gEDA-user: Open Hardware at NYLUG this February 22nd!

[sdb@xxxxxxxxxx (Stuart Brorson)]

Guys & Gals (albeit mostly guys, I imagine),

I am told on good authority that next month's NYLUG meeting will
feature an IBM researcher speaking about "open hardware".   IBM's
business strategy is increasingly about pushing for open source, open
platforms, open IP and so on.  The big example is their sponsorship
(along with Red Hat & some other corps) of the open source IP database
for patents.  Another example is the power.org website where IBM is
distributing the specs to some of its PowerPC chips [1].  Read about
it here:

http://www.power.org/home

Since open hardware is a subject of pivotal interest to the readers of
this list, and I think the gEDA Project is a major player in the world
of "open hardware" -- and open design in general -- I figured I'd give
an advance notice of the meeting's subject.  If you're going to be in
New York in late Feb, plan  to come to this meeting!  

NYLUG is New York's Linux User Group.  It is a very active group
holding monthly meetings at which a distinguished speaker talks about
a subject of current interest to the Linux community.  Depending upon
the subject, there can be between 30 to 60 people at a meeting.  The
meetings are held in the IBM Building on 57th and Madison in
midtown Manhattan.  Next month's meeting is tentatively scheduled for
Feb 22nd (2006).

For more details, keep an eye on the NYLUG website:

http://www.nylug.org/home/index.shtml

I'll also post a reminder notice as we get close to the date.

Stuart

[1]  Yes, I'm sure we can all debate about how open the PowerPC spec
really is compared to, say, gcc, but nonetheless it's much more open
than most chip vendors are willing to go.