The Hindu Business Line : From NetBeans to bean bags

When an executive from Sony walked on to the stage during the opening keynote at the JavaOne developers' conference in San Francisco, Sun's Executive Vice-President (Software) Rich Green, quipped that he might have missed the e-mail about the dress code for the event. The Sony guest came in a lounge suit - customary for most technology events in the city.

Most - but not all. This was a Java jamboree. Green — and all the key speakers from Sun — came dressed in T-shirt and frayed jeans. So did most of the audience numbering just short of 15,000, making this the world's biggest software gathering (the India end of the conference, SunTech Days, staged earlier this year in Hyderabad, was the largest such event in Asia - with 10,000-plus attendees).

`Be Brazillian!' urged John Gage Sun's Chief Researcher - "Shout, sing and express yourself."

And if, as often happened, the parallel lecture halls were overflowing - one could flop down on the brightly coloured bean bags outside, ranged over giant video screens, relaying the proceedings, live.

For the foot-weary, preparing for the next infusion of Java knowledge, there were a few Massage Stations, offering a ten-minute complimentary session, at the foot of the escalator.

And for environment-conscious delegates who arrived at the Moscone Center conference venue on bicycles, there was a `bike valet' to receive them and provide free privilege parking - this, in a city where parking a car normally costs about $10 an hour.

When Java geeks get together, they do things differently — and economically.