[LUAU] TPOSSCON

[R. Scott Belford]

The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation (HOSEF) is pleased to 
announce that the First annual Trans-Pacific Open Source Software 
Conference (TPOSSCON) will be this December at the Hawaii Convention 
Center from December 13-17.  The core objective of this event is to 
create valued, strategic sessions between entrepreneurs, officials, 
developers, consumers, and corporations from both sides of the Pacific. 
  What we want to accomplish, who we are, and why this event will be 
valued follow.

Using Hawaii as a bridge, we want American companies to have the chance 
to network with Asian government and corporate officials.  We want Asian 
entrepreneurs and government officials to show their innovative products 
and solutions to American companies, creating strategic partnerships and 
distribution channels.  We intend to emphasize, through our tracks, the 
creation of OSS-based economies in developed and in developing nations, 
with and without leveraging IP.  We would like to deliver distinct case 
studies discussing the use of the different OSS licenses.  In the 
setting of a week of events and a three-day expo, we hope to create an 
unhurried opportunity to do business and to create partnerships.

At LinuxWorld in August, Dan Kusnetzky of IDC stated that the 
Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing marketplace for OSS.  Given 
the unexpected surge in OSS inquiries at a recent Intellectual Property 
conference hosted at The University of Hawaii's East-West Center, it is 
evident that a conference providing real world business case studies, 
discussions, and solutions is needed.  This conference would best be 
held at a gathering place like Oahu.

Hawaii has a substantial native Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino 
population making it most able to attract and accommodate an 
Asian-Pacific audience.  If there is any one State capable of 
integrating itself with the developing Asian OSS Industry, it is Hawaii. 
  The fact that China, among its other neighbors, plans to develop its 
software industry on OSS platforms is reason alone to do all we can to 
develop alliances.

Our strategy is to invite some of the leading personalities of the 
software industry to be keynote speakers.  Bruce Perens and Bill 
Weinberg have accepted.  Among the guests we would highly value are 
Linus Torvalds and family.  It is our desire to create an event that he 
would be willing to attend.  For this reason we are working with Jill 
Ratkevic of Desktoplinux.com and the Open Source Development Labs 
(OSDL), for whom Bill Weinberg serves as CIO, to seek counsel in how we 
can best serve the global OSS community with our event.

To make the stay more appealing, and to create the opportunity for more 
guest/sponsor interactions, we will facilitate a week of meetings, 
speeches, workshops and meals as we cover our conference tracks.  We 
intend to hold these at the Hawaii Convention Center, with a few 
sessions held at Mauna Kea and the Maui High Performance Computing 
Center.  These sessions will ideally lead to inter-island travel for 
some guests, and will promote the role OSS plays in each of these 
institutions.

As a charitable non-profit dedicated to promoting and sustaining the use 
of OSS in Hawaii, HOSEF proposes that it facilitate this conference and 
these speaking arrangements, not profit from them.  It is our hope that 
this annual affair will lead to awareness of our activities, an increase 
in our membership, and will fund the planning and improvements for 
subsequent events.  It is our expectation that we will find as many 
co-sponsors as needed to provide our guests red-carpet treatment.  It is 
in our mission to make this an opportunity for all of Hawaii's 
businesses and tech organizations to participate in and take ownership of.

With the commitment of key guests, we are now looking for first tier 
support from critical mainland and Asian companies and government 
entities.  Our three day expo will be held at the Hawaii Convention 
Center, giving our sponsors and attendees the chance to browse vendor 
displays and to attend sponsor focused sessions.  This will be a show 
case event for our outstanding Convention Center.

There are few places as attractive as Hawaii, and the opportunity to do 
business here with partners from across the Pacific is priceless.  There 
are real opportunities emerging in Asia, and the innovation flowing from 
this region is not to be ignored.  The expectation of HOSEF is that this 
annual meeting will develop the credibility of the Hawaii technology 
community as a bridge to the Asian OSS market.  With your involvement 
and participation, we will succeed at creating unbreakable economic 
bonds across the Pacific.


Thank-you for your consideration of this event

--scott

-- 
R. Scott Belford
Founder/Director
The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation
PO Box 392
Kailua, HI 96734
808.689.6518 phone/fax
scott at hosef.org