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Part V – the empire strikes back
By Aino Vonge Corry | September 30, 2008
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a Microsoft speaker to enter into the conference of JAOO” was comme il faut.
In 2001 JAOO was still very much a Java and OO conference.
For those of you for whom time is measured in gadgets, this was the time when a Nokia 6210 was a good prize, and the exhibits area had something as exotic as a “Cyber Cafe” where Sun provided free internet access!
This was also the year when a student volunteer formerly known as David Heinemeier Hansson (who later became the renowned DHH) met Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt, and Rails was conceived – the rest is history.
Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto was also here talking about – surprisingly - “Ruby – an object-oriented programming language, focused on making programmers happy.“.
JAOO 2001 was also affected by the 9/11 attacks on New York. Kristen Nygaard was giving a late afternoon keynote address as the planes were crashing into the Twin Towers. As we were walking out from main conference hall, CNN came on live on the information screens.
Pretty much all of the US speakers got stranded on this account, and so they got an involuntary stay over in either Århus or Copenhagen waiting for international air travel to resume operations.
