thebazaar update

Steve Blood sent in an update to the goings' on with thebazaar, the conference due to take place in March in NYC. Click below for the run-down; looks like things are taking shape.

Everything is coming together here in New York for The Bazaar. We've updated a number of things on the site and changed our pricing to make exhibits and a couple of session tracks free of charge. Our press release hit the wires last Thursday and the response has been great. Registrations are rolling in and a major news network in New York is now working with us to do some cool stuff.

Getting The Bazaar off the ground has been exciting but it hasn't come without its challenges. Along the way, we've dealt with some issues which are worth noting:

LinuxWorld Expo.
An unfortunate coincidence has put us on consecutive weekends on opposite coasts. For us, this is both exciting and frustrating. Exciting because come March the free software fervor will be rocking the technology world. Frustrating because although we are aiming to have a different type of show, we have to compete to get vendors and sponsors.

Pricing.
As an independent show funded by a nonprofit, we need to make sure we break even on the first Bazaar. Unlike big shows who can and do take losses in the beginning, if we take a loss, the Bazaar will not happen again. We used Apachecon and the Atlanta Linux Showcase as models when we were examining pricing options but people resented the fact that we were charging to go to the exhibits. Our prices reflected what we thought was reasonable and the fact that we didn't want to be dependent on sponsors. We've had some luck with sponsors (though nothing definite yet) so we've optimistically changed the pricing so that exhibits and a couple of session tracks are free.

Our plan.
Some people have questioned our motivation for doing the Bazaar. Our goal is to create an expo which serves both the free software community and the public and business world. We want to be sure that there is a balance between the old and the new, between the people who have worked to get free and open source software to where it is today and the people who join the community in the future. To that end, we feel it's important that all of the free software projects are a focal point and we will bring developers from as many projects as possible. And if we do clear a profit, the money will be used to help free software development.

We will follow the comments on slashdot, but if you would like to discuss any of these issues with us directly, please contact us at [e-mail] . Also, if you are a developer from a free software project and you're interested in joining us and/or delivering a talk, please drop us a line.

thanks,
steve blood