openSUSE 11.4 is going to be released this Thursday (March 10th, 2011) and there is no better way to enjoy the new release than having fun with your fellow openSUSE Lizards! That’s why community members all over the world prepare launch parties. Launch parties are events around the release of a new openSUSE version, what kind of event is up to the organizers. But it’s usually about sharing knowledge with each other, get new people to know the distribution, the tools and the project and most important about having a lot of fun, celebrating our success! Interested? Here are a couple of parties to check out!

Europe/Nürnberg

In the town where openSUSE was born, that still hosts the SUSE headquarters and therefor a large portion of the community the launch event will happen on Wednesday March 16 (19:00) in the Bar/Cafe/Gallery Artefakt. In the historic district of Nürnberg the folks plan to have a blast with an introduction to 11.4 by the Boosters, live music from Ukulele Insanity and lots of the openSUSE brew Old Toad. They expect a couple of high profile visitors like the man that pulled it off for the 6th time, Stephan Kulow (coolo), release manager of the distribution, Henne Vogelsang, long time openSUSE Board member and maybe even a couple of the SUSE founders!

North America/San Diego

In the land of the free, Lizards will meet in San Diego, Americas finest city. The Kernel-Panic Linux User Group (KPLUG) kindly hosts the openSUSE 11.4 launch party at their general meeting on March 10 (18:30) in the UC San Diego Extension Mission Valley, the continuing education and public program branch of the University of California. Among the guests will be openSUSE news own Izabel Valverde and openSUSE Board, Marketing, GNOME and a11y team member Bryen Yunashko. Join them in celebrating and learn about the features of the new release!

South America/Guatemala

openSUSE Ambassadors Fernando Mejía, founder of the openSUSE LUG Guatemala and Axel Ruiz will host a party in the beautiful Centro Histórico, Ciudad de Guatemala. It’s going to take place in a cultural center called Bakabs (15:00). On the event they will introduce the crowd to the principles and philosophies of free software and teach them about new developments in and around the distribution. An install fest, lots of giveaways, like T-shirts and DVDs, and their legendary Frets on Fire tournament will round off the event. We heard there is usually also a nice after-party!

Asia/Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, organizers are still looking for more participants for their launch party! They are contemplating to have lunch together in a restaurant or to meet up at the seaside mid March. Dates and locations are still not set in stone and are worked out, like everything else, in a collaborative fashion. The launch party will not only be about food and drinks but also host an install fest where you can grab DVDs and community members will then help you with your installation if you bring your computer along.  All Lizards in Hong Kong that are interested to celebrate 11.4 together, please get in contact with the organizers on the openSUSE Wiki!

More parties…

For more launch party locations around the globe like Paris, Prague, Thessaloniki, San Salvador, Utrecht, Atlanta, Neuss, Colombo or Managua and for dates, addresses and a large scale map check the openSUSE Wiki launch party page.

…or how about you run your own?

By the way if you’re interested in hosting your own launch party, see our Launch Party HOWTO for starters. Also note that launch parties aren’t limited to the release date! Feel free to plan yours at any time convenient to you and your guests.  Just remember one thing:

Have a lot of fun…