GnomeDex 3.0

HackerStickers writes "The Fellowship of the Geeks - Aka Gnomedex 3.0 is the geeks conference of the year. This weekend-long geek-a-thon has had upwards and over 500 attendees all having the common love of technology. Des Moines, Iowa is where the Geeks will tromp July 25th & 26th both in business and pleasure. The lockergnome crew will be there and the list of speakers keeps growing with great topics by Jim Louderback, your very own slashdot man - Rob Malda, Tim O'Reilly, and not-so-decided topics by both MS and Google."

Soooo what your saying....

is if I am looking for a place to pick up chicks this is not it?

I'm going to make a prediction...

"the Geeks will tromp July 25th & 26th both in business and pleasure"

I'm going to say that the pleasure is going to be limitted to "computer related" joy, and not associated with the female gender.

Des Moines?

I'm sure this will end up being the 30th post about this but, Des Moines? I guess the Des Moines tourist board lobbied hard to get GnomeDex. It probably came down to a choice between Des Moines, Bryan Texas, and "that little town outside of Salt Lake that no one can pronounce". I guess they are offering attendees all the corn they can eat and a free plastic pig snout? Is the conference being held in the back of a general store? Cheap rates at the Motel 6 Des Moines?

Uh no...

Gnomedex is not the geek conference of the year, or even close. Saying geek 6 times in your article won't change that fact. I'm not sure I know what the geek conference of the year is, but I know this isn't it.

You should go!

The best thing about this conference is it is run by small business "net geeks". The whole total amount of this is $99 and instead of being either on the West Coast or the east cost, they are smack dab in the middle of the country. What more can you ask for in a great conference?

Resolved: NOTGNOME

Can someone please take this out of the GNOME section? It has utterly zip all to do with the far cooler, arse-kicking, totally Free Software GNOME Project.

Thanks. :-)

What do these small shows offer?

500 attendees is very small compared to the mega shows like JavaOne and RSA. What could one learn at this show that's not covered by the bigger shows or information that's above & beyond the standard press release/documentation of the products.

Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa is where the Geeks will tromp July 25th & 26th both in business and pleasure.

Bet you NEVER thought you'd ever read that sentence in a non-fictional sense, did ya? ;-)

Miss Gnomedex

Will Cmdr Taco be going for the title of Miss Gnomedex [missgnomedex.com]?

Next Best Thing

<span style="shameless-self-plug:true;">

Even if you can't make it to the mecca of excitement that is Des Moines, you can still get your Lockergnome-approved [lockergnome.com] daily dose of gnomish fun here... [jardinains.com]

</span>

Use of the word "geek"

I find the use of the word "Geek" derogatory. Why do such
people find it necessary to define themselves by their group?
Or even to bind themselves to a group or character in the
first place. Is it not sufficient to leave yourself undefined
and be responsive to your environment in your own right.

Calling oneself a "geek" wreaks of embracing oppression as a
means to feel liberated. This is insane.

The most talented programmers and technical people I know
don't call themselves anything at all.

Not GNOME-related

It's run by a guy named Chris Pirillo (who's from Des Moines, but since moved to California), who has a web site called lockergnome.com because someone tagged him with the nickname "Locker Gnome" in high school. It's nothing to do with GNOME, and when I was at GNOMEDEX last year about all there was to do with Linux period was a good talk by Doc Searls; aside from that it was M$ all the way. I can't vouch for this year, though.

No Respect ...

The third bullet point on the Gnomedex home page is Why Des Moines?.

John Dvorak speaking....

Guess that means I won't have to pack any toilet paper, I can just use the Gnomedex itinerary sheet.

Gnomedex, bring on the geeks.

As admin of help.lockergnome.com [lockergnome.com] I know that the popularity of Gnomedex increases greatly every year. And this will only be the third year. Soon, it may be too big to be held in Iowa. I do think that this is a worthy thing to attend, as it isn't so much about the speakers and lecturers. It's about the people. The people there are some the friendliest and nicest people you'll find.

GNOME section icon

Isnt it about time slashdot updated the GNOME section icon to the new GNOME logo [gnome.org]?

Des Moines

I drove past it once or twice, let me see what I can remember about it...

• At night, watch out for raccoons on the road. I hit one at about 10 pm, caused about $100 worth of damage.
  
• Be sure to visit the Iowa-80 Truck Stop [iowa80truckstop.com] in the Quad Cities!
  
• Go Hawkeyes!!!!!!11
  
• Iowa has a chain of convenience stores named "Kum and Go".
  

Gotta catch em all

Sweet, finally I will be able to compile detailed information on all 151 different gnomes! Awesome! I love you guys!!

Des Moines?

Is it really fair to stick all of those geeks at the end of the single 9600 baud modem feeding the 'innurnet' in Des Moins?

Iowa

I don't go any place where people still use the phrase 'them city slickers'.

And the Miss Gnomedex entries....

are, to put it mildly, very distubing. I am not sure which is worse, the naked guy or the wannabe pirate...

Des Moines strip bars

Last year we went to this strip bar called the lumber yard -- "were you go to get wood" my wife commented on our way there. $15 cover, bring your own beer, pool tables and $7 large pizzas - not to mention all the naughty bits you can stand. It's one of the only places where a buck is still worth something. Oh yeah, the conference speakers were great too plus you got to TALK to anyone you wanted too. IMHO First year was 75% windows 25% linux. Second year was 50% windows, 25% linux, 25% Mac.

Des Moines

Hey hey, stop ripping on DM so badly. It's really a pretty good place to hang out...

And a few places you may want to check out while here is Java Joe's [javajoescoffeehouse.com] on 4th street just off Court, and the Spaghetti Works ([phone], 310 Court Ave)
Court Ave is a great place to hang out basically.

I for one....

I am glad that us in the midwest will actually be able to have an event that we can drive to in a couple of hours. I see all the posts blasting Des Moines, but these people don't seem to complain when the events are within shooting distance of where they live -- L.A., New York...etc..

They just let their Linux newsletter writer go.

Read about it on his blog here:Frankly, I'd Rather Not [steidler.net].
I really enjoyed his newsletter, called Penguin Shell. He's a good writer and it was helpful for a newbie. Shame he's gone now, but I'll be interested to see what his new site will be.

Iowa

Say what you want about my home state, but Iowa did have the first state-wide fiber optic network in the U.S.

Conference of the year? Ha!

Gnomedex is fun and all, but if any developer thinks it's the "conference of the year" they need to get out more.

Check out MacHack [machack.com]. MacHack is the conference Gnomedex desperately wishes it could be. Just ask Eric Raymond.

Geeks???

Ummm ... this is where Slashdot should've been noted as News for Geeks, so the appropriate Nerd title can be given to Lockergnomies.

Don't get me wrong, I rate them as geeks too, but there is a certain Nerdiness about their philosophy.

I wonder if there will be a witty little ad for something useless between each and every seat, just like their painful to read but useful newsletters.