First, an introduction...

First of all, I want to thank my predecessor Michael Iannini for passing the baton and offering the opportunity for me to take this blog space. Like Michael, I am a member of the Beijing Linux User Group (BLUG), which is probably the most interesting Linux User Groups in the world, as you can imagine.

Typically, Linux User Groups all over the world consist of a bunch of geeks who come together to discuss their passion for open source software (OSS). That's great, but the BLUG is simply different from most of them.

Beijing is where all the global industry players are gathered, and most of them have big R&D (research and development) centers here.

If you get a chance to visit the BLUG one day, you will find a lot of dedicated IT professionals from major technology enterprises as well as local rising startups. At our monthly meetings, you'll also get a chance to attend very interesting presentations about the latest and greatest innovations in OSS development, because it all happens in Beijing.

Interested now? We meet every second Tuesday of the month. For the location, please check our Web page here. Everybody is invited to join us. Finally, I strongly recommend the BLUG as a top tourist spot for OSS fans visiting Beijing.

I also want to thank ZDNet Asia for choosing me to pick up where Michael left off. I hope I can continue the great work that Michael has done, particularly where he emphasized the agenda and developments of China's OSS scene while adding his critical view on it.

And, oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Peter Junge. I'm from Germany, I live in Beijing now, and I have been working on OSS for several years. I hope the things I write about in this blog will be more interesting than myself ;-)

Next week, I'll be attending the China OSS World Summit in Guangzhou and that should hopefully give me some material to discuss in my next blog posting.

So, stay tuned and thanks for reading.