Followers of the Linux and Opensource movements will not want to miss the appearance of the legendary John 'Maddog' Hall at the Linux Africa 2001 conference, hosted by AITEC and the Linux Professional's Association of South Africa, from 24 to 26 April 2001 at the Kyalami Exhibition and Conference Centre, Johannesburg.
Linux Africa will be the first major conference and exhibition event in South Africa to promote the use of Linux and Opensource. The event is aimed at both the business and technical communities, and will showcase the state of the art in Linux and Opensource, both in Southern Africa and in Africa as a whole.
Maddog's appearance will be a highlight of Linux Africa. As Executive
Director of Linux International John Hall carries with him an impressive
reputation as prophet of the overwhelming possibilities of Opensource
software. Hall has a long history in the Opensource movement prior to his
position as Executive Director of Linux International, which he has held for
the last five years.
Before taking up his position at VA Linux Systems, John was employed by
Compaq Computer Corporation in the Digital UNIX Marketing group and Bell
Laboratories, and has been a very vocal advocate of Linux both inside and
outside of Digital Equipment Corporation since 1994. In his earlier days
Hall was Department Head of Computer Science at Hartford State Technical
College, where his students gave him the nickname 'Maddog' due to his
flamboyant approach to the world and his subject, as well as in recognition
of his impressive, and constantly evolving, facial hair.
The Opensource movement is helping to return control of enterprise
infrastructure from the vendor back to the enterprise itself. Paul Kotschy,
Chairman of the Linux Professional's Association of South Africa, believes
that the greatest benefit for a commercial enterprise is, "To use Linux
and Opensource technology to reduce its dependency on proprietary
monopolistic software vendors, and in so doing to reduce the enterprise's
risk of failure."
"The LPA is working very closely with AITEC to facilitate what will surely
be the premier Linux-related event on the continent," Kotschy says. "I would
encourage IT players at all levels to attend, and especially to hear Maddog
speak. John Hall is one of the leading International Linux and Opensource
celebrities, and one of the forerunners of the Opensource movement. I've no
doubt his appearance will be both informative and entertaining for everyone
who experiences it."
In his presentation, John 'Maddog' Hall will be addressing the ways in which
Linux embraces the various operating systems in the IT industry (such as:
Mainframes, Servers, Workstations, Client/Server and Embedded Systems), and
he will also deal with the prospects Linux holds for the future, in an
industry still dominated by proprietary software giants. The full conference
programme and registration form can be found at
www.aitecafrica.com/events2/linuxprog. Or contact [email protected] or
your local AITEC office for full details.

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