By Rachel Chalmers
The Bazaar, which started life as the open source community’s biggest ever not-for-profit show (CI No 3,522), has run into difficulties thanks to determined commercial competition in the shape of media giant International Data Group (IDG). Organizer Steve Blood says the Bazaar was conceived as a non-profit showcase for free software and intended to benefit development groups. The Bazaar’s dates – March 13-15 1999 – were chosen carefully to avoid conflicts with LINC Expo and Linux Expo. After the Bazaar had been confirmed at New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center, IDG announced that its LinuxWorld Expo, incorporating the LINC Expo, would take place in San Jose one week earlier. The open source community was divided over the conflict. Hackers, developers and speakers apparently confirmed their continuing support for the Bazaar, but potential exhibitors and sponsors did not follow suit. Everyone has shut us down, given us the runaround and altogether sent the Bazaar to the brink of its life, Blood reported. He says that he has contacted a corporate partner willing to keep the Bazaar nonprofit and is restructuring the event, which seems to mean cutting costs and scaling down expectations. Whatever happens now, the Bazaar will be seen by many as a litmus test of how the open source community responds to dedicated competition from old-fashioned for-profit organizations.