O'Reilly Open Source Convention

O'Reilly Open Source Convention
OSCON flag
Status	Active
Genre	Open Source (mainly software)
Location(s)	Portland, Oregon (exceptions)
Country	USA
Inaugurated	1999
Organized by	O'Reilly Media
Website
www.oscon.com

The O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.

The first OSCON was held in 1999. The first Perl Conference took place in 1997.

Throughout the week in which OSCON is hosted, there are workshops and presentations, most of which are conducted in meeting rooms. These sessions are primarily focused on the use and development of upcoming and current open source software, and there are usually a few sessions addressing the open source community itself. In the past few years, the main topics have been cloud computing, distributed computing, virtualization, minimizing downtime, big data, and information technology. Certain sessions are sponsored by companies and are free and open to the public.

During the convention, OSCON throws various parties for the attendees. Many of these are sponsored, with some parties being held at sponsoring companies' facilities throughout the city.

At the OSCON expo, vendors and other organizations showcase their latest innovations, offer short classes, give away swag, and answer questions about their products. Some companies that have had larger booths over the years include Linode, Rackspace, HP, Bluehost, and Microsoft.

Tables are usually set up outside the meeting rooms where attendees can rest or work. There is also a sponsored "hack zone" outside the Expo Hall where attendees may use fast networking and power strips to hack, socialize, or take a break. Through the main hallway, there is usually a large black box referred to as "The Chalkboard", where attendees can use chalk to scribble logos, slogans, names, and ideas.

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