Next steps for Wineconf 2007

[Jeremy White]

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

[James Hawkins]

On 2/20/07, Jeremy White  wrote:
> 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...

Do we have confirmation on whether Google's SMO or MTV offices will be
available for video conferencing if we choose Zurich?  Flying to
California would be so much cheaper and more convenient for me and
others in the US if the option is available.  Either way, my vote is
for Zurich.

[Dan Kegel]

On 2/20/07, James Hawkins  wrote:
> Do we have confirmation on whether Google's SMO or MTV offices will be
> available for video conferencing if we choose Zurich?  Flying to
> California would be so much cheaper and more convenient for me and
> others in the US if the option is available.  Either way, my vote is
> for Zurich.

We don't have confirmation yet, but it seems quite likely.
IIRC Chris DiBona liked the idea.
- Dan

[Scott Ritchie]

On Tue, 2007-02-20 at 16:56 -0800, Dan Kegel wrote:
> On 2/20/07, James Hawkins  wrote:
> > Do we have confirmation on whether Google's SMO or MTV offices will be
> > available for video conferencing if we choose Zurich?  Flying to
> > California would be so much cheaper and more convenient for me and
> > others in the US if the option is available.  Either way, my vote is
> > for Zurich.
>
> We don't have confirmation yet, but it seems quite likely.
> IIRC Chris DiBona liked the idea.
> - Dan

Agreed.  There's no way I can get to Switzerland, but Mountain View is
very doable.  If you want I can ask the Ubuntu folks for contacts at the
California campus.

Thanks,
Scott Ritchie

[Dan Kegel]

On 2/20/07, Scott Ritchie  wrote:
> > We don't have confirmation yet, but it seems quite likely.
> > IIRC Chris DiBona liked the idea.
>
> Agreed.  There's no way I can get to Switzerland, but Mountain View is
> very doable.  If you want I can ask the Ubuntu folks for contacts at the
> California campus.

We already have good contacts :-)
- Dan

[Tom Wickline]

Amsterdam

I should note, I also like Mountain View CA

Tom

[Dan Kegel]

On 2/21/07, Tom Wickline  wrote:
> Amsterdam
>
> I should note, I also like Mountain View CA

I don't think Mountain View is on the table; the google proposal
was Zurich and Santa Monica, CA.  ('Cause I live in Los Angeles, not
silicon valley.)
- Dan

[Tom Wickline]

On 2/21/07, Dan Kegel  wrote:
> On 2/21/07, Tom Wickline  wrote:
> > Amsterdam
> >
> > I should note, I also like Mountain View CA

Edit: I should note, I also like Santa Monica, CA

:D

Tom
> I don't think Mountain View is on the table; the google proposal
> was Zurich and Santa Monica, CA.  ('Cause I live in Los Angeles, not
> silicon valley.)
> - Dan
>
> wineconf mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://www.winehq.org/mailman/listinfo/wineconf

[Hans Leidekker]

On Tuesday 20 February 2007 23:18:14 Jeremy White wrote:
> 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).

Yes, though a hotel with conference facilities would be more expensive.
I'm exploring Utrecht a bit more now, they tell me weekends are possible
but 50 people is not enough to keep security around fulltime. A way around
that would be to piggyback on a bigger conference, of which there are plenty
around that time I am told.

The ISP for higher education in the Netherlands has a streaming MPEG
video encoder on loan at shipping costs and offers free capacity on their
streaming servers as well. This offer can be used from either Amsterdam
or Utrecht.

Another thing we may still want to consider is that Utrecht offers cheap
but modern student dorms, although their availability is limited to the
mid July - mid August interval (which makes travelling more expensive):

http://www.ucu.uu.nl/Oncampus.phtml

-Hans

[martin pilka]

> 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

I am adding Bratislava, which is still a choice:

Bratislava

Plane ticket one way: $1506
(Aug 24, one way ticket MSP --> VIEnna, this is really too much, other
direction is not in)

Plane ticket round trip way: $1213
(Aug 24, back Aug 28, round trip MSP -> ORD -> CDG -> VIE)

Plane ticket prices are strange, especially the fact that one way ticket is
more expensive than round trip. But it is really so, I checked this two
times, first time one week ago, second time today.

To compare, same round trip, but in reversed direction (VIE -> LHR -> ORD
-> MSP) is $941. This is what I was experienced also few years ago, when I
was travelling to USA - plane tickets bought here are simply cheaper than
bought in USA. Crazy.

Hotel is around $170 in downtown, $60 nice hotel outside downtown.
Martin

[Andreas Mohr]

Hi,

On Wed, Feb 21, 2007 at 07:41:11PM +0100, martin pilka wrote:
> To compare, same round trip, but in reversed direction (VIE -> LHR -> ORD
> -> MSP) is $941. This is what I was experienced also few years ago, when I
> was travelling to USA - plane tickets bought here are simply cheaper than
> bought in USA. Crazy.

Same for China: tickets in Europe are *cheaper* than in China,
and this despite the fact that the relative currency value
is sometimes as low as 1:10 !!! CRAZY indeed.

Andreas

[David Gümbel]

On Tuesday 20 February 2007 23:18, Jeremy White wrote:
> Does that make sense?  If it does, express a preference around
> location, and let's see if a consensus forms...

I'd prefer an european location, whichever it may be. I'd try to arrive early 
and help out with setting things up in that case.

CU

David