47: Conference Blues
29 April 2013
Is it time to reboot the big development conferences? We contrast WWDC to a community focused event like LinuxFest Northwest and attempt to answer the value question behind the larger conferences, why pressing the flesh can be important, and if Google Hangouts can be part of the solution. Plus working from home tricks, making the switch from a 9-5 job to contracting, the start of the great app exit, and does using Chrome make you against the free web?
Hosts
Episode Links
Feedback
- A ton of home office sharing!
- Nicholas asks: “if you guys believe in the open web, why are you not using Firefox…”
- Dirk’s email: lifestyle and career choice
- Knut wants some advice on moving from Visual Studio / VBasic to Vim / C++
- Apple does not benefit from bots purchasing apps from the app store.
Conferences
After going on sale at 10:00 AM Pacific Time today, tickets for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco have already sold out in two minutes.
WWDC 2011 sold out in under 12 hours, while the 2010 edition took eight days. This marks the sixth straight year that WWDC has sold out, a streak that began in 2008.
LinuxFest Northwest is entering its 14th year! 2012 was our most successful event yet, with around 1200 attendees over the weekend. And 2013 will be undoubtedly our biggest change yet.
The App Exit
I’m happy to announce that I’ve sold a majority stake in Instapaper to Betaworks. We’ve structured the deal with Instapaper’s health and longevity as the top priority, with incentives to keep it going well into the future. I will continue advising the project indefinitely, while Betaworks will take over its operations, expand its staff, and develop it further.