FRIDAY

Friday April 16, 2004 • Howard Tayler

For those of you coming to Penguicon 2.0 this weekend, here's my schedule...

FRIDAY

Gimme That Online Graphic Fiction...Pro Perspective
Friday 23:00 - Petoskey
Pete Abrams, Howard Tayler, Rob Balder
What are the particular challenges and rewards of producing online graphic fiction? Our panelists tell you not only why what they do is fun and cool...they tell you who their daily favorites are.

SATURDAY

Not Necessarily the Same Old Microsoft Versus Linux Debate
Saturday 12:00 - Kensington
John Ringo, Karl Kuhlmann, Eric Raymond, Howard Tayler, Jon "maddog" Hall
We've got two bright, articulate people who want to make a strong case for why Microsoft is a good thing. We've matched them up against three bright, articulate people who really, really disagree. Come see the clash of the titans.

Autograph Session
Saturday 14:00 - Ballroom A/BCome get autographs from all your favorite authors and artists...Neil Gaiman, Steve Jackson, Eric Raymond, Pete Abrams, John Ringo, Fred Gallagher, Howard Tayler, Sandra Brewer, Vince Locke, Steve Piziks, Clif Flynt, Marcel Gagne, Chris Herteland Jane Irwin.

Humor: Can It Be Learned?
Saturday 19:00 - Petoskey
Tim Crist, Tony Goldmark, Rob Balder, Howard Tayler
Is humor a skill which can be learned? Or is it a talent you either have or don't have? Are some people just not funny?

Celebrity Frag Fest
Saturday 23:00 - St. Clair
Come watch as our Guests of Honor and Nifty Guests gather to gird their silicon loins and go forth into bloody, explosion-ridden battle against each other...only the strongest and most cunning shall survive.

SUNDAY

Novell, SUSE, Ximian, and the March of the Penguins
Sunday 10:00 - Kensington
Howard Tayler
In the last twelve months Novell has launched a new set of Open Source initiatives, and acquired both Ximian and SUSE. Apparently they're serious about something. Come find out what. Then grill the Novell insider mercilessly and see how many of the juicy secret details you can wring out of him.

Collaborating without Sending Money to Microsoft
Sunday 12:00 - Kensington
Howard Tayler, Jon Hall, Eric Raymond
At Comdex, Bill Gates announced that Microsoft is �the email company�. Maybe, maybe not. There are certainly plenty of alternatives, and lots of exciting research going on in the Open Source community. Come listen to the panel of experts discuss Open Standards, Open Source, and the future of collaboration software on Linux.

Comedy in SF
Sunday 13:00 - Theatre
Tom Smith, Luke Ski, Rob Balder, Howard Tayler
Who is funnier, filkers or online comic artists? We have two of the funniest representatives of each group here. Come listen to them show you the funny side of SF. Who will win the battle of the funny guys? You, if you come to this panel!

Getting It Right: Writing Personal and Military Combat
Sunday 14:00 - Petoskey
John Ringo, Howard Tayler, Sal Sanfratello
What does it take to evocatively write personal and military combat? Does it require a martial arts or military background? Or is a good imagination good enough? And is realism always a good thing?

Looking back on this schedule I'm thinking "who do I think I am?" And then I think "it doesn't matter who I think I am. What matters is who THEY think I am, and apparently they think I'm a cutting-edge captain of industry in both the online entertainment and computer collaboration spaces who has military experience and who can hold his own in heated debate, stand-up comedy, and first-person simulated combat."

Who am I to disabuse them of these notions? All I need to do is bluff my way through three days of this...

On a humorous note, I'm featured on more than twice as many panels as Pete Abrams. In your face, Pete!