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Comment by BiggusDijkus | Hacker News Reader

Its the 25th anniversary of this volunteer organized event. Potentially Europe's largest open source festival. I feel so darn privileged to attend it in person on the ULB campus.

For those who are curious about what powers streaming from FOSDEM, here are some docs on those [FOSDEM boxes](https://github.com/FOSDEM/video-hardware)

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It might be too big. I'm there right now, and the queues are so long that it's put me off from watching a lot of the talks.

Tbh fosdem has long felt like an event that runs on autopilot because it mostly serves as a regular meeting point for the same cliques of people every year. They are not in a rush to change anything.

The fact that you can't catch talks unless you camp in the room is a consequence.

I don't think it's too big, just uncurated and not very accessible. Everyone is there to talk to their own circles.

I think that's all pretty true. The last couple times I went, I mostly camped out in a few Devrooms that I was more interested in (for the most part) and it was a much more pleasant experience than trying to constantly hop from room to room. You can always watch the videos--although the reality is that most of us don't really get around to it in general.

I wouldn't put off newcomers though. While people do connect with those they already know, generally all groups are friendly and welcoming to newcomers, too.

True, depends on the room of course. Rust was crazily crowded last year but this year they had a much bigger room and it was OK.

The queue for the Belgian Fries truck is always longest;-)

This has been the case of years. My first FOSDEM was about a decade ago and it felt like that then. You go to a room a talk or two before the talk you actually want to see because of the queues, which means you’re in a talk you didn’t necessarily want to go to, at the expense of someone who might have wanted to. So they’ll queue a talk or two ahead next time, ad infinitum

Last time I went was 2018, I don't really remember any queues back then. I might be misremembering, but I do remember attending a lot of the talks I wanted to.

If you are going to specific devrooms instead of specific talks, you usually don't need to wait in line before getting in. At least that was my experience last year: I got there early in the morning and the rooms were not very full.

The queues are one thing, another is the terrible ventilation inside the devrooms. I ended up most of today listening to talks in the Janson auditorium, as it at least has breathable atmosphere.

"The FOSDEM 2025 live streaming box" - https://youtu.be/UcOWAD8b12g

Kubecon is probably bigger these days but it's much more corporate and expensive.

Yeah! Been to Kubecon EU twice, I think you're right. Valencia and Amsterdam. Way too expensive, corporate and marketing(ish) in my view. I couldn't have gone without employer's support. It's not the same crowd one would meet at these events though.

The Linux Foundation events are actually probably more relevant to the topics I covered at Red Hat and again as an analyst. But I wouldn't pay for passes out of my own pocket. I was at the Kubecon in Amsterdam but skipped Valencia. Been to quite a few over the years starting fairly early-on (maybe 2nd or 3rd) when they were still quite small.

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