After my brief glimpse of VMworld, I flew into Chicago to be part of the Redhat Summit.  The open source based company, where I am currently the International Partner Development Manager, had an exhibit.  As well, I gave a presentation about our software.

It was interesting for me to speak with other companies that have built their software around open source, and leveraged this into a business model.  Of course, Redhat is a classic example of enterprise level solutions that have a cost associated with them. Some of my other co-exhibitors included Zimbra, Sugar CRM, Arkeia among others.

While the main focus of the Summit was on the server side of things, I was able to spend time speaking with some of the Redhat team members from the desktop virtualization unit, who are focusing on the use of KVM and SPICE to offer users a richer experience with VM's running high quality video & audio.

One of the most interesting sessions for me was 'The Elephant in the Room: Free Software and Microsoft  " which focused on Microsoft's inconsistent course on patents and FOSS, including their recent patent maneuvers with companies such as Tom Tom & Buffalo. Interestingly enough, there were 2 product managers from Microsoft sitting in on the session.

Mark and I had a bit of discussion regarding companies that offer a free community version of their software, which does not include all the functionality.  One of the points Mark made, that it would be good to be able to download the program, try it out the full deal and then make a decision as to whether you want to purchase enterprise support or other modules. 

But that is discussion for another blog post.  On a closing note, while in Chicago, I visited the Field musuem, took an architectural river cruise (most interesting), checked out Buddy Guy's Legends Blues club, and tried Deep Dish Pizza.