LinuxTag

LinuxTag (German for "Linux-day") is a Free Software expo with an emphasis on Linux (but also BSD), held every summer in Germany. It is relatively large, claiming that it is the largest expo of this kind in Europe, drawing visitors from many countries.

The LinuxTag slogan is "Where .COM meets .ORG", as it includes both representatives from commercial companies and from nonprofit/community projects. The latter are given booths, free of charge, in the .org section, as long as there is room.

LinuxTag has also been a sponsor of several other projects, notably of Knoppix, a Linux Live CD. Knoppix is often used to showcase software running on Linux on a computer configured with a different operating system (usually Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X).

LinuxTag is sponsored by various IT-related companies and, at least in some of its iterations, by the German government.

LinuxTag 2007 faced calls for a boycott, due to the fact that it was officially held under the patronage of the German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a member of the conservative CDU party. [slashdot: http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/19/2149231&from=rss]

History

The first LinuxTag took place at the University of Kaiserslautern in 1996. The event was held there every year until 2000, when it was moved to Stuttgart for two years. From 2002-2005 it was held in Karlsruhe, and 2006 in Wiesbaden. Since 2007 LinuxTag is being organised in Berlin, in 2009 it will be held from 24 June to 27 June.

References

External links

* [http://www.linuxtag.org Official LinuxTag website]
* [http://www.linuxtag.de/ German Official web page] (with information in English as well)
* [http://www.knoppix.org The Knoppix project]
* [http://www.quendor.org/openmusic OpenMusic] , another LinuxTag-sponsored project. The topbar at the site provides links to (all?) other LinuxTag-sponsored projects.