Hi Set,

>> Thanks to the new Silver sponsor from Belgium although they made
>> Sparky so expensive that I'll never be able to get one...

> They only bought Sparky this year, they didn't even bid for the
> Sparky available at the next conference. My guess is that you should
> at least be able to be amongst the final bidders if you sell your
> house and car just before the next conference...

Well so I should hurry to buy a house so that I can sell it just
before next conference ;-)
I'm not sure my girlfriend will like this idea...

>> Only one remark: May be next conference can take place on a cheaper
>> place so that more people from all over the world can afford to come
>> to the conference!

> Define cheaper -

Well conference price below something like 300 Euro, Hotel night below
75 Euro, may be youth hostel in the near.

I'd allow all the business guys to pay more and sent the difference to
the Foundation ;-)

I see the problem, that conference is not affordable, if you have to
pay for it privately especially not for students e.g.
On my point of view it would be good for the project to get more
support from these guys.

> do you mean a cheaper hotel or country? In theory,
> I like the idea of moving the conference, so that local developers

I agree.

> can attend. My country, Norway, could be excluded due to few
> Firebird developers, high prices and probably that it is so remote
> from many European countries. I noticed that the word 'European'
> weren't on the posters this year, does that mean that the venue
> isn't even restricted to Europe? And, are there lots of persons who
> want to host conferences in 2009 or only a few, if any?

I'm not sure.
But it may be a good idea to publish the conference a little bit more
early so that it could be read in different computer magazines etc.

If my boss agrees and I'm getting support from some other people I'll
try to organize a Firebird Day in Germany next year at our university.
We have the cheapest beer in Germany in our region.... ;-)
So I can make some experiences...


Björn

--
Björn Reimer, Datenbanken und Verfahren
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Regionales RechenZentrum Erlangen (RRZE)
Hugenottenplatz 1a, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
Tel. +49 9131 85-26719, Fax +49 9131 85-25777
bjoern.reimer@...-erlangen.de
http://www.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/infrastruktur/datenbanken/