Conference

QNX Newsgroups (Archives) qdn.public.qnxrtp.advocacy
1

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

I have no idea what the reasons are, but I guess
the enormous amount of work involved may
have something to do with it. And not to mention
the cost.

I woke up with an idea this morning. What if
QNX hold a 2 days (week-end) mini conference in their
new cafeteria (is it finish yet). No press, no
announcements, just QNX staffers and the
QNX community.

A bunch of computers here and there, but no booth,
no film being display on 16:9 monitor. Just people
who want to mean other QNX fellow.

A chance to talk with QNX staffer and “influence” them, give
them feedback on how their work affect our daily
work, the good and the bad. A chance for QNX staffer
to make us understand why certain things are the way they are.

This is what I would dearly miss if conferences were no more.

How does that sound?

2

Mario Charest <mcharest@voidzinformatic.com> wrote:

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

Says who?

chris

–

cdm@qnx.com > “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”

Chris McKillop – Lewis Carroll –
Software Engineer, QSSL
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

3

Previously, Chris McKillop wrote in qdn.public.qnxrtp.advocacy:

Says who?

QSSL I believe.


Mitchell Schoenbrun --------- maschoen@pobox.com

4

Mario Charest wrote:

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

No, QNX 2000 was the last BIG conference for the whole
QNX community according my info which I got a short time
after that conference.

In 2000 was talked about smaller future conferences on
different continents, but only for local audience.
May be anyone from QSSL can give some comments to the
current status/ideas for QNX-Conferences ??

I have no idea what the reasons are, but I guess
the enormous amount of work involved may
have something to do with it. And not to mention
the cost.

I woke up with an idea this morning. What if
QNX hold a 2 days (week-end) mini conference

weekend conference? Do you mean a private (inofficial)
conference w/o official invitation?

in their
new cafeteria (is it finish yet). No press, no
announcements, just QNX staffers and the
QNX community.

Are you talking about the QNX community round the
corner (may be ~500 km) from Ottawa??

What about local happenings at QSSx subs?
I’m sure they have also a cafeteria… :wink:

A bunch of computers here and there, but no booth,
no film being display on 16:9 monitor. Just people
who want to mean other QNX fellow.

A chance to talk with QNX staffer and “influence” them, give
them feedback on how their work affect our daily
work, the good and the bad. A chance for QNX staffer
to make us understand why certain things are the way they are.

If QNX staffer are interested to talk with the QNX-community in
person, what about to go to fairs where QSSx is exhibiting and
to invite the local QNX-community the first or the second evening??
They would have a chance to learn “long-term QNXers” who never
were at any QNX conference in Canada or the US…

This is what I would dearly miss if conferences were no more.

How does that sound?

Nice for you, but have in mind that the QNX-Community is round
the globe…

Cheers
Jutta

5

“Jutta Steinhoff” <j-steinhoff@web.de> wrote in message
news:3BB76BE5.7D21031A@web.de…

Mario Charest wrote:

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

No, QNX 2000 was the last BIG conference for the whole
QNX community according my info which I got a short time
after that conference.

In 2000 was talked about smaller future conferences on
different continents, but only for local audience.
May be anyone from QSSL can give some comments to the
current status/ideas for QNX-Conferences ??

That was what I meant, by “next conference”, sorry I should
have been more precise.

I have no idea what the reasons are, but I guess
the enormous amount of work involved may
have something to do with it. And not to mention
the cost.

I woke up with an idea this morning. What if
QNX hold a 2 days (week-end) mini conference

weekend conference? Do you mean a private (inofficial)
conference w/o official invitation?

No

in their
new cafeteria (is it finish yet). No press, no
announcements, just QNX staffers and the
QNX community.

Are you talking about the QNX community round the
corner (may be ~500 km) from Ottawa??

No, world wide

What about local happenings at QSSx subs?
I’m sure they have also a cafeteria… > :wink:

A bunch of computers here and there, but no booth,
no film being display on 16:9 monitor. Just people
who want to mean other QNX fellow.

A chance to talk with QNX staffer and “influence” them, give
them feedback on how their work affect our daily
work, the good and the bad. A chance for QNX staffer
to make us understand why certain things are the way they are.

If QNX staffer are interested to talk with the QNX-community in
person, what about to go to fairs where QSSx is exhibiting and
to invite the local QNX-community the first or the second evening??

I think they are already doing that.

They would have a chance to learn “long-term QNXers” who never
were at any QNX conference in Canada or the US…

This is what I would dearly miss if conferences were no more.

How does that sound?

Nice for you, but have in mind that the QNX-Community is round
the globe…

My suggestion doesn’t preclude doing the same in QNX Europe.

What I’m talking about is an somewhat equivalent type of event
as the big QNX conference without the hype. For example
I beleive QNX was at the show in Boston. But i wouldn’t
expect Mitchell, Stephen, Igor, or you to be there, but maybe
you all would be at this simili BIG conference.

Hell at the last conference Alex from south africa was there.
There was people from Norway, Sweden. What made
the trip to Vancouver, California worth it for them?

The priced QNX charged for the conference indicated it
wasn’t meant to attract new user/customer. It was meant
for already existing users.

But hey maybe I’m just dreaming :wink:

Cheers
Jutta

6

Hell at the last conference Alex from south africa was there.
There was people from Norway, Sweden. What made
the trip to Vancouver, California worth it for them?

The priced QNX charged for the conference indicated it
wasn’t meant to attract new user/customer. It was meant
for already existing users.

As someone who made the pilgrimage from the UK to Vancouver I can give you
my view. As a freelance programmer I paid most of my own expenses - one of
my clients contributed a plane ticket.

The main attraction for QNX2000 was the introduction of QNX6. The quality
and diversity of the workshops was amazing. The chance to meet and exchange
knowledge with other developers and QSSL staff was very productive. It was
also reassuring to meet with some of the ‘names’ encountered in these
newsgroups. You can usually achieve so much more in a face-to-face meeting!

The change of scenery was welcome. Dispite having to work on quotations for
my next assignment, I made sure I had some time to be a tourist. But I
didn’t come that far - I met one developer from Austraia!

This format could work on a regional basis, although once you leave North
America the issue of language has to be considered. Getting ‘the word’
directly from the OS developers, and being able to ask questions, assists
greatly in understanding the product and how to use it.

I came away from QNX2000 with knowlege and personal contacts. It was worth
every penny.

Jim Douglas

7

Mario Charest wrote:

“Jutta Steinhoff” <> j-steinhoff@web.de> > wrote in message
news:> 3BB76BE5.7D21031A@web.de> …

Mario Charest wrote:

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

No, QNX 2000 was the last BIG conference for the whole
QNX community according my info which I got a short time
after that conference.

In 2000 was talked about smaller future conferences on
different continents, but only for local audience.
May be anyone from QSSL can give some comments to the
current status/ideas for QNX-Conferences ??


That was what I meant, by “next conference”, sorry I should
have been more precise.

OK, but it seems the current confernce status is still alpha version.
May be I’m wrong??


[…] What if
QNX hold a 2 days (week-end) mini conference

weekend conference? Do you mean a private (inofficial)
conference w/o official invitation?

No

in their
new cafeteria (is it finish yet). No press, no
announcements, just QNX staffers and the
QNX community.

Are you talking about the QNX community round the
corner (may be ~500 km) from Ottawa??

No, world wide

hmm… do you think companies will pay for 2-3 days
incl. flight for such a meeting?


What about local happenings at QSSx subs?
I’m sure they have also a cafeteria… > :wink:

A bunch of computers here and there, but no booth,
no film being display on 16:9 monitor. Just people
who want to mean other QNX fellow.

A chance to talk with QNX staffer and “influence” them, give
them feedback on how their work affect our daily
work, the good and the bad. A chance for QNX staffer
to make us understand why certain things are the way they are.

If QNX staffer are interested to talk with the QNX-community in
person, what about to go to fairs where QSSx is exhibiting and
to invite the local QNX-community the first or the second evening??

I think they are already doing that.

Do you know any fair??
I don’t know any …

BTW, at the German Embedded Systems 2002, Feb. 19-21, 2001
it’s easy to organize a QNX-community meeting on the fairground
(our booth is vis à vis QSSG) or in a nice historical brewery
in Nuremberg downtown.
(for example similar to http://www.iol.ie/~readout/ik99.ics ,
it was a great international happening)

The second Emb.Systems 2002 evening on Feb. 20 would be ideal
because of the general Embedded Systems party (called “Happy Hour”)
on the first evening.

All, who would like to come, please send email to jutta@steinhoff.de
with subject:

  • “Zum Barfuesser” (brewery in Altstadt, separate room for
    40 or 100 persons, end at midnight or 1:00 am)
  • or “Hall 11” (fairground - end at 21:00)

If there is enough interest at QNX staff and QNXers, it could be the
first “QNX Night” and Mario, you shouldn’t miss it :wink:


They would have a chance to learn “long-term QNXers” who never
were at any QNX conference in Canada or the US…

This is what I would dearly miss if conferences were no more.

How does that sound?

Nice for you, but have in mind that the QNX-Community is round
the globe…


My suggestion doesn’t preclude doing the same in QNX Europe.

What I’m talking about is an somewhat equivalent type of event
as the big QNX conference without the hype. For example
I beleive QNX was at the show in Boston. But i wouldn’t
expect Mitchell, Stephen, Igor, or you to be there,

No, I was at that time on a Conference in Helsinki and then
on the way to the ISA Show in Houston :wink:
BTW, at the ISA Show we met surprisingly not only QNXers from
the US, also from Japan, South Africa and South America
(visitors, not exhibitors or distributors!)


but maybe
you all would be at this simili BIG conference.

Hell at the last conference Alex from south africa was there.
There was people from Norway, Sweden. What made
the trip to Vancouver, California worth it for them?

Notice, Alex is QNX distributor and the Norwegian ARX Innovation
guys were the former Scandinavian distributors. There were also
Karol (SK), Leonid (RU) etc.

AFAIK, at QNX 2000 was a distributor meeting/conference in parallel.

Some international “only visitors” combined the QNX 2000 with vacation,
it makes sense !

The next QNX conference(s) are not to expect before 2002, let’s
wait what will happen…

Cheers,
Jutta

8

I could agree, but that really depends on your currency :wink:

Format of past QNX conferenses essentially limits attendance to
countriesof G7 club, where people can afford travel to NA and price tag
on conference pass. Add language barrier to that, and you get mostly US,
Canada, Australia/NZ, UK and little bit of Germany & France. That of
course reflects realities of life and for traditional QNX user base it
was quite alright.

These days however, thanks to QNX6 the userbase includes lot of people
who can not afford those expenses yet might be vital enough for
community. Too bad if they all will be excluded on economic basis. Given
that, the idea of having regional conferenses with low expenses is
certainly nice. In fact such events take place in some countries for
many years already and they were useful, in Russia for example.

But… they were not really ‘smaller scale’ version of QNX’2000. Not
even close. Problem is, you get to see local distributor and one or two
marketing persons from QSSL. They are soft and furry, but it is not same
thing as talking with developers. Besides, users from the ‘rich club’
never go there, obviously.

What I think is, perhaps QSSL could do regional events on ‘neutral’
territory, with high touristic value. I mean something what would be
equally attractive/affordable to visit for both QNX staffers and users
with average size wallets in vicinity. For example travel to Spain is
relatively cheap from both Europe and NA.

Think about it. Both sides get to visit nice place, enjoy company of
each other in nice resort atmosphere. It costs QNX less money than
QNX’2000 was, if they skip renting a stadium for party, expensive
convention center, exhibition part, etc. There’s no need to find
sponsors, such format can be covered completely by attendance fees. And
it still can be much more affordable for people from both NA and
Europe/Asia. If attendance fees are set to cover travel expenses for a
dozen of QNX staffers and reservation of conference room in a hotel,
they still should be low enough assuming there’s roughly 10 attendees
per staffer (which is fairly conservative assumption).

Suppose you’re an individual developer working with QNX just for the
sake of beautiness. There’s lot of people like that. Can you afford
going to Vancouver with $1500 airfare and $1000 attendance fee? I don’t
think so, even if you live in US. Now can you afford going to some
resort in Spain for $300 airfare and $200 attendance fee? I can easily
imagine couple hundreds of people would be able to do so, even if they
live in Russia. If language barrier is too bad, you get to a nice beach
and have a beer, so the trip is not a waste in any case :slight_smile:

For Asia/Pasific region I guess Hawaii would be suitable place, assuming
it has touristic value for people from US/Canada, Japan, Australia/NZ
and others around.

  • igor

Jim Douglas wrote:

I came away from QNX2000 with knowlege and personal contacts. It was worth
every penny.

Jim Douglas

9

“Jutta Steinhoff” <j-steinhoff@web.de> wrote in message
news:3BBA43E2.79BBCF88@web.de…

No, I was at that time on a Conference in Helsinki and then
on the way to the ISA Show in Houston > :wink:
BTW, at the ISA Show we met surprisingly not only QNXers from
the US, also from Japan, South Africa and South America
(visitors, not exhibitors or distributors!)

Yes, it was nice to see friendly faces in Houston. It’s too bad that QSSL
decided to stop going to ISA a few years ago. They seem to be missing the
boat with industrial control and instrumentation. Kind of odd considering
that VxWorks seems to really be pushing in that direction.

Regards,
Stephen

10

“Igor Kovalenko” <Igor.Kovalenko@motorola.com> wrote in message
news:3BBA571D.6A3DC309@motorola.com…

For Asia/Pasific region I guess Hawaii would be suitable place, assuming
it has touristic value for people from US/Canada, Japan, Australia/NZ
and others around.

People going to Hawaii for touristic value? I don’t think that will ever

catch on. ;~}

11

If QNX staffer are interested to talk with the QNX-community in
person, what about to go to fairs where QSSx is exhibiting and
to invite the local QNX-community the first or the second evening??

I think they are already doing that.

Do you know any fair??
I don’t know any …

I am surprised that QSSL don’t make more of CeBit in Hannover

http://www.cebit.de

It is the biggest digi-fest this side of the pond…

Jim Douglas

12

We use QNX in our DCS product (QNX controller/NT MMI). I don’t think
that QSSL needs to be at ISA shows (it wouldn’t hurt, but it really
won’t deliver much). It is hard to find IA customers these days who
care what O/S is in their controllers (they do tend to care what O/S the
MMI runs on :wink:. I think the real problem is that people producing IA
equipment don’t often go to the embedded systems conferences (IA vendors
seem to believe that embedded systems are comprised only of PDA’s and
routers - which is far from the truth - a DCS controller is absolutely
an embedded system).

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Thomas [mailto:slthomas@corpDOTolin.com]
Posted At: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 5:30 PM
Posted To: advocacy
Conversation: Conference
Subject: Re: Conference


“Jutta Steinhoff” <j-steinhoff@web.de> wrote in message
news:3BBA43E2.79BBCF88@web.de…

No, I was at that time on a Conference in Helsinki and then
on the way to the ISA Show in Houston > :wink:
BTW, at the ISA Show we met surprisingly not only QNXers from
the US, also from Japan, South Africa and South America
(visitors, not exhibitors or distributors!)

Yes, it was nice to see friendly faces in Houston. It’s too bad that
QSSL
decided to stop going to ISA a few years ago. They seem to be missing
the
boat with industrial control and instrumentation. Kind of odd
considering
that VxWorks seems to really be pushing in that direction.

Regards,
Stephen

13

From our corporate events manager:

The number of people and resources (especially R&D resources), it takes to
put one together - no matter how big or small - is the major reason why the
next one has been delayed. We’re currently at the stage of researching
options for a conference in 2002. Although nothing has as yet been cast in
stone, we’ll for sure post something as soon as either a date or location
has been determined.

Christine Smith
QNX Corporate Events/Trade Shows

“Mario Charest” <mcharest@voidzinformatic.com> wrote in message
news:9p5943$3qf$1@inn.qnx.com…

Apparently there won’t be a next conference.

I have no idea what the reasons are, but I guess
the enormous amount of work involved may
have something to do with it. And not to mention
the cost.

I woke up with an idea this morning. What if
QNX hold a 2 days (week-end) mini conference in their
new cafeteria (is it finish yet). No press, no
announcements, just QNX staffers and the
QNX community.

A bunch of computers here and there, but no booth,
no film being display on 16:9 monitor. Just people
who want to mean other QNX fellow.

A chance to talk with QNX staffer and “influence” them, give
them feedback on how their work affect our daily
work, the good and the bad. A chance for QNX staffer
to make us understand why certain things are the way they are.

This is what I would dearly miss if conferences were no more.

How does that sound?
\

14

Stephen Thomas wrote:

“Jutta Steinhoff” <> j-steinhoff@web.de> > wrote in message
news:> 3BBA43E2.79BBCF88@web.de> …

No, I was at that time on a Conference in Helsinki and then
on the way to the ISA Show in Houston > :wink:
BTW, at the ISA Show we met surprisingly not only QNXers from
the US, also from Japan, South Africa and South America
(visitors, not exhibitors or distributors!)

Yes, it was nice to see friendly faces in Houston. It’s too bad that QSSL
decided to stop going to ISA a few years ago. They seem to be missing the
boat with industrial control and instrumentation.

you are right :frowning:
But we had at least QNX flyers and CDs to make some promotion for QNX.

BTW, I’m not successful conviencing QSSx that it makes sense to be at
the world’s biggest industrial fair: Hannover Messe.
A small booth for official QNX info and to be seen would be enough.

At Hannover-Fair are partner boothes from different OS vendors. So e.g.
a QNX - “Island” with table tops from QNX-Partners could demonstrate
much power of existing industrial QNX-solutions, and it would be also
inexpensive for all parties…

Kind of odd considering
that VxWorks seems to really be pushing in that direction.

and LynuxWorks, too!

QNX is “not existing” for many industrial control and instrumentation
companies. And when being disappointed after trying different OSes,
many control guys return to PLCs what’s pushed from the PLC vendors.
Worthless to tell them then that the architecture of QNX makes the
difference, too late!

Have in mind that QSSL will prefer OEMs with thousands of RunTimes
instead of companies with huge industrial applications with only a few
RunTimes for each plant.

From that point of view, Multimedia fairs and Embedded shows will
generate more OEMs for QSSL… bad luck for us IA guys.

Regards,
Jutta

15

Karen O’Connell wrote:

From our corporate events manager:

The number of people and resources (especially R&D resources), it takes to
put one together - no matter how big or small - is the major reason why the
next one has been delayed. We’re currently at the stage of researching
options for a conference in 2002.

Karen, does “a” conference mean one?
or one and the same on different continents?

Regards,
Jutta

16

Jim Douglas wrote:

If QNX staffer are interested to talk with the QNX-community in
person, what about to go to fairs where QSSx is exhibiting and
to invite the local QNX-community the first or the second evening??

I think they are already doing that.

Do you know any fair??
I don’t know any …

I am surprised that QSSL don’t make more of CeBit in Hannover

http://www.cebit.de

It is the biggest digi-fest this side of the pond…

CeBit is a mammoth fair, e.g. the “big” ISA Show is less than 1/10
of it!

Jim, have you visited the CeBit? QNX has always a big booth!

Every one who has no real reason to go to CeBit will stay away and
it’s more fun to watch the TV reports about CeBit :wink:

BTW, I don’t think that most QNXers will go there…
Hannover-Messe, www.hannover-messe.de could be more
interesting, but QSSx isn’t exhibiting there :frowning:

IMHO, a QNX-community meeting in Hannover could be done only in the
booth, may be like the control.com guys are doing for the A-List
(Automation List) members at the ISA Show. Coffee, tea, cakes and
sandwiches for free. Great idea from Ken Crater and well accepted!

Meetings outside the Hannover fairground are hard to organize and
traffic is often chaotic at fair-time …

BTW, the first answers for a “QNX-Night” have choosen the brewery in
downtown…

Please more feedback!

Nuremberg has a great historical kernel and it’s easy to go there,
also with public transportation. I’m sure it’s more attractive than
a meeting in Hannover in parallel to the mammoth fairs.

Regards,
Jutta

17

Alex Cellarius wrote:

On Thu, 04 Oct 2001 00:38:48 +0200, Jutta Steinhoff <> j-steinhoff@web.de> > wrote:
Hannover-Messe, > www.hannover-messe.de > could be more
interesting, but QSSx isn’t exhibiting there > :frowning:

For the record:
http://www.hannovermesse.de > > :slight_smile:
15-20 April 2002

thanks for correction :wink:

(I was hoping it was towards the end of this year or early next year).

The Hannover-Messe was earlier in 2000 because of EXPO, but normally
it’s always in April.

Jutta

18

On Thu, 04 Oct 2001 00:38:48 +0200, Jutta Steinhoff <j-steinhoff@web.de> wrote:

Hannover-Messe, > www.hannover-messe.de > could be more
interesting, but QSSx isn’t exhibiting there > :frowning:

For the record:
http://www.hannovermesse.de :slight_smile:
15-20 April 2002

(I was hoping it was towards the end of this year or early next year).