In tech circles, Washington state may be best known as Microsoft’s stomping grounds -- but it’s also home to a thriving community of people devoted to Linux and other open-source programs. That community is gathering Saturday and Sunday in Bellingham for one of its big annual events: LinuxFest Northwest, now in its 10th year.

Just don’t ask how many people will be there. Admission is free, there’s no need to register in advance, and conference organizers haven’t made a habit of tracking attendance in years past.

“I wish I could tape some of the meetings where we’re discussing this, because there are people who say, ‘No we don’t care -- we really don’t care how many people,’ ” said Carl Symons of the Bellingham Linux Users Group, which organizes the event. He laughed as he explained the logic: “If you want a number, then this isn’t the place for you.”

Welcome to the world of open-source software.

LinuxFest Northwest this year offers a deep schedule of sessions on topics ranging from cloud computing and open-source farming to Linux host intrusion detection systems and the physics of computer security. And there will be plenty talk about in the hallways, following Oracle's agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems and Canonical's release of a new Ubuntu Linux version, "Jaunty Jackalope."

Over the years, the event has reflected the growing acceptance of Linux on PCs. Although there’s still plenty of content for hard-core geeks interested in back-end systems and underlying Web technologies, the conference also attracts everyday users who want to explore the possibility of replacing Windows with Linux on their PCs.

“We’re seeing a lot more people who are interested in the desktop,” said John Blanford, one of the founders of the Bellingham Linux Users Group. That's one of the reason the conference offers a running tutorium, with experts to help people get going.

For now, at least, the competition on personal computers isn’t exactly fierce. Although Linux is commonplace on servers nowadays, and user-friendly versions such as Ubuntu Linux have helped matters on PCs, Microsoft’s operating system still dominates the desktop.

Windows is also achieving new traction on “netbooks” – the small, Web-oriented portable computers that had been a big Linux success story. Microsoft recently cited figures showing its market share on netbooks surging in the past year to more than 90 percent in the United States.

That isn’t stopping the community from thinking big. One of the sessions at this year’s LinuxFest Northwest is, “How Free and Open Source Software will have World Domination,” to be led by open-source legend Jon “Maddog” Hall, executive director of Linux International.

The strength of the open-source community in the Pacific Northwest isn’t surprising in other ways. Linux creator Linus Torvalds is based in Portland. Microsoft itself also dabbles in open-source software.

Even with Microsoft’s big presence in the region, it makes sense that open-source communities are thriving in a part of the world so oriented to technology, said Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier, community manager for openSUSE, an open-source operating system built on the Linux kernel. 

“If anything, looking over your shoulder and seeing Microsoft on the horizon is kind of inspiring,” he said. “They’re a reminder of the competition.”

But never let it be said that the open-source community is stuck in its ways. After considerable debate, LinuxFest Northwest organizers will be taking a different approach this year on a key issue. Explained Symons, “We are doing some things to get a better count this year."