Wed, 28 May 2008
Debconf 8? Going or not?
Yesterday I got a note from the Debconf organizers about my place in the sponsorship queue (15 of 58). The drawback, however: there is no money to be given out, yet. At least that's what I heared on IRC. The mail sounds a tad different. Considering that I applied for 2300 USD (~1300 EUR) there is no way that I pay this alone, being a job-less full-time student spending the other time with volunteer work.
It would be nice to meet up all the other people driving Debian (apart from those I already met at FOSDEM), but considering that I wouldn't even see much of Argentina, well: no. Flights aren't getting cheaper, too. Back then when I searched (February I guess) Lufthansa return flights were offered for 1000 EUR flying non-stop from Frankfurt.
I don't might paying a few hundred dollars on this myself, but how are other non-company-sponsored individuals dealing with this notice? (Comments are enabled, but need OpenID. Comments mailed in will be converted if allowed to do so.)
I can't comment on this year's problems, but last year I asked for a very small partial sponsorship (well under GBP 200 IIRC) and didn't get anything. It was rather disappointing to read in the final report that there was GBP 8000 left over.
The sponsorship process also took no notice of the practicalities of buying tickets. It seemed pretty wasteful, with many people inflating their requested amounts because they couldn't be sure what tickets would be left when they finally got to buy them.