IDG World Expo, the leading producer of world-class tradeshows and events around the globe, has announced that Billy Marshall, founder and CEO of rPath, will be speaking on a panel alongside the company’s co-founder and CTO Erik Troan at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo. This year’s annual event is taking place August 6-9, 2007 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The theme for the conference is “Open Source is Everywhere,” and the show will feature a strong spotlight on key areas that demonstrate the widespread acceptance of Linux and open source, including virtualization. Marshall and Troan’s panel, “The End of the General Purpose OS,” will be held Thursday, August 9, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

During this panel, Marshall and Troan will provide insight on virtualization's impact on the software industry, as well as discuss why they think the general purpose operating system will soon be a thing of the past -- giving way to virtual appliances. As more companies embrace virtualization and its associated business benefits, the bloated, general purpose operating system becomes an impediment to achieving maximum value from investments in virtual infrastructure.

As an additional incentive, one lucky panel attendee will win an Apple iPhone to be given away at the end of the session to the person who assembles the best “rPath Hold’em” poker hand. rPath will be “dealing” cards at rPath events and at its booth during LinuxWorld. The best hand will be determined at the conclusion of the panel session based on three community cards and two cards from the attendee’s hand. Attendees are encouraged to collect as many rPath playing cards as possible to maximize their odds of winning the widely-acclaimed and groundbreaking iPhone. For complete details on the rPath Hold'em Showdown visit www.rpath.com/poker.

In addition, Troan will also be giving a tutorial entitled “Best Practices for Building a Virtual Appliance” at the Next Generation Data Center, held in conjunction with LinuxWorld. Troan’s tutorial will take place on August 6, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Moscone Center North.

LinuxWorld is the premier event for the Linux and open source community, bringing together industry leaders shaping the future of new enterprise technology in the largest single gathering of business and technical leaders deploying Linux and open source solutions. Attendees can register for a free exhibit hall pass to the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo on or before August 5, 2007 at www.linuxworldexpo.com/register. Exhibit hall passes are $50 thereafter. The pass provides attendees with access to the keynote addresses, feature presentations, birds-of-a-feather meetings and the exhibit hall floor.