I survived VB 2008

The Virus Bulletin Conference is probably the most important anti-malware conference there is. It is also the oldest surviving. I have been attending only since 1995 as it was just too expensive as a student. 

This year, it was in Ottawa, Canada's capital. The conference switches sides of the Atlantic every year, but since 2001, it is not possible to hold it in USA because some delegates can not or will not travel to the US. That said, Canada is a great place to go to, though VB is starting to run out of likely venues. 

There were no real eye-openers in the presentations I saw, but there was a constant flow of useful snippets of information. Luckily, my talk was the first after the keynote, so I could enjoy the rest of the conference. 

The real value of this conference, as with nearly every one, is the networking one does. I had quite a few hallway chats with delegates and speakers, and I've come to realize that these chats are what makes the industry function. It builds trust in an industry where misplaced trust could be dangerous. 

What I really noticed this year was that photography seems to be a very popular hobby. I've put my own photos on pbase, but thought it might be fun to start a flickr vphoto group for the amateurs in the anti-virus industry. (I actually prefer pbase for more serious work, but more people are already on Flickr.)

So, not after four 18 hour days and too much food and alcohol, I'm in rehab mode. It was fun, but I'm glad there is only one VB conference a year.