Re: Call for comments on where to have GUADEC in 2007

[Mathieu Blondel <mblondel rubyforge org>]

Hi,

Anne Østergaard a écrit :
> Dear GNOME Foundation Member,
>
> You are invited to comment on where you would prefer to have at GUADEC
> in 2007.
>   
I'm not a foundation member, just a happy GNOME user and am writing this 
comment in the sole hope that it will be useful.

I have read and compared carefully the two bids.

Both cities seem big (second biggest city in their respective 
countries), beautiful and nice to visit. Lyon is better placed in 
Europe. Both seem to have active and committed people and organizations 
to Free Software. Both seem to have good transports.

Something I did not see mentioned in Lyon's bid was the easiness or not 
to find accommodations in the local area.

When it comes to the actual place where the event will take place, it 
seems to me like the Lyon application is safer and more reliable. More 
work seems to have already been done and a secure agreement seems to 
have already been reached with CPE Lyon. The organization of the event 
also seems to be supported by the local chamber of commerce. In the 
Birmingham bid, the UCE is described as "[...] investigated as a 
possible venue". I think as of now, Lyon offers more warranty on the 
actual place where the event will take place.

As for the capacity to welcome an event such as GUADEC, UCE and CPE Lyon 
seem to be equivalent. Both offer a 500 seats amphitheater and two 
smaller ones with about 150 seats. I did not see the network facilities 
mentioned in the Birmingham bid while CPE Lyon, as an engineering 
school, seem to offer very good network facilities.

Both applications seem to be supported by a number of people although 
the Birmingham bid seem to have been signed by more GNOME developers. 
I'm wondering what motivated their decision though. Did they support 
Birmingham because they have actually compared both candidates ?

HTH and cheers,

--
Mathieu Blondel
http://www.mblondel.org