Description
An introduction to the Python Business Forum and a discussion of cchallneges facing companies basing their business around Python.
Organisers
Jacob Hallén, Chairman of the PBF
Laura Creighton, Treasurer of the PBF
Attendees
Jeff Matheus
Brian Skahan
Tom von Schwerdtner
George Belotsky
David Ascher
Chetan Gadgil
Arthur Siegler
About 10 more people who didn't sign the attendee sheet.
Summary
The PBF is a non-profit organisation that was formed in July 2002. It was formed to further the business interests of companies and independent consultants who base their business on Python. It is a low cost organisation, with a 20 EURO/year membership fee. You join by following the instructions at http://www.python-in-business.org.
The main activities of the PBF are in the Special Interest Groups. Currently there are two groups active.
The Python-in-a-Tie group works closely with the Sanakefarm initiative to produce a stable, bug free and commercially viable release of Python.
The PR-sig works on popularising Python and on promoting Python business and Python applications. It has done a whole lot of work on the PBF web site and has gathered the Python Success Stories, that are available on line. Some of them have been published in a pamphlet from O'Reilly.
There was a long discussion on how to get the US government to accept Python as a viable option for large scale projects and mission critical software. The conclusion was that we need a Special Interest group that co-ordinates the activities of several companies to get a foothold and create a success story within the government. The chairman of the PBF, Jacob Hallén, wanted a volunteer to step forward to chair the SIG. So far no volunteer has surfaced.
Laura Creighton strongly recommended the following web-page for reading: http://www.aaxnet.com/editor/edit029.html.