Bret Pettichord just told me about an exciting open space conference that he, and a bunch of other people are organizing in Austin, Texas. It is called Alt.Net.
The website is not up as of the writing of this post, but Scott Bellware provides the logistical details as:
“The ALT.NET conference will take place in Austin, TX from 5PM on Friday, Oct 5th, through noon on Sunday, October 7th at the St. Edwards University Professional Education Center.”
In a post by Dave Laribee, one of the conference hosts, he answers the question “What does it mean to be Alt.Net?” as:
- You’re the type of developer who uses what works while keeping an eye out for a better way.
- You reach outside the mainstream to adopt the best of any community: Open Source, Agile, Java, Ruby, etc.
- You’re not content with the status quo. Things can always be better expressed, more elegant and simple, more mutable, higher quality, etc.
- You know tools are great, but they only take you so far. It’s the principles and knowledge that really matter. The best tools are those that embed the knowledge and encourage the principles (e.g. Resharper.)
I am excited that the Open Space conference format is spreading in the software industry. The mission of the Open Information Foundation, founded by Jeffrey Fredrick and myself, is to help these types of events which endeavor to make the sharing of information available to anyone, without financial impediment. We have been hosting CITCON, around the globe, to further this goal.
If you can make it to Austin for this event, I am sure it will be a very educational, enlightening and fun event!
. Of course, the entire book is a great read!