Back From EvilCon06

I've finally arrived back from EvilCon06, and it was a blast. This year's EvilCon was held in the lair of Dr. Slavotnik, a collection of old ballistic missile silos once used by the Russians. The location was easily dependable and much more thematic than last year's event held at the Idaho Falls Holiday Inn (which was at least effective as a place where nobody would expect a convention of evil).

I delivered a session titled 'Open Evil -- The use of Open Source Software in an Evil Empire' which was very well received by the attendees, especially the more technically minded evils. There were several good questions from the audience regarding whether Open Source software was evil enough, but having asked those questions myself I think the audience went away satisfied.

On a related note, the SCO booth at the tradeshow was easily the most popular booth this year. I love the trade show, you get wonderful swag in exchange for feigning interest in whatever the vendors are peddling. Since most booths are not IT related but more oriented around weapons I am not actually the target buyer for most of these guys, but that never stopped me from playing the game and getting some new toys. This year I really liked the exploding frisbees one of the weapons dealers was handing out -- throw it and it adheres to whatever surface it hits, then push a button on your watch and it explodes like a shaped charge. Most of the swag is your standard fare of kevlar t-shirts and pen-guns, but the extra touch goes a long way.

I always like the atmosphere of EvilCon, it's not full of petty thugs or family operations, instead the guest list is limited to those who work in evil either for the love of it or for the professional challenge. As a result there is no random mayhem, just people who love what they do and who want to share what they have learned so that together we all become more skilled.

I think the highlight was the closing keynote. Thanks to a generous sponsor, General Diabolik was busted out of his military prison and was present to deliver a session called "Never Say 'Before I Kill You' -- Lessons Learned From the Fray". It was a really great session that highlighted what happens when you become too cocky. There are several points I will be bringing up at our next strategic meeting like having the acid vats removed from the control room or at least getting some steel covers put on them.

All in all it was a great conference and I am really looking forward to next year's event. Maybe one year I should look at even having it hosted here in the forbidden zone.