The Linux Foundation sees no reason to sit still. This October in New York City, right on my doorstep practically, they're hosting the End User Collaboration Summit, a way to "give end users the opportunity to learn about upcoming developments in Linux and ensure they are maximizing their investment." Count me in.

The idea, according to the event homepage, involves bringing together "high performance end users with the highest level Linux community developers." Over the course of two days, there'll be roundtable discussions, panels, breakout sessions, and "End User Lightning Talks," where just plain folks get to pepper the community and the vendors with their wants, needs, and gripes. That last part alone could have been the whole substance of the event and I still would have wanted to drop in.  (Truth be told, I would have hoofed it out there even if it wasn't in NYC, but the fact that it's next door only gives me that much less of an excuse to join.)

Due to the size of the event -- i.e., not very big -- it's limited only to those who sign up and are approved for a seat. Also, from what I can tell, it's not really aimed at the folks who picked up an Asus Eee or a Wal-Mart gPC instead of a Windows box -- it's aimed a bit higher than that. If only because right now the real move-and-shake with Linux is happening a few echelons above street level. Give it a few years, though, and I'd expect to see the Linux Foundation sponsoring grassroots, localized stuff that's more aimed at just plain folks -- install-fests, open forums, and so on.

A side note: Despite the rise (and rise, and rise) of social networking, Second Life and the whole rest of the Web 2.0 foofaraw, I don't think face-to-face events are ever going to be completely eclipsed by online activity. It's just too useful to be able to go literally eye-to-eye with other people. Their words have that much more gravity when you're in the same room with them, and vice versa. Especially when you have someone like Jim Zemlin at the head of the table.

[Addendum: I just received word that the event in question isn't, in fact, open to press. Curiously, the event registration page did have a radio button for "press/analyst" on it; maybe that was just a generic page they use for registration to all events.]