[plug] Linux.conf.au registrations officially open!

[Bernard Blackham]

Plug!

The world knows about it now (or will do very soon now). Yes,
Linux.conf.au 2003 registrations are officially open! Here's the
official media release, FYI.

Enjoy!

Bernard.

-- 
 Bernard Blackham
 bernard at blackham.com.au
 Australian Linux Technical Conference 2003: http://www.linux.conf.au/

Linux . Conf . Au

MEDIA STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Linux.Conf.Au 2003 announces:
	Registrations now open

Perth, Western Australia (October 2, 2002) - Linux.Conf.Au 2003 is 
pleased to announce that registrations for this year's conference 
are now open. People from anywhere in the world are invited to attend.

Registration has three main flavours:

	* Professional
	* Hobbyist
	* Concession

Professional registrations are for people who are being sent along by their
company or organisation. Hobbyist registrations are for people who are sending
themselves, whilst Concession registrations are for Students, the unemployed,
pensioners, with valid supporting evidence (e.g., current student card).

A professional registration gets you access to all events, including the
Conference Dinner, and the Professional Networking Session where you get to
meet with and talk to all speakers. Furthermore, your organisation's name will
be listed as having attended. Professional registration costs AUD$550.

You've worked hard but you're not being sent - you are hitching.  A 
hobbyist registration is AUD$250, while a Concession registration is AUD$99 
(we're desparately trying to keep this under AUD$100 for you!). Hobbyists and 
Concession are able to include the conference dinner as an option on 
registration. The cost is an additional AUD$50.

If you register with a Concession you will be required to provide proof of 
eligibility on the first day of the conference.

Accomodation is available on The University of Western Australia campus at 
the University's own college accomodation, Currie Hall. Our registration 
form has an option for you to notify Currie Hall of your intended dates 
of arrival and departure if you wish to take this up, otherwise you are 
free to leave these fields blank and find your own accomodation in Perth.
Currie Hall is charging AUD$45 per night for a single room (with pedestal 
fan), including breakfast; all transactions with them are conducted 
separately to the conference.

Early registrations for Linux.Conf.Au help us to determine how much money we 
have to fly in interesting speakers from around the world. As an incentive 
to register early, we're offering a copy of 'Just For Fun', by Linus 
Torvalds, to one of the first 100 people registered, thanks to 
Boffins booksellers.

Linux.Conf.Au is being supported by CommSecure (http://www.commsecure.com.au/)
for its credit card processing; we thank them for offering their services to
us.  CommSecure provides a very safe way for you to pay for your registration.
We recommend using credit cards to pay for this, as you will recieve a Tax
Invoice / Receipt within minutes of the transaction being confirmed and 
processed. 

Alternate methods of payment may be arranged by contacting the organisers. 
We will accept Australian personal cheques and international money orders, 
but there will be some delay in processing these. If you can use a credit 
card it will be much easier for us!


Please note that Linux.Conf.Au is a non-profit conference. All organisers 
are volunteers from the Linux community. Any money charged goes directly 
into making this, and future, conferences a success. We appreciate your 
support and hope you will join us for Linux.Conf.Au 2003.


Linux.Conf.Au 2003 is sponsored by:
	IBM - The Penguin Sponsor (Principal Sponsor)
	Functional Software - Major Sponsor
	The University of Western Australia - Venue Sponsor
	OSDN - Online Media Sponsor
	CommSecure - Credit Card Broking Sponsor
	Sun Microsystems - Regional Delegate Sponsor



* About Perth Linux Users' Group Inc.
-------------------------------------

PLUG is a a non-profit association for the Linux and Open Source community and 
aims to promote and assist this community through fortnightly seminars and 
workshops providing the opportunity to connect face-to-face with industry 
speakers and other Linux users. In addition to the free email discussion list, 
PLUG provides news, technical support, resources and forums on the web site 
(http://www.plug.linux.org.au).



* About Linux.Conf.Au
---------------------

Linux.Conf.Au is a national 'roaming' conference under the auspices of Linux 
Australia Inc (http://www.linux.org.au/). Its original incarnation was as 
the "Conference of Australian Linux Users" (CALU), held in Melbourne at 
Monash University in 1999. 

In January 2001 it was renamed to "Linux.Conf.Au", and held in Sydney at the 
University of New South Wales under the direction of the Sydney Linux User 
Group (SLUG). In February 2002 it was held in Brisbane at the University 
of Queensland under the direction of the Home Unix Machine Brisbane User 
Group (HUMBUG).

Linux.Conf.Au has a very high standing in the international community for 
being a very technically focused, yet relaxed conference schedule. All 
presenters are selected from the community are of the highest calibre.



* About Linux
-------------

Linux is a core part of a modern multi-user computer operating system 
developed by a world-wide network of enthusiasts and professionals, and is 
available for free under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). 
This license is special in that it specifically permits the end user access 
to the underlying source code that creates the Linux kernel, and permits them 
rights to modify it and redistribute it. The GPL is available from the Free 
Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org). It is this model of license that 
leads to a "peer review" model of software development, since no part of the 
program remains undisclosed to any interested party.

Many organisations including IBM, Functional Software and Sun Microsystems are 
adopting Linux kernel based operating systems for a variety of tasks, from 
network servers to personal desktop machines and palm-sized devices.

The Linux kernel, in combination with a large selection of "user space" tools 
and utility programs are combined to create complete computer operating 
systems, for example, Debian, MandrakeSoft, Red Hat and SuSE.

As well as operating on commodity personal computers, Linux also 
runs on a number of other types of computers, such as large mainframes and 
commercial network servers, down to pocket organisers and wrist watches.

More information on Linux is available from http://www.linux.com/.

Linux(R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.



MEDIA RELEASE CONTACTS:
Perth Linux Users' Group Inc		
James Bromberger
+61 417 772 286 (GMT +0800)
james at rcpt.to

Linux Australia Inc
Anand Kumria
akumria at linux.org.au

PUBLICITY CONTACT:
LCA 2003, Perth Linux Users' Group Inc
Bernard Blackham
+61 402 291 684 (GMT +0800)
bernard at blackham.com.au