[FM Discuss] wikimania and foo part II

[Andy Oram]

That double conference trip sounds like a great success, Adam, and you made the most of FOO camp--more than most people do.

I don't want to make people feel too envious of people who get invited to FOO camp. It's mainly an experience, like Burning Man (which I've never been to) or Woodstock (have to mention it, because of the anniversary and the movies about it). But as Adam's summary makes clear, you can meet a lot of famous people and interesting thinkers at once. If you work hard at something you care about, you'll meet famous people and interesting thinkers over time, but not so many in one place. Sleeping on the rug with a backpack under my head was quite comfortable.

As for competition with O'Reilly: well, when Adam asked me to join his advisory board, I asked my boss what he thought, and he said, "Looks like FM could be our future." So that's more the attitude. I kinda hope Adam mentioned that I'm working with you when people at FOO showed excitement. As I've said before, I'm trying to drum up interest here for doing conventional books through sprints.

Andy