The Windows Refund Day movement is pulling higher-profile speakers than some Linux conferences can muster. Eric Raymond, author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the paper credited with fueling the open source movement, has agreed to act as Parade Marshall, as has Larry Augustin, the president and CEO of VA Research Linux Systems. Inspired by the saga of Australian Linux user Geoffrey Bennett, who persuaded Toshiba to give him a refund for the pre-installed copy of Windows he never used, users of various non-Microsoft PC operating systems plan to descend on Microsoft offices around the world on Monday, February 15 looking for refunds of their own. In other Bazaar news, not-for-profit open source conference, The Bazaar has announced a change of date from March 13-15 to sometime in July (CI No 3,575). After the Bazaar announced its original dates and booked the Jacob Javits convention center in New York City, International Data Group scheduled its rival Linux Expo for San Jose one week earlier. This effectively split the potential audience for both conferences, and the comparatively under-funded Bazaar was left struggling for the corporate sponsorship it needed. Ironically, while the Bazaar was named in honor of Raymond’s paper, the conference chair for Linux Expo is none other than Larry Augustin. That should give the Parade Marshalls something to talk about other than Windows refunds.
