Ubuntu Summit 26.04: connected by open source

What an incredible experience! Ubuntu Summit 26.04 has officially drawn to a close, but the energy from our global community is still buzzing – in the comments section, on social media, and in news reports. Whether you joined us in person or tuned in from across the globe, you helped make this edition our most interactive and connected summit yet.

A connected open source experience

This year, the remote community truly took the spotlight. The Ubuntu Discourse connected the wider community with the speakers, whilst the livestream brought thousands of eyeballs to both days. 

• Interactive engagement: The channels were constantly alive with energy: attendees drove the conversations in the live chats, asked insightful questions to the speakers, and shared valuable insights in the instant polls.
• Community fun: from online activities to photo threads, participants shared their viewing spaces and setups, welcoming everyone into their homes and local watch parties from every corner of the world.

Relive the magic: videos and music

With so many amazing presentations, picking favorites is difficult. If you don’t know where to start your binge watching marathon, here are five talks that got my brain tingling:

• Magi Board: Grégory Schiano brought an incredibly nerdy hardware project to the stage. He introduced us to a fully functioning cloud cluster that could fit in your pocket. In keeping with the theme of compactness, he delivered an amazing demonstration in a tight five minute lightning talk!
• Gleam and the value of small: A fascinating look at how an open source project can intentionally choose to stay small. Learn about the Gleam programming language, which takes a minimalist approach to everything: from syntax to tooling. This tight focus allows it to grow organically and foster a fantastic community.
• Building the “Internet Computer”: What initially sounded like a talk about streaming pixels turned out to be an entire operating system frontend, running directly in the browser. It is backed by a cloud native architecture that delivers absolutely incredible performance.
• Hands-on Meshtastic: This session showcased the power of decentralized, encrypted, open source long range, low power technology. Find out how a fallen tree in Oklahoma inspired our speaker, Jonathan Bennett, to get involved!
• Nvidia Earth 2: A brilliant look at how new AI technology can deliver highly accurate climate predictions while actually saving a tremendous amount of energy compared to incredibly demanding traditional methods.

If you missed a session or simply want to revisit your favorite moments, everything is ready for you:

• The complete playlist: Every single talk, from technical deep dives to lightning talks, is available on the Ubuntu Summit 26.04 YouTube playlist. Catch up on all the amazing sessions at your own pace.
• The summit soundtrack: Our dedicated Creative Commons music stream was a delightful experience. Check The CCMUSIC Music Stream (Day 1: May 27th) and The CCMUSIC Music Stream (Day 2: May 28th) on Lorenzo’s Music YouTube channel. Special thanks to all the artists involved in the amazing stream.

Looking ahead to Ubuntu Summit 26.10

The Ubuntu Summit 26.04 is a wrap, but the momentum does not stop here. We are already spinning up plans for our next grand gathering, and we want you to be a part of it. 

The call for proposals and event registration for the upcoming Ubuntu Summit 26.10 are already open. Submit your talk and register by visiting the Ubuntu Summit website today!

Thank you to our phenomenal speakers, our dedicated organizers, and every single attendee for bringing your passion and creativity to the summit. See you at the Ubuntu Summit 26.10!