Astricon 2004 was an amazing conference held in Atlanta last week. I was fortunate enough to be there and witness the birth of a Linux software that is poised to revolutionize the world of enterprise telecommunications: the Asterisk open source PBX.
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09/26/2004 Entry: "Astricon 2004 and open source software in Mexico"
Astricon 2004 was an amazing conference held in Atlanta last week. I was fortunate enough to be there and witness the birth of a Linux software that is poised to revolutionize the world of enterprise telecommunications: the Asterisk open source PBX.
What made this event exceptional was the vibrant enthusiasm of the 450 attendees, all prepared to devote their time and use their vast experience to make Asterisk a solution that will mark the end of the supremacy of Avaya, Nortel and other legacy PBX vendors. Compared to the regular “brainwash” commercial conferences, Astricon was a breath of fresh air.
Open source software is very much alive in Mexico (to my surprise, and relief). After all, Mexico boasts some famous open source developers, like Miguel de Icaza who created the popular GNOME desktop environment. Likewise, there are several active open source associations in Mexico.
Mexico City’s government decided in 2001 to mandate the use of open source software. However, to date this decision is only making slow inroads in the capital’s government offices, hindered by a fear to adopt “unsupported” software with no “brand name” vendor backing it.
Never mind, my company will try harder to bring Asterisk to Mexican private businesses and government entities. Open source is the right solution to fight the capital drain represented by hard currency software acquisitions benefiting vendors like Microsoft. Besides, open source fosters local development of software, a topic dear to my heart.
There were around a dozen Mexican participants in Astricon. Most of them stayed in the Marriott hotel where the event took place, while I opted for the Sierra Suites located next to the Brookhaven MARTA station. I highly recommend this hotel for its friendly staff and excellent location.
Replies: 2 comments
Miguel De Icaza is hot.
Posted by elenamary @ 10/13/2004 01:17 PM MEX
Well, it should feel some comfort and peace to find that Open source software is alive in Mexico and that as you mention there are famous developers working on that front. It would be interesting how this developers feel regarding the rest of the economy and the support of the goverment and VC to their investigations. Do they feel as isolated as you might feel in ocassions? Well, provided you feel isolated in your endeavour, which is my impression reading through the lines.
Posted by Juliana HUMBLE @ 10/01/2004 08:40 AM MEX
