2013年6月12日 星期三

GNOME & Footprint, Korea & Impression


This is my second time to attend GNOME Asia Summit.  I'm happy to see and talk with so many GNOME users from all over the world.  Special thanks to Karen Sandler and Allan Day from GNOME Foundation, they made me understand more about the present and the future of GNOME.


When I knew that GNOME Asia Summit started to call for paper, there were two different voices in my mind.  First, I had a great time in the GNOME Asia Summit 2012 in Hong Kong, so I expected to attend it again.  On the other hand, this is a great summit of free and open source software, but I'm not a developer.  Linus Torvalds once said, "Talk is cheap.  Show me the code."  I had never contributed a single line of code to any free and open source software, how can I stand on the stage and give a speech to all of the GNOME users?


Thanks to Max, he encouraged me at the moment when I was about to give up.  Finally I decided to submit my paper.  I was so excited when I knew that my paper was accepted.  I then understand that, the world of free and open source software is very open.  I don't need to be a developer to share something to you.


Since this is my second time to attend GNOME Asia Summit, I met many friends who I knew last year, especially Anish.  Before going to Korea, he came to Taiwan for a few days, and I was honored to take him to walk around Taipei.  We talked much about free and open source software, and our experiences attending GNOME's events.  When we went to Korea, it was Anish's turn to take me walk around Souel.  We had a great time.



No doubt, the 2700 seconds in my session made me very nervous, and it was a very good experience to me too.  

In Taiwan we don't have many chances to face so many free and open source software users and developers to give a speech, not to mention to speak in English.  At first I wondered how many people would understand my bad English.  However, what impressed me was that, many people were interested in what I shared, and we had a deep discussion after the session.  I'm especially impressed with Bin Li and Tong Hui from Beijing, who were still discussing with Max about the questions I mentioned in my speech, after they went back to the hotel.


Before going to Korea, I expected to visit some schools in Souel, and would like to know how they use free and open source software in their campus.  It was a pity that we didn't get it.  I don't know how many people will see my article.  If you are reading my article, and you are also interested in promoting free and open source software in campuses, I hope that you can come to Taiwan to see how we do it.  Please feel free to contact with me. I hope that I can have more things to share next year in GNOME Asia Summit.




這是我第二次參與GNOME.Asia Summit的盛會,很高興因為這一場盛會讓我可以和來自各地的 GNOME user 交流,特別是可以直接與 GNOME Foundation 的 Karen Sandler 以及 Allan Day 對談,也因此可以更了解 GNOME 的現在與未來。

回想起當時我一知道 GNOME.Asia Summit 開始 call for paper 時,我心裡出現了兩個矛盾的聲音,一個是因為去年在香港我第一次參加了 GNOME.Asia Summit 2012的美好回憶,讓我很期待今年可以再參與,但我心裡的另一個聲音則是,這是一個自由軟體的盛會,我並不是一個技術人,記得 Linus Torvalds 曾說過“Talk is cheap. Show me the code. ”,以這個標準來看,我一點貢獻也沒有,我更沒有資格可以站在台上與大家分享什麼。就在這個放棄的聲音超過了想參加的想法時,很感謝 Max 的適時鼓勵,最後我還是決定投稿,很幸運的我的分享主題通過了審查,心裡面真的是既興奮又感動,原來在自由軟體的世界裡非技術人也可以有上台分享的機會。

由於這是第二次參與 GNOME.Asia Summit 的活動,因此雖然是第一次到韓國,但是因為有不少的朋友去年就見過面,所以今年再見面時就格外的親切,特別是 Anish ,這一次他從印度飛往韓國前還特別先到台灣停留了幾天,而我也當了 Anish 的一日導遊,帶他到台北到處逛逛,因此就有更多的時間交流彼此使用自由軟體及參與 Gnome 活動的心得,有趣的是到了韓國 Anish 成了我的導遊。

亳無疑問,此行最令人緊張的一刻就是上台分享的這2700秒,對我而言這是一個非常難得的經驗,因為在台灣很難得有機會可以面對這麼多來自其他國家的自由軟體同好,並且是用我最不熟悉的英語演講,原本以為我的破英語應該沒有多少人聽的懂,想不到我分享後,既然還有不少的夥伴對我分享的主題有興趣,並且在會後還一起深入討論,特別是來自北京的 Bin Li 和 Tong Hui 連回到飯店都還連同 Max 在研究我提出來的問題,真是太感動了。

這一次來韓國之前我很期待可以到韓國的學校參訪與交流,並希望能進一步學習韓國校園是如何推動自由軟體,但可惜最後還是沒有安排上,我想這應該是我這一次來韓國覺得最可惜的地方,不知道會不會有國外的朋友看到我的這一篇文章,如果你正在看這一篇文章,而且也跟我一樣對校園自由軟體的推動有興趣,如果有機會到台灣,你也希望可以到台灣校園看看,非常歡迎各位可以跟我聯絡,我一定會盡力安排相關的交流活動,更期待
GNOME.Asia Summit 2014 可以再與大家相聚
sponsored-badge-shadow.png

沒有留言: