Is this the way to Kensington Olympia?

London's Kensington is not the easiest way to find your way around, especially if you're being lured by all those tall multi-million pound Georgian buildings and the odd limousine gliding past.

And so one of my interviewees at Kensington Olympia's Linux Expo event had become delayed en route to the event, unable to find his way from the station through the numerous millionaires' pads.

Of course, it hadn't been a problem - he'd become surrounded by "a hundred men with beards", and thought he'd follow them.

True enough, he ended up at Linux World, a small yet thriving event focused on all varieties of open source promotion.

Quite entertaining it was too, and that wasn't just the exhibitors.

Co-location company Qube Networks probably topped the bill - not so much by its services, but by its team of Maori warriors who paraded the tightly packed exhibition hall performing the Haka at frequently randomly-picked opportunities.

Though a largely male-dominated event, it was easy to find the women - they were all near the men in short skirts.

Entertainment aside, news dribbled through from some of the main suppliers and IT services companies keen to expand legacy revenue with open source services.

IBM was busy pushing both desktop and server Linux, while HP boasted of its growing commercial success from supporting a variety of distributions.

And the launch of the National Open Centre is looking promising.

The Birmingham-based project, launched at the event, aims to encourage the uptake of everything non-proprietary.

Now that has to be a welcome change.