The sessions this year are great, but so is the floor entertainment.
This year the 2004 JavaOne Conference has more than just sessions. Out in the lobby there is a live band playing, complete with bean bag chairs for an interested audience. A big screen is showing an action adventure movie, and out on the Pavilion floor three artists busily paint works of art the way they see Java technologies role in the world.
I spoke with one of the artists, asking what the tie into Java is for their creations. "We're showing how Java can be simple, complex, and everywhere," he said while painting the black trim around the border of his painting. He'd been working on it all day previous, and was putting on the finishing touches. "I'm showing the simplicity of Java," he explained with the blue coffee cup against the red background. These colors work well off each other. These colors are vibrant and stand out, like Java."
If art isn't your cup of tea, or rather cup of coffee, you can play air hockey, foos ball, video games, or log on to any of the dozens of computers set up throughout the Moscone Center.
Between sessions, you won't find anyone just sitting around, twiddling thumbs. Instead, everyone is busy enjoying themselves.
Dana
Dana Nourie is a Sun Microsystems staff writer and editorial manager of the Java SE hub, the New to Java Programming Center, Java Technology Fundamentals, and Core Tech Tips.