  3. Brandon Philips May 22, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    FYI, Linus talked at Linux Plumbers Conf 2008 (held at PSU) on git and will be giving an advanced usage tutorial again this year at LPC.

    http://linuxplumbersconf.org/2009/2009/05/387/

  4. Ron Voss May 21, 2009 at 6:44 am

    I was at Reed that August day in 2005; Torvalds spoke quite eloquently!

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