I think it makes sense to make this email sort of a 'last call' for hosting offers - please speak up now if you have an idea for Wineconf 2007.
But, barring a retraction, we seem to have two generous offers to host Wineconf this year (yay!).
That is, one in Zurich (Google/Mike Hearn), and one in Amsterdam or Utrech (Hans).
I did a quick, completely non scientific, survey of prices for a trip from MSP to each site around the weekend of September 22:
Flight Hotel Zurich $902 ~$125 Amsterdam $820 ~$150
which suggests to me that they are fairly close to a wash.
With Zurich, I believe we're hoping that Google will donate the use of their offices to host the conference.
With Amsterdam, we may yet need to either shift off a weekend, or find a conference location. (That shouldn't be hard; pretty much any hotel is happy to host a conference like this).
Have I summarized correctly? I hope I haven't misrepresented either offer.
If so, I suggest we pick a location; and I propose we do that by mailing list consensus. If there doesn't seem to be a consensus, then perhaps we could shift to some sort of a vote.
Does that make sense? If it does, express a preference around location, and let's see if a consensus forms...
Cheers,
Jeremy