Quoting:
This is the first release of Strawberry Perl Portable Edition for Mobile Devices and Flash Drives (or whatever the hell it ends up being called).]]>
Firstly, please note this is extremely alpha. In fact it's SO alpha that it's basically just whatever is on my test flash drive, zipped up with no packaging at all.To install, simply unzip it absolutely anywhere you like.
The Perl Foundation is looking at giving some grants ranging from $500 to $3000 in August 2008.
In the past, we've supported Adam Kennedy's PPI and Strawberry Perl, Nicholas Clark's work on Perl internals, Jouke Visser's pVoice, Chris Dolan on Perl::Critic and many others (just check http://www.perlfoundation.org/grants for more references).
You don't have to have a large, complex, or lengthy project. You don't even have to be a Perl master or guru. If you have a good idea and the means and ability to accomplish it, we want to hear from you!
Do you have something that could benefit the Perl community but just need that little extra help? Submit a grant proposal by July 31.
As a general rule, a properly formatted grant proposal is more likely to be approved if it meets the following criteria
To submit a proposal see the guidelines at http://www.perlfoundation.org/how_to_write_a_proposal and TPF rules of operation at http://www.perlfoundation.org/rules_of_operation. Then send your proposal to tpf-proposals@perl-foundation.org.
On August 1st, proposals will be made available publicly (on this blog) for public discussion, as it happened in the previous round. So, please make it clear in your proposal if it should not be public.
Note that accepted but not funded proposals in the previous round do not need to be re-submitted.As has been a trend for the past few years, the votes were very close. We had two great bids from Pittsburgh and Columbus.
]]> As many know, 2009 marks 10 years of YAPC in North America, with the first one being in 1999 at Carnegie Mellon University. Another first that's happened in Pittsburgh is the start of the Perl Workshops in North America. The group prepping for YAPC::NA is the same group that has hosted the first two Pittsburgh Perl Workshops. It's likely they won't host a workshop for 2009, but keep an eye out for news about a potential Columbus Perl Workshop in '09.Stay tuned to the YAPC::NA website for more details from Pittsburgh.
]]>
In 1999, the first ever Yet Another Perl Conference was held in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania and hosted by Perl Monger Kevin Lenzo. In the past ten
years, YAPC has flourished into a world-wide craze. But little did
everybody realize that back when Kevin started it all, he implanted a very
small homing beacon in the conference.
Now, on the 10th anniversary of YAPC, we feel it's time to activate that
beacon and bring YAPC back to Pittsburgh. We hope to do justice to what
started out as a small Perl conference, but has become something that
belongs to the entire Perl community.
We have spent the last 3 years preparing ourselves for the monumentuous
occasion by introducing another first: The very first Perl Workshop to be
hosted in the United States (yet another tradition that is starting to grow
across the country). We followed up on our first success with the
Pittsburgh Perl Workshop 2007, and are already in the process of preparing
for PPW 2008. We feel that the cumulutive experiences we have gained over
these three years gives us a leg up on the task.
The proposed dates for YAPC 2009 are Monday, June 22 through Wednesday, June 24, 2009.
University Center Room Reservation Pricing
Room Daily Cost Extended Cost McConomy Auditorium $356.50 $1069.50 Connan $212.75 $638.25 McKenna $74.75 $224.25 Peter $74.75 $224.25 Wright $74.75 $224.25 Rangos 1 $212.75 $638.25 Rangos 2 $212.75 $638.25 Rangos 3 $212.75 $638.25 Dowd $34.50 $103.50 Pake $34.50 $103.50 Class of 1987 $34.50 $103.50
The total cost for rental (assuming we choose to rent all of the above rooms) for three days would be $4,605.75
Additionally, there is a daily cost of approximately $250 per room anywhere
that we would like to have A/V service provided. If we assume that we will
not need more than four such rooms per day, we can expect to pay an
additional $3,000 for a/v services.
Each snack provided is estimated to cost approximately $1 per person. With
an estimated attendance of 600, and a snack service provided each morning
and afternoon, we anticpate snack costs to be about $3,600.
Beyond these known costs, we believe it is reasonable to plan an additional $5,000 for various professional services required during the event.
Pittsburgh is within 500 miles of more than half the U.S. population and
less than a 90-minute flight from 50% of North America's population. It's
under 6 hours by car or train to 9 states, D.C. and Canada. (source:
visitpittsburgh.com)
Pittsburgh International Airport is only 25 minutes from Downtown
Pittsburgh and supports over 300 non-stop flights per day to 118
destinations. Port authority busing provides convenient transportation
from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh, departing the airport every 20
minutes.
Amtrak provides daily rail service to New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Chicago.
Greyhound also provides a bus terminal in Pittsburgh with numerous routes.
Busing and Taxi services are available throughout Pittsburgh. Visitor's can even use Google Transit to plan their route around the city.
Once you are at CMU, if you are staying on campus, there are several fine
dining locations withing walking distance, so the need for travel is very
limited. Additionally, most local hotels provide free shuttle service
for their guests.
The meeting facilities at the Carnegie Mellon University, University Center
are state of the art. They are clean, and professional. We've used them for
the past two Pittsburgh Perl Workshops, and feel confident that
participants will be satisfied with the quality of the venue.Â
The largest room available to us will be McConomy Auditorium, which seats
450 people. If there is a need for overflow, we will be able to
simulcast any presentations into additional rooms.
We have also started to research several potential venues for the YAPC
dinner. We have started to research all of these venues, and believe
that all of them are available for between $30 and $35 per person. We
feel that with the right sponsorship, this is obtainable.
An evening on the Gateway Party Liner touring the rivers of Pittsburgh with fine dining.
Home of the 2006 world Superbowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Â This
event would include a banquet-style dinner in the "West Club", with a
scenic outlook over Pittsburgh's Ohio River.Â
Kennywood Park is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country, hosting
some of the fastest roller coasters in the world. In addition, they
have plenty of rides and amusements for the more timid. Cost would
cover an all-day ride pass as well as a catered dinner.
The Carnegie Mellon wireless network is one of the largest wireless
networks available on a college campus today. The network blankets the
campus with highly reliable service. No other campus of this size offers
such complete coverage. We have had personal experience using the wireless
at CMU for the past two years, and have never had any problems.
Dorm rooms located on the university campus benefit from the same wireless
network that is being used at the conference. There is no difference in
accessing the network from the conference or from a dorm room.
All nearby hotels offer either wired ethernet, wireless access, or both.
In past years, many of our PPW participants have made use of the network
available at the Quality Inn, our recommended hotel.
Although YAPC originated in Pittsburgh, ten years ago, we believe that most
the YAPC participants probably have not been attending YAPC's that long.
Pittsburgh is an excellent choice for the 10th anniversary of YAPC.
Carnegie Mellon University dorm room pricing (per night)
Each room is equiped with air conditioning and linen service is provided. There is no charge for wireless internet access in dorm rooms.
Single Room $42.00 Double Room / Double Occupancy $28.50 (per person) Double Room / Single Occupancy $57.00
We currently have 87 dorm rooms available to us with a maximum occupancy of
147. There may be an opportunity to secure more dorm rooms if that will
not be enough.
The Quality Inn University Center is located close to CMU, and provides
daily free shuttle service to the university. Rooms are available for
about $80 per night for a double room, meaning that one person could
theoretically stay for about $40 per night. The Quality Inn has been
willing in the past to split bill a double room for two people staying in
the room.
The host committee has an established track record of putting together
quality Perl events. In the past two years, over 200 participants have
enjoyed the quality Perl Workshops that we have hosted. We are excited and
up to the challenge of running an event with the magnitude and high
standards of YAPC.
About the Committee leadership:
Robert Blackwell, Tom Moertel, Casey West, and Dan Wright have all been
members of the PPW organizing Cabal since it's inception in 2006. Â
Together, they represent over 4 decades of programming experience as well
as a great deal of experience organizing events of all sizes.
YAPC::NA::2009 Columbus.pm Bid
Overview
In 2006 Columbus was ranked as the United States 15th largest city, with 733,203 residents, and is the country's 32nd largest metropolitan area. Located with Columbus is the world renowned Ohio State University. OSU is currently the largest university in the nation and is ranked (in the US News and World Report) within the top 60 best universities in the country. All around this grand campus are many wonderful restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and shopping for just about anything. And if that all is not enough, you can take a nice stroll across the oval.
Columbus.pm is comprised of people who use Perl in the Columbus Metro area. Most of our members work for some of the largest corporations in Columbus. Our membership includes Nationwide Insurance Co., AEP (American Electric Power), BankOne, Battelle Institute, Huntington Bank, and many more. Bringing YAPC into Columbus would energize our Perl infrastructure and help to fortify its importance in our major industries.
One of the topics mentioned at prior YAPC::NA's and at the YAPC BOF was the need to get larger industries involved YAPC and with the Perl Foundation. Columbus.PM has been working with Nationwide Insurance Co. to bring Damian Conway to its Columbus branch for a four day lecture series July 28th - 31st. We have seen a need for perl technical training in the Columbus area and the excitement that this generates when a world renowned lecture is brought in. There is no reason that YAPC::NA needs to be any different. If we are given the opportunity to run YAPC::NA::2009 we would like to work with Damian and Columbus area companies to bring him back again!
Who We Are? We are Columbus.pm!
Here are some of the many people involved in making YAPC::NA Columbus 2009 something truly amazing:
* Heath Bair (Candybar) * Dallas Deeds * Kevin Nichols * Jonathan Hogue * Jay Oconer * Steven Norland * Lokesh Bangalore * Bryan Abfalter * Zachary Mcartor * Len Jaffe
There are many others that have offered to help but would like more of an opportunity to attend the conference rather then plan and work it.
Proposed Dates
We propose that the YAPC::NA::2009 be held a month earlier to help to accommodate some of the perl lecturers. The dates that we are look at are May 4th - 6th, or May 11th - 13th. We've also considered continuing the tradition of adding the two-day Perl classes to the end conference either May 7th - 8th or May 14th - 15th.
UPDATE: Proposed dates have been changed to June 22nd - 24th, 2009 or July 13th - 15th, 2009
YAPC::NA::Corporate
Getting Large Companies Involved
One of the biggest problems facing YAPC::NA and Perl in general is the continued shift of companies toward 'newer' and 'cooler' languages. But the companies tend to forget that Perl and CPAN can do all of the things those 'other' languages can and do them better. We would like to use YAPC::NA::2009 as an inexpensive way of reeducating companies about Perl and what it can do for them.
Bringing down the employees
The best way of getting companies involved in YAPC::NA and Perl is to get the technical people to the conference. To do this we would propose a standard rate (as listed above) and a corporate rate. The corporate rate would include:
* A shuttle bus from the downtown buildings to the conference area.
* Lunch cards
* One or more Perl books
The corporate rate has not been completely determined as of yet but would probably be in the range of $400-$500 a person. ($100 registration fee, $50 Lunches, $50 Books, $200-$300 Transportation).
Bring the Conference to the Companies
Many of the company buildings in downtown have their own lecture halls and theatres. We would like to see some of the Conference speakers be shuttled down to the company buildings and present from there. This would allow for the employees or managers to hear about Perl without having to take a lot of time out of their schedules.
Location
The Columbus.PM group researched and came up with three possible locations for YAPC::NA. The three possible locations that were researched are as follows: Franklin University, Ohio Dominican University, and Ohio State University. Due to the fast opportunities that Ohio State University offers it was selected as our proposed location.
For information in regards to Franklin University and Ohio Dominican University proposals please see the Columbus.PM YAPC::NA::2008 bid.
http://news.perlfoundation.org/2007/08/yapcna2008_columbuspm_bid.html
Ohio State University
Ohio State University is located just north of downtown Columbus and is surrounded by several major freeways. There are always things to do on and off campus and with it being so centrally located there would be no need for extra travel expenses to any offsite events.
For more information on the conference services that OSU offers please check out their flash pitch at http://www.bclip.com/venue_viewer/osu/ .
The Ohio State University provides conference facilities, housing, and dinning halls all located together in the north campus area. ( http://www.osu.edu/map/google.php ) Their conference facilities are able to accommodate 2 to 5000 people with several theatre style rooms, small, medium and large classrooms, and 250+ Auditoriums. Each of the rooms can be fitted with electronic equipment and podiums. There is internet available in all rooms for a one time per conference fee of $50. OSU has been contacted about the conference and even though they are unable to pencil this conference in until after October 10th 2008, they do have both sets of dates currently available, and they are able to host multiple conferences at a time.
The following information was taken directly from the rate sheet above and is subject to change. We are also going with the impression that the conference rooms would be required for a full day. There are several other lecture halls available all with the same base price.
Lecture Rooms Capacity Price/Day
================= ========== =========
Royer Main Room 180+ $300
Royer North Room 150 $550
Royer Classrooms 25 $250
Auditorium 250+ $350
Office Space $25
Storage Space $25
The following would be the costs and prices for audio/visual equipment.
Equipment Charge/Day ================= =========== TV/VCR/DVD $75.00 Microphone $25.00 Table top podium $10.00 Regular podium $25.00 Easel and Paper $30.00 Internet Hookup $50.00 (1x Fee)
Here are the on campus housing costs.
Dorm Rooms with Air Full Linen Limited Linen No Linens Conditioning Bed & Towel Bed Only ==================== ============ ============== ========== Single $52.00 $46.00 $38.00 Double $26.00 $23.00 $19.00 Multiple $21.00 $23.00 $18.00
Dorm Rooms no Air Full Linen Limited Linen No Linens Conditioning Bed & Towel Bed Only ==================== ============ ============== ========== Single $46.00 $38.00 $36.00 Double $23.00 $19.00 $18.00 Multiple $19.00 $18.00 $17.00 The rate information below can be reviewed at <a href="http://conferenceservices.osu.edu/ratesheet.asp">http://conferenceservices.osu.edu/ratesheet.asp</a>
On campus Hotel accommodations are available:
The Blackwell Inn ( http://www.theblackwell.com/ ) ~ $210 per night before any group rate
Holiday Inn Columbus-OSU Area ( http://holidayinnosu.com ) ~ $110 - $140 per night before any group rate
Meal plans can be purchased for the conference at a rate of:
Breakfast $5.50 Lunch $8.75 Dinner $9.75
For a flat cost of $50 per conference the network will be enabled in all classrooms and conference halls. And straight from their FAQ: .There are Ethernet ports in each room and these remain active during the summer. However, due to a varying maintenance schedule, Internet connections are not guaranteed during your stay. The connections in your rooms, should they be active, are available for use by summer conference guests at no charge.
Cost/Affordability OSU
We plan on keeping the registration fee at $100 for the 2009 YAPC. We hope to follow a similar approach as the 2008 YAPC in offering an early registration discount. Assuming that an attendee takes advantage of the low-cost approach to experiencing YAPC, they would stay in a multiple non-air conditioned, limited linen room in the dorms and choose the on-campus dining option.
Expense Cost =================== ======== Conference $100.00 Day 1 meals $24.00 Day 2 meals $14.25 Day 3 meals $14.25 3 Night Dorm Stay $54.00 -------------------- --------- Total minus travel $206.50
Depending on the various options for snacks and drinks, the cost per attendee will be around $60.
Expense Cost ==================== ======== Snacks (3 Days) $35.00 Auction Dinner $20.00 T-Shirt $5.00 -------------------- --------- Total $60.00 -------------------- ---------
With the registration fee set at $100 and the cost per attendee at $60, the amount per attendee left over to cover conference expenses is $40.
Attendees Available Funds
============ ================
150 $6000.00
200 $8000.00
250 $10000.00
300 $12000.00
350 $14000.00
To help entice people to present we would like to wave the speakers registration. Assuming that we have 50 speakers at $100 registration then the overall expense would be $5000.
The worst case scenario would be 200 attendees with the Royer Main Room ($300) plus two Royer Class Rooms ($250 each or $500 total), Office space ($25), Storage Space ($25), Internet Hookup ($50), 5 Microphones ($25) and a Podium ($25) for a total cost of $950 per day or $2850 total. Now add the $5000 speaker expense brings the total to $7850, $150 under the $8000 budget for 200 attendees.
If course though the more attendance the higher the revenue, and the more the speakers the higher the speaker costs, but these numbers should be close. Also this does not take into account any fund received through sponsorship.
The University has assured us that they can easily accommodate any conference up to 5000 people.
Transportation
Columbus has one major international airport, Port Columbus International Airport (CMH). CMH is located 6 miles west of downtown and provides over 190 direct flights to and from 44 other airports daily. ( http://www.columbusairports.com )
Upon arrival to Columbus, there are several options for getting downtown.
* Taxi Cabs will cost you $20-$26 for the trip.
* COTA Bus will take you about an hour and cost $1.50 ( http://www.cota.com/ )
* Rental Cars, there are a full range of car-rental companies that offer vehicles in various price ranges.
* Driving, Columbus is in the heart of Ohio. Downtown area is at the intersection of I-71 and I-70.
Tourist Attractions
Ohio Historical Center - The 1989 Smithsonian Guide to Historic America describes this museum as probably the finest museum in America devoted to pre-European history.
Franklin Park Conservatory - This conservatory offers 90 acres of international gardens to be enjoyed and explored with some of the habitats you may visit including the Japanese Gardens, the cool Himalayan Mountains, a Pacific Island, a Tropical Rainforest, and a Bonsai Garden. (www.fpconservatory.org )
Sports - Clippers (New York Yankees, Minor League), Blue Jackets (NHL) , Crew (MLS)
Conclusion
We believe that Columbus is a hot technical area and that with our major industries and universities it would be a wonderful place to hold YAPC::NA::2009. So lets get this party started!
]]>We see this as both a positive thing and a problem. The positive part is that it shows some great activity in the Perl community and people recognizing that TPF can be a means through which Good Things in the Perl community can be supported. The problem is that this sudden burst in fund-requesting is not matched by our current financial state.
Put simply, TPF does not have the funds to grant anywhere near $45,000 in a single quarter. (The actual total of approved grants was slightly less than $40,000.) When the grant requests first came in I noticed how large and good this grant proposal pool was and the financial problem it might represent. So I started a discussion with the TPF executive to determine the best way we could be responsible to both the grant proposal submitors and to our finances. Our conclusion was:
The list of grants and their dispositions that you see in Alberto's posting, http://news.perlfoundation.org/2008/06/2008q2_grants_results.html, reflects this strategy. These grants are listed in Alberto's posting in their rank ordering. My posting here is meant to give information on this situation to all members of the Perl community and to ask for your help to fund the grants we can't fund without your help.
If you would like to help us fund more of these grants, here's what you can do to help. Please visit our donation page, https://donate.perlfoundation.org/index.pl?node=Contribution%20Info. In the "For" drop-down, select "Perl Development Fund". In the comments box, please write "2008Q2 grants". For any funds received for the next month (until July 2/2008) we will dedicate them towards the rank-ordered list of grants. Any donations collected that for whatever reason we are not able to apply to the 2008Q2 rank-ordered grants we will allocate to the GC in future granting rounds.
One additional word -- of all the approved grants, only one (SMOP) concerned Perl 6. We are able to fund this out of the targeted Perl 6 donation we received 2 weeks ago from Ian Hague, http://news.perlfoundation.org/2008/05/tpf_receives_large_donation_in.html. The $10,000 budget does not include this grant. This way we can approve more funding to enable as many grants as possible.
Thank you for your support of these great grant proposals from Perl community members.
]]>These are the funded proposals:
As a side note, the last proposal was funded using Perl 6 funds, from Ian Hague donation, and thus, outside the GC budget.
Follow the proposals that, although accepted, will not be funded:
Unfortunately, there was a few proposals that did not convince the committee, and were rejected. Without any particular order:
The purpose of the donation is to support the development of Perl 6, the next generation of the Perl programming language. Roughly half of the funds will be used to support Perl 6 developers through grants and other means. The balance of the funds will be used by The Perl Foundation to develop its own organizational capabilities. This will allow The Perl Foundation to pursue additional funding opportunities to support Perl 6 development. Mr. Hague wants his contribution to be seed funding in that effort.
The Perl Foundation thanks Mr. Hague in the deepest possible terms. This donation is unprecedented in its generosity, scope and vision, and it is precisely what was needed at this junction in the development of Perl 6. We look forward to the greatest of successes with Perl 6, and this contribution is a key part of making that happen. The Perl Foundation will communicate further developments with the Perl community and Mr. Hague as the pieces of this plan are executed.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jeremy Fluhmann (fluhmann at perlfoundation dot org).
]]>Both parties have agreed to terminate this grant agreement. This will free up
Shlomi to work on other projects, and allow the Perl Foundation to use the
money to fund future grants.