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Reminder: UTOS Project Day is Tomorrow!

September 16, 2011 – 10:29 am

Boys and Girls, pay attention here!

If you have never been to a UTOS Project Day, you just might want to attend. There have been 3 previously successful Project Day events and this one looks to be as awesome! In fact, just for attending and working on your project, there will be a raffle for a Motorola XOOM!

But really, that’s not why you should attend.

I will be there! :)

Oh, that’s not enough? Here are 5 excellent reasons to attend!

  1. It’s Software Freedom Day and what better way to come down and work on a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) project
  2. There will be a bunch of other folks there too, working on interesting projects
  3. Many will be willing to collaborate with you and discuss your project
  4. Free food and snacks throughout the day
  5. Helping out the Utah Open Source Foundation with its efforts for UTOSC 2012 next spring

Add your project

If you would like help with your project, it’s a good idea to add it to the list. If you are looking for a project, check out the entries and see if there is something there that interests you. Either way, there will likely be more projects than what is currently listed.

So come on down!

Miller Professional Development Center Room #226
9750 South 300 West (map)
Sandy, Utah 84070
10:00 am – 5:30 pm

I know quite a few folks who will be interested in staying later as well at a local coffee shop or similar and hacking well into the evening. Don’t let the draw of a football game get you distracted, there will be plenty of time to watch it on DVR on Sunday afternoon!

Cheers,

Herlo

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Wedding, Project Day and SELF

May 28, 2011 – 8:53 pm

Folks, it’s been a few crazy weeks for me recently. Tons and tons of activity in my life. All of which has been good, so very good!

Wedding on Friday the Thirteenth

On May 13, Jennifer and I were wed at a wonderfully pretty chapel downtown in Salt Lake City. The Holy Cross Historic Chapel, inside the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center is very pretty. Although a bit hot in the chapel that day, it was a beautiful ceremony. I was very excited when Jennifer walked down the aisle. So beautiful! And when she said ‘heck yes’ to the question of marriage, I was very excited.

The reception was even more awesome and the best part of the whole day. All of our good friends and family came and enjoyed some of the most awesome food at the Wild Rose in South Jordan. If you have not been to this restaurant, I suggest you check it out. Awesome food, awesome environment and Ken Rose, the owner-chef extraordinaire went above and beyond on everything!

The Honeymoon

On Sunday, May 16, we flew to Miami. As we left the Salt Lake airport, Jennifer was a bit misty-eyed as we left AJ behind. Monday, we boarded the Norwegian Sky and enjoyed a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas. This being the first cruise for Jennifer and I, it was a ton of fun, but definitely not the culture we were expecting. Again, amazing food and great sites every day.

On Tuesday, we spent a good day out and about on Grand Bahama Island. Snorkeling and a deserted island with lots of good drinks and new friends. I really enjoyed the conch demonstration and later on, conch fritters at a little bar at Port Lucaya. Almost missed the last bus, but such a fun time.

Overall, quite an enjoyable time.

UTOS Project Day

Today was the UTOS Project Day. We’ve been planning on having a few more of these and today’s was no different. Quite an excellent event for those who made it out. Tons of hacking, snacking and collaborating. I had to run out to my niece Tanja’s 1st birthday part, which was excellent and tons of fun, for part of the day. Overall, lots of good geeking out was had today!

We’re planning another Project Day for August 27. Make plans now to come out and hack. More details to come very soon!

South East Linux Fest (SELF)

If you are going to SELF this year, or have heard about it just here, I recommend you all try to get out to this amazing event. It’s a great weekend conference in Spartanburg, South Carolina, June 10-12.

Unfortunately, I was trying to work out attending this event, but will not be able to make it due to many reasons. I went to the first SELF, and am sad that I haven’t been able to make it sense. It’s on my list for 2012 again, so here’s hoping.

The Future

Well, as you might be able to see, plenty of good things have been happening. Wedding, Honeymoon, Project Day and more work than I can handle is coming right along.

Recently, I announced the Silver project, an easy-to-use development environment for web development. I’ve been busy improving and should be able to release v0.3 by the end of June. Several good bug fixes and new features should bring more and more functionality, making it easier to do QA and deploy to live environments using Silver.

In the near future, another project I’ve been working on will be announced. I’m hoping it will happen in the next month or two. It’s the project that has been filling in the gaps while I wasn’t busy with the wedding, honeymoon or working. I am very excited to announce this project soon, so keep an eye out in the next little while!

Cheers,

Herlo

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UTOS Project Day: Install Fedora 15

May 25, 2011 – 8:54 am

Are you planning on attending the UTOS Project Day this Saturday, May 28? Come work on your projects in an open environment with food, friends and feedback.

Folks, since Fedora 15 was just released yesterday, I had an idea regarding the UTOS Project Day. I’m going to setup an installation server and usb keys for anyone who wishes to try out and/or install Fedora 15 on their computer.

There are only a couple requirements:

  1. If you want the media on your USB key, you must provide at least a 2GB key. (Any existing data should be preserved, but make a backup just in case.)
  2. Installations will be done using network boot, which requires a PxE capable laptop. Most are these days, just make sure yours supports this feature.

UTOS Project Day is going to be tons of fun. Come on down and try out Fedora 15, work on your project., or help someone else work on theirs.

Here’s to seeing all my geek friends this weekend at UTOS Project Day!!

Cheers,

Herlo

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UTOS Project Day: Add your project

May 23, 2011 – 7:58 pm

UTOS Project Day is this Saturday, May 28! If you are planning on attending and have a project that needs help or you just want to tell people about it, add it to the UTOS Project Day ‘Projects’ page. Make sure you get it up early so folks who might be interested in your project can learn as much as possible before they attend UTOS Project Day.

Come on down this Saturday, May 28 and hang out with other geeks. We’ll provide you space to hack, snacks, lunch and plenty of projects to come and learn!

Date: May 28
Time: 12pm to 5pm
Where: Open Source Technology Center @ Novell (map)

More information available on the UTOS Project Day website and the UTOS Blog. UTOS is looking for operational volunteers. Stop by between 9-11am and volunteer to help out!

Always free admission, free software and free food.

We’ll see you all there!

Cheers,

Herlo

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UTOS: Call for Operational Volunteers

May 23, 2011 – 7:09 am

Utah Open Source is preparing for the future. While we are not having a Utah Open Source Conference in 2011, we’re getting ready to gear up for UTOSC 2012 along with a ton of community events throughout 2011 To do this, however, we need help.

WE NEED YOU

Come by the UTOS Project day from 9am to 11am to hear what we have planned for the future and how you can help.

Date: May 28
Time: 9am to 11am
Where: Open Source Technology Center @ Novell (map)

We’re growing again and UTOS has some excellent opportunities available. I highly suggest you consider supporting this organization as we cannot put on an awesome conference and community events without volunteers. I’ll be there, cheering you all on and helping UTOS grow open source.

You can find more details on the UTOS Project Day website and the Utah Open Source Blog.

I look forward to seeing who shows up and is ready to make UTOS the best open source community around!

Cheers,

Herlo

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Come work on your project at UTOS Project Day

May 22, 2011 – 5:33 pm

UTOS Project Day is:

  • working on a project that you otherwise may not have time.
  • learning a new technology by joining others.
  • networking with other smart people who like to create stuff.
  • junk food for up to 8 hours of hacking on your favorite stuff!
  • being able to sit in a corner and focus on your project without interruption.
  • providing the best open source software hacking space.

Come on down this Saturday and hang out with other geeks.  We’ll provide you space to hack, snacks, lunch and plenty of projects to come and learn!

Date: May 28
Time: 12pm to 5pm
Where: Open Source Technology Center @ Novell (map)

More information available on the UTOS Project Day website and the UTOS Blog. UTOS is looking for operational volunteers. Stop by between 9-11am and volunteer to help out!

Always free admission, free software and free food.

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The future, part 36 : UTOS

January 25, 2011 – 6:55 pm

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, may I have your attention please!

You know, I’ve always enjoyed that statement.  I love hearing it over the PA at the circus, at a restaurant when someone is about to make an announcement, or at a the start of a presentation at a conference.  Not sure why, but it just gets me all excited about the world, the future and I perk up wide-eyed with anticipation of what’s going to happen next…

I’m as excited as ever to say these words myself.  I’m so happy, in fact, that I wanted to share it with you, my dear audience.  My friends, colleagues, fellow UTOS compatriots, I would like to share with you some wonderful news!  The future is bright for free and open source software right here in our fine state.

Just look around you and you will see companies coming into Utah right and left.  While some do not appear open source friendly, don’t be fooled, they want you with your amazing Linux skills, or incredible Python Fu.  It’s you they want, Miss PHP master, scripting fiend, fanciful master of kickstart!  The real question though, will be, where will these companies look for their talent?

In my opinion, they will look to the great technical community already here in Utah.  They will strive to find and hire the best and brightest from our ranks.  They will want to hire those from our communities of experts, skilled craftsman, coders, system administrators and much, much more.  It is my belief that they will want to hire from those of you who participate in our Local User Groups and directly with Utah Open Source.

I say these things with great fervor and joy.  I’d like to announce the 2011 theme of Utah Open Source, ‘Community’.

My departure from the Executive Director position leaves me to work more closely with the UTOS board of directors.  In my stead, Victor Villa will take the responsibilities and leadership of the Executive Director.

Victor comes to UTOS with a great deal of community leadership.  As the former president of the Utah PHP User Group for the past several years, Victor grew the local PHP community every year.  He’s been a great supporter of UTOS since its inception in 2006.  With his foresight and leadership, I know that UTOS will continue to grow and flourish.  I am excited to pass the baton of leadership of UTOS to a man I have grown to admire and appreciate. Thank you Victor for taking on the role of leading Utah Open Source into this bright future!

During our conversations, I’ve asked Victor to spend some extra time during 2011 focusing on community growth and development.  With this in mind, Victor and I agree that 2011 will be a year of community building.  In 2012, the Utah Open Source Conference will return.  I will let Victor respond to my comments, with a post of his own, addressing the rest of his vision for UTOS.  I’m truly excited to be a part of UTOS, and with all of the goals Victor has set forth, I am very excited for the future!

Thank you for letting me be part of this community.  I will never forget you.  I will miss you all so very much when our family moves to Southern California in the fall.

Much Joy and Excitement,

Your friend,

Clint

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The end of an era: Starting a new job and a new life

September 9, 2010 – 3:42 pm

Boy has my life has changed recently!

I mean it, It really has changed…just over two months ago, my son Alexander James was born.  He was 6 weeks early.  Wow, it’s been a ride.  I had to take some time off from my extracurricular duties and focus on family, myself and work only.  It was an interesting opportunity to introspect and think about my future.

I also have more change in my life in the next year than I believe I have ever had in any one year period in my life.  This change is good change.  This change is good for more than just me; it’s good for my two sons, and my future wife.  This change is going to make our lives different than they’ve ever been.  At least from my perspective, it’s a HUGE change.

So what is this change, you ask.  Well, maybe you didn’t ask, but I’m going to pretend you asked, because well, I’m going to tell you anyway.  Some of you might even care what the change is and how my life is going to change.

Back in April or May, I was approached about returning to teaching Linux classes.  The classes I would teach would be from the Red Hat Curriculum.  As I’ve always had a passion for teaching, I really liked the prospect, but I had a few hurdles to manage before I could really go forth with this idea.

Essentially, I had agreed to a non-compete with one of my former employers, which prevented me teaching Linux classes for any of their competitors until June this year.  The job I will be taking teaching for Red Hat would definitely be considered one of their competitors.  The other was expected delivery of our son AJ in August required me to have insurance and boy am I glad I did.  Because he came early, the insurance I had with my former company essentially saved us from bankruptcy.

With these two considerations in mind, I decided to stay until the end of August, then leave for this new position.

I’ve been employed for the last year and half at Backcountry.com.  They are a great company and their Site Operations (read Infrastructure) staff is amazing.  I was blessed with the opportunity to work with some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked.  I was also very blessed to work at a job that challenged me to no end.  But in the end, my passions got me, of which there have always been a few…

The first passion I have, is my family.  I actually never thought I’d be in a situation where I would have two children from different mothers.  I had sworn off dating, marriage, family (beyond my son, Shaun) for good.  But then along came this amazing woman who turned my life back around, and made me want to share my life with her and what will become our amazing family.  We’ve already started, with AJ coming six weeks early on July 2, we’re proud new parents with some very unique challenges.

Another passion I have, teaching and training.  I accidentally fell into a training role back in 2003, when I was forced to get a job to pay for child support right after my divorce.  Luckily for me, it was the best accident professionally that I could have had.  It allowed me to show my talents and skillset to those who really could benefit from my passion and enjoyment of sharing how technology works.  With the exception of the 21 month sabbatical from training that is about to end, I hope to be in some sort of educational role for my remaining professional years.

Lastly, while there are many other passions, I’ll discuss my love for free and open source software.  To me, it’s almost like my religion.  I believe in it so strongly, and think that there are so many things that FOSS communities can and do provide to help others, I want it to always be a part of me.  I especially want to instill in my children the importance of openness and sharing, and FOSS really allows me to give a very credible and altruistic vision of these ideals.  For me, it’s been a passion of mine for more than 6 years and I’ve spent a good portion of that helping with two big organizations, the Utah Open Source Foundation and the Fedora Project.

These passions keep me going, which brings me to the whole point of all that I’ve said.  My days are numbered here in Utah.  Yes, I’ve said it, I’ve loved living here in Utah all my life, but it’s time to move to pursue the first of my passions, my family.  Because I’ve been here in Utah so long, it’s been a very difficult decision to make and one that I’ve not come to lightly.  In fact, I’ve been debating when would be the right time, and I know that now is the time.

My son, Shaun, lives in Los Alamitos, California, and has lived there with his mother for more than 5 years.  I’ve done my best to be a good father at more than 700 miles away, but I don’t think I can ignore a few very important years coming up.  Shaun is now 10 years old, and will be coming into manhood in the coming years.  Because of this, I believe that I need to be nearer to him to help him deal with many of the tough challenges he will face as he becomes a teenager and starts to pursue more adult activities.  I want to be there for him, and I think it’s very valuable for him to be a big part of our now growing family.

So, where does this leave my other passions.  Specifically some big loves I’ll have to leave behind here in Utah.  My family has always been here and I’ll miss them sorely.  The Utah Open Source Foundation and Conference as well as the Local User Groups.  I love the mountains here, the beauty and especially, the people.  I’ll miss you dearly, I surely will.

Lest you think that I’ll be in a hurry to leave, it’s not the case.  I’m starting a new job next week, September 12, as a contract instructor.  Again I will be teaching Red Hat classes.  My plans to move to California require that I am able to sell my house and that means it will require some fix ups first.  All in all, I believe our family will be moved to Southern California sometime in late summer or early fall of 2011.

In the coming weeks, the Utah Open Source Conference will be happening.  It’s been a passion of mine for now 4-1/2 years.  My leadership as the Chief Executive of the Foundation and manager of the conference will end at the end of 2010.  I believe now is the time for UTOS to have a new leadership and new life. One of the big tenets of the free and open source community is that leadership should change regularly.  In this way, I look forward to many more UTOS events and especially the great tradition of UTOSC.

Hopefully at the Utah Open Source Conference, we’ll be able to nominate and elect new leadership for both the Utah Open Source Foundation Core Team and Board of Directors.  Their roles will start at the beginning of 2011 and transitions will likely happen in late 2010. I plan to run for the Board of Directors.  In this way, I will maintain a less day-to-day role in UTOS and more an administrative and support role to the new Chief Executive as well as providing support to the new and continuing members of both the Core Team and Board.

Now that this post has become somewhat of a novel, I’ll just say one more thing.  I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the the community here in Utah.  I’m excited for my future and the future of my family and look forward to many more great years of watching Utah’s tech and free software communities grow!  It’s always been the goal of UTOS to ‘Help Open Source Grow in Utah and the Mountain West’ and I see great things now and in the future!

Cheers,

Clint

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Combating Apathy in [Free and Open Source] Communities — Part 3

June 15, 2010 – 10:14 pm

This article is a part of a three part series, if you haven’t read the first part and second part, you really should.

How do we address this problem?  Who does it?

In other words, how do small to medium communities battle Apathy?

In all honesty, I don’t have the answer for this question.  If I did, I’d be preaching it to every community group that would listen.  But it does occur to me that the/re are a few things the folks in charge can do to help.  And some of these are documented by the larger communities too.

  1. First thing that comes to mind is to build a proper structure.  A meritocracy where those who do the work can decide what gets done.  As most will note, this is no different from any other Free Software development project.  But we need to state it out loud.  If you do the work in the community, you get to decide how the community functions. As part of this process, community leaders can define a loose structure where others can join up, and help build where they find holes.  It’s a definite organic structure, but one that really works well when encouraged.
  2. Have something people want, and give it to them.  For us, it’s the Utah Open Source Conference and the other events the Foundation has been providing, like hackUTOS, Nerds in the Sun, Geek Lunch, etc.   Most of these events are free and for anyone to enjoy, learn and network.  However, I can see the need for even more events and services that UTOS can provide.
  3. Remind people regularly that community is here.  Reminders are very important.  It’s like what Coke and Pepsi do, constantly remind you they are out there.  The only real difference is that they are looking to sell you something for money.  UTOS and other communities are really here to help you grow and learn.
  4. Constantly invite people to join the community and help.  The community is a process that is always evolving and growing, people are needed to make it evolve and grow the way they see it.  Notice I said the way they see it.  It’s up to the community members to decide where the community goes.
  5. Get out of the way.  This is somewhat of a corollary to step 4, but it’s really important to point out.  Once the community machine is going, don’t put process and leadership in the way.  The community can do what it needs to do if we just get out of the way, don’t be an obstacle to progress of the community.

As UTOS, we’ve excelled at some parts of this list, and failed at other parts.  I suspect many of the other communities around have succeeded at some of the parts as well.

Mostly, I wrote this to help me understand what the goals for UTOS will be as we start to expand into a more regional community.  But I think these things can help us all deal with apathy and encourage others to get involved.  I hope to hear from the community on this as my article is definitely a work in progress.  I believe I’ve got a good set of problems and possible solutions, but it’s definitely not me that is going to implement most of them.

Please take a few hours out of the month of June and help us grow and become an exciting, active prosperous community.  You’ll feel better for it, and you’ll definitely make a few friends along the way, grow your skillset, and possibly even encourage someone else to join up and help.

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Combating Apathy in [Free and Open Source] Communities — Part 2

June 8, 2010 – 10:14 pm
This article is a part of a three part series, if you haven’t read the first part, you really should.

Why don’t more people actually volunteer 2-3 hours per month?

One word, Apathy.  Yes, apathy.

I believe apathy is what kills communities around the globe.  They don’t have to be any specific type of community, but when someone, or enough people stop caring about a particular activity, event or cause, the community will die.  I don’t have any cold, hard facts on this, just my experiences, what I’ve read and my gut telling me it’s so.

If it were up to me, as an individual running a medium sized community conference based around Free and Open Source Software, I’d suggest that everyone come and spend 2-3 hours volunteering at the event.  While I know that’s not realistic, it can combat the apathy of which I speak.  But that’s kind of a problem too.

Where are we heading with this discussion?

For one, there are only so many volunteer positions available at the Utah Open Source Conference, or at a LUG meeting, or any such event.  But there are events that are currently not happening.  Imagine if everyone in the FOSS community in the Mountain West spent those 2-3 hours each month either helping a particular event, or creating their own special event or group.  What would the FOSS community landscape look like?

Each month I run into at least 5 people who want to help out within UTOS.  Each time I tell them the same thing, we have lots of things we need help with, we meet here at this time each month and would love to have you attend.  On rare occasion, we get a new volunteer coming to our meetings.  Sometimes they stay, sometimes they realize it’s too much and other things are a priority, and sometimes, they get so excited, they become one of the Utah Open Source Foundation’s ‘Core Team’.  So far, it’s been working well, but recently, we’ve been experiencing growing pains of our own and a little apathy as well.

Another thing to note, larger communities tend to have already dealt with this problem and have a plethora of answers for dealing with things like Apathy, a lack of knowledge and all of the other standard problems that smaller communities must deal with to thrive.  Most of those answers aren’t documented anywhere, at least not very well documented.

How does a community suffer because of apathy?

I am going to use the Utah Open Source Foundation to give some examples of where we fail.  Currently, I fear that our community suffers from apathy for a few reasons.

  1. The economy.  While it’s definitely important for people to have jobs, a paycheck and a promise of more work, I find that this is among the lamest excuse people use for not helping.  If you aren’t participating in the community, you are doing yourself a disservice.  Just think of all of the lost opportunities for employment, education, skill improvement (aka resume material) and networking.
  2. Family.  Again, I find that a lot of people in our community use their family as an excuse for not participating.  I’m not saying that families aren’t important.  In fact, I would say that participating in the FOSS community is a perfect example of how to show your family what you do, as well as encourage them to be part of a community and volunteer their time to their passions.  Families do take time, but I can guarantee that everyone can find 2-3 hours per month to volunteer.
  3. Time.  While possibly related to the other two issues, time itself can get in the way of volunteering to help the community.  People regularly fear that they can’t dedicate enough time to help, when a community really just wants people to dedicate a few hours a month.  If you are spending a couple hours a month in front of your TV, you could cut that down and spend it helping your community instead.

Watch for part three of this series next week.

Cheers,

Herlo

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