I started off LinuxCon Japan day 1 with a bang by delivering my very first conference keynote ever, in which I described how the Apache Software Foundation operates, and how it differs from some other foundations. I have’t been this nervous giving a talk in almost 15 years. The audience was amazingly attentive – I’m used to 2/3 of an audience looking at a laptop screen while I speak, and there were only a handful of them in this talk – most of them foreigners. Japanese audiences are incredibly courteous.

II attended several talks during the day, and met a lot of fascinating people.

At lunch, I went to the soba restaurant that’s in the Chinzanso garden. It was A Maze Ing. Wow. Delicious, while also being all new to me. I’m a sucker for a new experience, and the food was just so great.

At lunch we discussed ApacheCon Europe. (By the way, the CFP for ACEU is still open. Submit now. Avoid the inevitable last minute rush.) We’ve got some great keynotes lined up, and we’re investigating some others. I got a tentative yes from someone very cool yesterday. I’m so excited.

In the evening, there was “VIP” event, where I ended up at a table with several french people, one of whom is the E.D. of the Open Daylight Foundation. He was talking about, among other things, their sponsorship/membership program, and helping companies understand the value of sponsoring OpenDaylight. It was a truly fascinating and eye-opening conversation. I’m looking forward to more conversations with Neela in the coming months.

By the time the party started to wind down, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, and went to bed. The 11 hour time difference between here and home is very hard to adjust to.

On the whole, I am very glad I came. Although being away from home two weeks in a row is pretty awful, this is an event I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. LF always puts on a great show, and everything about this venue is wonderful.