Re: GUADEC registration fee

[Glynn Foster <Glynn Foster Sun COM>]

Hey,

> I think Guadec is (or at least should be) very different from
> linux.conf.au (haven't been there though, just heard about it).

It is only different in that there is a small defined set of topics that
are presented at the conference - in importance wise, it's up there near
the top I think.

> To me Guadec is a meeting to get together and discuss the future
> development of GNOME. It's also (probably more important) a place to get
> together, share a few beers and get to know the persons behind the IRC
> nicks and email addresses.

Absolutely - it's also a good place to get our message out as a focused
community.

> I can understand a fee if we can't get enough money to make it go break
> even but it has to be clear that this is the reason for the fee and not
> a way to milk the corporations of money.

In other years we've had desperate problems trying to finance the
conference - often with sponsorships coming in at the last minute.
Ideally the conference fee could be our insurance each year that the
conference would definitely go ahead.

One of the comments from last year was people who were attending the
conference was a way that they could help out from a financial point of
view - obviously they needed something a little bit more defined than
just a donation which would be hard to get reimbursed for, and hence the
conference fee was introduced.

I can guarantee though that any money coming from registration will be
funneled directly into the GNOME project.

> I really hope that this doesn't make companies such as Novell/Ximian or
> Red Hat to not send all of there GNOME hackers just because it'll cost
> too much.

I do agree...but another way to look at it is that companies like
Novell/Ximian/Red Hat/Sun are making a *LOT* of money from GNOME.
Obviously they're inserting a lot of money into the project as well. If
they don't care enough to spend money send their hackers to the
conference, you do have to wonder. Shrug.

> So in short, what are we paying for?

My best guess is insurance that the conference will be held. I'd also
like to think that this year's money gets used helping people come to
the conference that can't afford to.

Glynn