The Canonical presentations were aimed mostly at businesses, and sysadmins in particular, delving into the Ubuntu Server distribution. IBM on the other hand went deep into Ubuntu Desktop model – this speaker was really entertaining. Mark Shuttleworth was there too of course – smart guy.

There was an open bar, and some really fancy nibbles – I can’t remember what one of them were called. Quite a few fish selections, sushi-ish. Nice though.

The swag was cool too. There was an Ubuntu notepad and pen on each seat, for us to take notes. Then on our way out we were handed a goody bag. This had the usual stickers and Ubuntu CDs, Ubuntu Mousemat, but what I liked the most was an IBM Lotus stamped gadget – a USB charger for all popular mobile/cell phones! This thing has an adapter for Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung and mini-USB. So cool!

I must say, IBM really impressed me with their Lotus suite. Not just because of the swag, but their presentation was actually really good. I can really see a place for it in the Enterprise environment. True, it’s just based on Open Office, Eclipse and other Open Source software, but the way it’s put together as a nice full-package is great.