Hello, all, As some of you have already heard, the Brazilian Debian community would like to host the next Debconf in Porto Alegre[1], Brazil. As Mako mentioned[2], Brazil has been extremely active in the Free Software movement but very unrepresented at the past Debian conferences. The Real (Brazilian currency) is weak compared to USD and EUR which makes travel in Brazil from these places affordable but travel from Brazil to Europe or North America extremely difficult. There already is a good deal of planning to have the conference some days before or after the Forum Internacional de Software Livre[3], so, that Debian developers can join us at this event. It's likely that devels can make a talk at FISL and get some sponsorship that way as well. I already know that the Forum is interested upon bringing Bruce Perens, for instance. We already have full support from the Porto Alegre data processing company (Procempa) and the city hall (through its international relations secretary). They will provide us with free (or low-cost) food and free hosting. About fly prices, I did some research to have some early idea: Amsterdam - Porto Alegre - Amsterdan: 772.00 EUR Frankfurt - Porto Alegre - Frankfurt: 855.00 EUR London - Porto Alegre - Londres: 647.00 GBP Madri - Porto Alegre - Madri: 998.00 EUR Milan - Porto Alegre - Milão: 817.00 EUR Paris - Porto Alegre - Paris: 641.00 EUR Toronto - Porto Alegre - Toronto: 1960.00 CAD Oslo - Porto Alegre - Oslo (connection in Paris): 8220 NOK = USD 1148.00 NY - Porto Alegre - Nova Iorque: 750.00 USD Seattle - Porto Alegre - Seatle: 830.00 USD Varig[4] can give some deductions or free tickets if people buy a great number of tickets together. To have a basic idea about what prices in Brazil are like: Newspaper 0.50 USD 1l milk 0.50 USD 1.5l soft drink (coke, etc) 0.70 USD Big Mac (#1 Combo) 3.00 USD Bus 0.50 USD A Brazilian soccer t-shirt 20.00 USD A great dinner 10.00 USD Movie theater 4.50 USD We also have an active mailing list to discuss our plans. That has been going on since Debconf3: debconf4@listas.cipsga.org.br. Please, fell free to join us and tell what you think. 1. About Porto Alegre: http://www.uoregon.edu/~sergiok/brasil/portoalegre.html 2. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2003/debian-devel-200308/msg00310.html 3. http://www.softwarelivre.org/forum2003/fotos_evento/ 4. http://www.varig.com.br Best cheers, -- -- Michelle Ribeiro
Attachment:
pgpZj3dHU0HS_.pgp
Description: PGP signature