About FOSDEM
The Free and Open source Software Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a two-day event organized by volunteers to promote the widespread use of Free and Open Source software.
Taking place in the beautiful city of
Brussels (Belgium), FOSDEM
meetings are recognized as
The best Free Software and Open Source events in Europe
.
More information
What is FOSDEM?
FOSDEM is a free and non-commercial event organized by the community for the community. The goal is to provide Free Software and Open Source developers and communities a place to meet to:
- get in touch with other developers and projects;
- be informed about the latest developments in the Free Software and Open Source world;
- attend interesting talks and presentations on various topics by Free Software and Open Source project leaders and committers;
- to promote the development and the benefits of Free Software and Open Source solutions.
Participation and attendance is totally free, though the organization gratefully accepts donations and sponsorships.
Developer Rooms
The FOSDEM team thinks it is very important for Free Software and Open Source developers around the world to be able to meet in “real life”.
To this end, we have set up Developer Rooms (DevRooms) with network/internet connectivity and projectors where development teams can meet and showcase their projects. DevRooms are a place for teams to discuss, hack and publicly present latest directions, lightning talks, news and discussions.
We believe developers can benefit a lot from these meetings.
Last year, there were more than 160 talks in the Developer Rooms in addition to the many main-track talks, the lightning talks, the LPI exams and the PGP/CAcert keysigning events.
A Bit of History
In 2000, Raphael Bauduin, a fan of the Linux movement in Belgium, decided to organize a small meeting for developers of Open Source software. He called it: Open Source Developers' European Meeting (OSDEM).
Raphael created a mailing list, a small website and spread the word to people around him. Only a few weeks later, lots of people were waiting for an exciting event in Brussels!
Invitations were sent to well-known figures in the community: Rasterman, Fyodor, Jeremy Allison and so on. They all gave a very positive response and OSDEM was on the road to success.
For the second year, OSDEM was renamed FOSDEM. And now, many years later, it has grown into the event it is today.
We now try to cover a wide spectrum of Open Source and Free Software projects, and offer a platform for people to collaborate in the true Open Source spirit. Every year, usually during the last weekend of February, we host around 5000 visitors at the ULB Solbosh campus.
Raphael is no longer the only one driving FOSDEM. After 7 years of hard work he left the team for new Open Source plans. The FOSDEM flag is now proudly carried by the following people:
The Team
in alphabetical order- Alain Buret
- Alasdair Kergon
- Bart Weijs
- Daniele Lacamera
- Geert Goossens
- Gerry Demaret
- Jan-Frederik Martens
- Jan Gyselinck
- Jochen Maes
- Juan Rial
- Koen Vervloesem
- Leandro Doctors
- Mark Van den Borre
- Michael De Swert
- Nicolas Daisomont
- Nicole Horward
- Pascal Bleser
- Philip Paeps
- Philippe De Swert
- Pieter Heremans
- Richard Hartmann
- Stella Rouzi
- Tias Guns
- Wouter Simons
- Wouter Verhelst
- Wynke Stulemeijer
- The many volunteers who help out during the weekend
- ...