After having skipped FOSDEM in 2011, I wanted to go this year, especially because of the Golden Delicious stand where we had the OpenPhoenux GTA04 on show. A lot of people came around and were excited that someone picked up where Openmoko had left in 2009. The GTA04 is the true successor of the FreeRunner and I strongly invite all of you to support this movement by buying one. You will not get a more open mobile phone anywhere else.
I know that Brussels is always a bit colder than Frankfurt, so I tend to carry appropriate clothing... what I didn't expect though was that it was frickin' -20 on saturday. I have never been freezing more in my life. Lets cross fingers that I won't come back home with a cold. Especially due to the crazy public transportation situation. The Deutsche Bahn managed to accumulate a one hour delay on my way to Brussels – that's ok, however they managed to crash the engine in Aachen on my way back. So badly that we had to switch to a regional train and switch again in Cologne. Man... *sigh*
On to some good news... another thing I didn't expect was kind of an Openmoko family reunion. It was amazing to find Jan Lübbe, Stefan Schmidt, Daniel Willmann, Harald Welte, and even Rasterman hanging around at FOSDEM. That was just great. I also happened to share my hotelroom with Boudewijn which was unexpected but again very cool.
So despite the freezing, it was a great FOSDEM for me and I'm looking forward to go again next year, perhaps bringing Sabine and Lara Marie as well.