Fosdem '05: impressions

So yeah, Fosdem '05 and the traditional drink was great fun and really interesting. I've never seen so many geeks in one place. Met a bunch of cool people, had a great time. A friend of mine went crazy with a cash card at the O'Reilly stand, but hey, I might get to read the books too :-)

1) Geeks know how to party.
2) Anti-social my ass.
3) RMS is probably the only person on earth who would give a good, intelligent talk
a) without slides,
b) commanding fixed attention from so many semi-ADD geeks,
c) absentmindedly scratching his nether regions in front of more than a thousand people.
4) Giving a decent speech/presentation is quite a skill.
5) Until Friday, it never quite sunk in that there's an enormous society of people to whom Free software is a real, tangible matter of principle. RMS is on to something, and I'm not talking about the itch in his pants.