I spent the day at "Joomla Day New England" yesterday. It was one of the best computer conferences I have ever attended.

Industry leaders from all over the country flew into the great technology epicenter of Brattleboro Vermont to impart their Joomla wisdom.  While I am a relative Joomla noob, I leaned a ton, met a lot of nice people, and had a good time.

Joomla, for the uninitiated, is a free, open source content management system used for making websites.  It is an amazing product.

While all the speakers were good, there were a couple standouts.  Barrie North and Ken Crowder (who flew in from freakin' Omaha for the event, by the way) were worth the price of admission alone.  I was even able to score a free copy of Ken's book, and he was kind enough to sign it for me.

The Enigma of Open Source
The notion of Open Source software has always fascinated me.  I have often wondered what would motivate a rational human being to work for free?

Ryan Ozimek's keynote address left you with the impression that Open Source contributors are like modern day hippies: like giving back to the communal good, man.

That is a very foreign concept to me.  Are you trying to tell me that when I was at Boston College learning to be a profit maximizer, these people... weren't?!?

At lunch I chatted about this with a very nice couple from Albany - the McCarthys.  They tried to explain to me that people do donate their time to make the world a better place.  I remained cynical.

I get the concept of donating your time at a soup kitchen or donating money to cancer research, but who in their right mind would spend hundreds of hours developing an Open Source shopping cart component so that somebody they don't even know can make money with it?

At the end of the day, the McCarthys posed that question to the panel: "What motivates you to donate your time to the Joomla community?"  While there was some acknowledgment that it does help to get contracts and sell books, almost all of the panelists talked about community and giving back.  One of the speakers said "we do it for you".  One of the panelists said "the Joomla community is awesome, and the best thing I've ever been a part of".  I half expected a group hug to break out.

Even I was convinced of their sincerity, and I see ulterior motives in almost all situations.  (I'm still suspicious of that Mother Teresa.  What was her angle anyway?).

This conference did cost fifty bucks to attend, but I walked away with a free $45 book, a flash drive, an umbrella, countless other freebies, and a full belly.  Nobody got rich off this event.

Jen Kramer seems to volunteer to run the event.  That must be an enormous time commitment.  Marlboro College generously provided the meeting space for free.

They have this event every year.  If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.  You'll learn a lot about Joomla, and if you're anything like me, it might just restore your faith in your fellow geek as well.