"What's in a name?" asks Shakespeare's Juliet, and by all accounts, it expresses a sentiment that has been on the minds of the Australasian Linux community assembled in Hobart, Tasmania this week for linux.conf.au. In a Romeoesque move, conference organizers have vowed the annual event will deny its TLD and surmount its name, announcing that the 2010 conference will trade koalas for kiwis as it convenes in Wellington, New Zealand.

linux.conf.au is an internationally-known Linux conference, hosted annually by Linux Australia and the Australian Linux community in locations around (and outside) Australia. The 2010 event will be the second to venture beyond the country-that's-a-continent's shores — the conference was held in Dunedin, New Zealand in 2006. Linux Australia President Stewart Smith described the choice of venue as "an excellent location" for the conference, and had high praise for the organizers-to-be: "The Wellington team is dedicated, understands linux,conf.au and has a real passion to show us something really special in 2010."

According to the director of the organizing group — known as the "Capital Cabal" — the 2010 event is already well on its way, garnering support from groups including the New Zealand Open Source Society, InternetNZ, and Linux Chix, as well as Wellington's city council. The selected venue, the Wellington Convention Center, has been home to the city's Software Freedom Day events as well as the annual Webstock conference, and the 2006 ICANN Meeting.

The lovely and talented Jes Hall has been on the scene, covering this year's conference — which is likely wrapping up as we write this — for Linux Journal. You can read her continuing coverage — including why Linus may be going into the barber business — right here on LinuxJournal.com.