This is a temporary page - it should be removed after dec. 15, 2006 when the JavaPolis conference is over. Unless something useful can be added here

 

Introduction

For those of you not familiar with the concept, it's a get-together during the JavaPolis Conference (13-15 december 2006, Belgium) with lots of influential and less influential open source developers, in combination with great Belgian food and drinks. As usal, there will be dark rituals, world domination plans and lots of opportunities to discuss subjects with fellow Open Source programmers.

The 'open source dinner' is being organized by Mathias Bogaert for the fourth year in a row, and has become a tradition amongst the open source programmers from various open source projects (including opensymphony, apache, codehaus, spring, ..). It's open for everyone who either is an open source programmer (that is, contributes to an open source project), is a speaker on the conference or has joined the open source dinners in the years before. But we're pretty flexible - if you're a good guy, like to discuss open source projects and are willing to drink the blood of a freshly slaughtered goat, you're welcome to join us.

How do I sign up ?

Well - it's pretty easy: you either send a message to Mathias Bogaert or Philip Luppens (that's with a dot in between, at gmail), or you can reply to this thread.

It's always possible to sign up during the conference day as well, just use some networking to get in touch (great way to start a conversation), and as long as there are seats available, you're welcome.
But we prefer getting notified first - it allows us to inform the restaurant owner (more beer ! more wine !).

When ?

If all goes well, it should be on the first evening of the conference (thus Wednesday Dec. 13, 2006).

Where ?

Despite the excellent food and location from last year, we had to look out for a new location that would allow more people to join us (55).

The location Mathias chose is De Peerdestal in the Wijngaardstraat 8, very close to the location from last year (a 2 minute walk from the 'Grote Markt', the center of Antwerp). Specialities include horse steak, fish, sea fruits and lobster.

The food should be of the same high quality, they should have an even bigger amount of Belgian beer and wine, and prizes should be somewhere around 25 - 40 EUR. (that's about 32 - 52 dollar, they accept Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Diners).

How to get there ?

Well, it's always possible to use a cab/taxi (busses are a possibility too). It's probably possible to catch a ride with some of the belgian/dutch/german attendees (just do the secret handshake, ya know?). But be aware you will definitely need a cab to get back to your hotel (don't worry, plenty of cabs available). Perhaps we can get a bus or some big taxi's to pick us up - but none of that is sure yet. Make sure to check this page for news.

Or, perhaps the good folks from Atlassian (whom will probably join us) are willing to provide us with another means of transportation ?

Final warnings

Don't forget: Belgian beer (esp. the 'better ones') is very strong. Do not try to 'show off', or by the end of the night, you'll have to crawl home, or you'll wake up somewhere on the deserted shores of a Scottish island, naked, with a tattoo saying 'I love Spring/Duvel/Cameron/..').
Also note that you're not a blocking thread; the conference will continue without you, so don't be late the next day

Cab companies phone numbers:
    Metropole Taxi: +32 3 231 3131
    Antwerp Tax: +32 3 238 3838
    Kroontax: +32 3 646 8383