./NET/Fringe is almost upon us (12-14 April 2015) and I've been monitoring with envy as the organisers announced the line up a few weeks ago. This new event is a proper celebration of two worlds that used to be so different not until long ago - .NET and Open Source. To understand why .NET/Fringe is so exciting
let me quote the description directly from the .NET/Fringe website:
.NET Fringe is a new conference focused on .NET developers who are breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries. The .NET platform is more
interesting today than it ever has been! The old Microsoft that was at odds with Open Source has been replaced with one that is actively
contributing to OSS and hosts a huge number of important projects on GitHub! The .NET OSS community has been collaborating and creating new,
really exciting, interesting, and innovative projects which are changing the landscape. They are defining the future!
And if the above is not enough to convince you to attend, some of the biggest names in software development, people I deeply admire, are going to be there.
I believe you can imagine my disappointment I couldn't attend the event. However, last night I got a chance to be part of this extraordinary conference with the help of Glenn Block (@gblock), who's one of the organisers and a long time OSS proponent. Glenn didn't only arrange for a free ticket through the sponsors but also invited me to give a lightning talk which made me doubly happy. His actions reminded me how supportive and exciting this community is. (unless there is an argument about OSx vs Windows, C# vs Java etc, you get the point)
Last night, I spent over 3 hours on Skype with Glenn, who took time off his busy schedule to help me arrange tickets, accommodation, visas etc and stayed on until he was certain I was all sorted for my trip. He deserves more than a big thank you and I will make sure I convey my gratitude when I shake his hand in person!
As I'm writing this, I can barely contain my enthusiasm counting the hours to my first trip to the US and my first conference outside Europe.
I will follow this post with a writeup with all the details and encounters after the event, so stay tuned.