It has been about 10 days since Rubi-Con and I am very thankful I waited that long before posting this review. First off, even after 10 days I am not quite sure whether the experience was a positive one or a negative one. Second, it has taken me a while to gather my thoughts and to decide whether I would recommend Rubi-Con 6 (2004) to someone.
Most of RC5 was a little like watching a train wreck happen before your eyes. Horrific in the sense that disorganization ran rampant and unchecked. Intriguing in the sense that the information and intellectual stimulation I could attain was VERY interesting and useful. Check-In did not occur until Saturday morning, which was after the keynote and several presentations on Friday. Several of the speakers were missing in action however, some excellent alternative speakers filled some of the open time slots. Possibly the worst speakers of the weekend were part of the hacker group ‘419’. They were timid, ill-prepared speakers who, at best, MIGHT have a tech support job in their future. Perhaps ‘unqualified’ is also a good term to describe the 31337 hacker group, ‘419’. Another speaker (and a popular one at that), who goes by the handle Darkcube, gave a mediocre presentation on a broad variety of hacking, cracking, wireless, phreaking and general security methods. The presentation held my attention only because he is a droll.
Now, before you completely avoid this con next year and disavow any and all knowledge of this review … the con did have a positive side. If a glimpse into a sub-culture of computing is what you crave, this con is worth attending. Also, there were several quality and informational presentations. The panel discussion entitled ‘My distro is better then yours’ was disorganized but had plenty of knowledgeable opinions about which flavor (version, distro) of Linux is right for a hacker or general user. Another excellent panel discussion was about wireless networking and wireless data transmission in general. This presentation was broadcast live on the web. One other panel discussion was worth attending and that was the one on intrusion detection systems. The panel covered mostly IDS' for Linux however, they did briefly make statements about a few Windows compatible IDS'. A top quality speaker I would like to mention was Todd MacDermid. If all of the non-panel presentations were as interesting and as well prepared as Todds, Rubi-Con would have benefited. I also want to plug his presentation topic and a project of his, StegTunnel. If you are a crypto nut DEFINITLY check this site out.
At the end of the day Sunday I did not feel as if the $50 I had spent to gain access to all of the events and presentations had been spent poorly. My only hope for next year is that presentation quality and appropriateness improve. The atmosphere was welcoming, the venue was excellent and the networking/spin room was great. I will attend next year … and so should you.