Opera Software University Tours

We woke up to a nice sunny day in Edinburgh, which was great since we each had a couple hours that morning to relax. I made my way to the Scott Monument in Old Town, and of course, to a Starbucks. The other guys had nice breakfasts with all the local delicacies including black and white pudding. It was a nice morning!

After Lunch, we made our way the University of Edinburgh for our final seminar at 1:30PM. It was kind of surreal watching the last presentation. The tour went by so incredibly fast, probably because the three of us were very busy for the entire time. Roberto and Chris spoke very well (lots of practice ) and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it.

There was a very large turnout for the reception we held after the seminar. The guests were a keen and diverse bunch. We met with students from several different countries who were reallyknowledgeable about the browser industry. We had some very interesting discussions on what competition does for the industry.

Chris left for home in the Midlands shortly after we finished at the reception. Roberto and I dropped off the rental car (more left side driving for Roberto! He was getting good!) and went back to the hotel. And then, we said our goodbyes. It was a strange feeling to end the tour, but overall it was a very positive experience. We met so many cool people, saw a great country and promoted the use of Open Web Standards. So really, we accomplished what we set out to do.

Miraculously, our GPS unit started to work shortly after we left the St. Andrews campus. What a relief. We were very close to pulling into a gas station to buy a map and start navigating the old fashioned way. I was probably a little more concerned than Chris or Roberto. They seemed a little more relaxed….

It was really great to drive straight across Scotland. There is some very picturesque farmland, heritage buildings and stunning coastal views. By far one of the sightseeing highlights of the trip.

We made our way to the University of Glasgow about an hour before we presented. Everything went very smoothly. We had well over 80 students in attendance and they really seemed interested in Chris and Roberto’s discussion of how the browser industry operates.

Afterwards we ventured over to the Three Judges Pub with several Opera fans. The Three Judges is known for having one of the best selections of beers in the United Kingdom. We shared a few pints with our guests and had some really funny conversations. Good times!

For the entire week we were gradually making our way North. On Friday, we turned around and drove due south to Southampton. We were holding a lunchtime seminar that covered Web Standards, and Bruce was guest lecturing afterwards to a class interested in Web Accessibility. We ended up with well over 130 people attending this seminar, with people even sitting in the aisles and standing at the back of the room to listen to the Bruce and Roberto connection deliver their now polished presentation.

Actually, the attendance surprised us, so I had to run back to the car to get more fancy Opera umbrellas to hand out. It certainly pressed my time, but I was able to get a much closer look at the campus!

We held a small reception afterwards, met some cool people, and answered questions about Opera’s phishing protection, amongst other things.

To finish the week, we met at the Old Fat Cat pub with some of Opera’s fans. They were kind enough to offer us some appetizers to share, and we had a few nice pints with our fans. These guys had alot of cool things to talk about. We discussed the tab system, how Opera works on different machines, and their experiences in using Opera in different countries. Good times

Afterwards, Mr. Bruce ‘awesome’ Lawson (his requested intro) left us to drive home to Birmingham. It was strange to see him go. Week 1 went by so quickly...

First off, apologies for the horribly cheesy and likely unoriginal title of this post . Again, my strange sense of humor.

We raced off to Bath right after the Bristol session ended. There, we spent 20 minutes checking into our hotel, and went off to the University of Bath to present at 5PM. I really liked the look of the campus. You walk along a raised central pathway and the buildings branch off of the path. Plus, there was a lot of really beautiful greenery.

Again, there was a strong turnout at Bath. Students here really seemed to enjoy what Bruce and Roberto had to say and were keen to discuss more technical issues.

After the seminar concluded, we made our way to Belushi’s Sports Bar for a community meet-up, which happened to be incredibly crowded due to a football (soccer) match. We quickly realized that there was no way we would get our table, much less be able to hear each other speak :O. So, we rounded up the 16 folks who came to chat with us and made our way to the self professed ‘Smallest Bar in Bath’. Strangely enough, we had much more room than at Belushi’s!

We spent around three hours at the pub, enjoying fine English beer and food (Roberto and I both had fish and chips) and good conversation. The cool thing about the meet-ups has been that you really get to know Opera’s fans. We certainly talk about Opera, but we also talk about regular and everyday things. I feel incredibly fortunate that we have had this opportunity .

The next morning we had an interview with Futurenet. We met with some really cool guys, and we were filmed for the first time in our interviews. I imagine we’ll wind up on their podcast in the near future. I’ll post the link when I see it. We covered alot of issues with them, most notably how well standards have been adopted and what the barriers to adoption are.

Afterwards I took an hour to go and see the Roman Baths, which are in the heart of downtown Bath. I was hoping for a nice bath, but apparently I had a totally wrong impression of what went on there .