Advanced Topics Workshop (by invitation only) Friday, February 2, 2001, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm The conference will conclude with an Advanced Topics Workshop. Here smaller audiences can exchange in-depth technical information on a few position papers. No additional fee will be charged for registration. $20 per person will be collected at the workshop to help defray the cost of the luncheon. This one-day post-conference workshop is a platform for discussion about distributed inter-object communication- that is, the way in which a client obtains the services of a remote object. Since most commonly used mechanisms for distributed inter-object communication are variations on the well-known remote-procedure-call mechanism, we pose the question: Can we do better than the RPC? We want to develop the discussion starting with experiences in using well-known distributed object systems, languages, and middleware, and then envision what the future might hold in this area. Attendance at the workshop is limited to the attendees of the main technical program and is based on acceptance of a position paper. (Note that authors of technical papers in the regular conference are automatically invited to attend.) Position papers should briefly describe experiences, work in progress, and/or ongoing research and development in the topic area. A representative subset of authors of position papers may be invited to make informal presentations at the workshop. You are invited to submit a position paper (in ASCII text) of at most 3 pages to the Workshop Chair, Murthy Devarakonda, via email to coots01ATWchair@usenix.org. Submissions must be received by Dec. 1, 2000. Acceptance notices will be issued by Dec. 20, 2000. If you have any questions regarding the topic, especially if you are concerned whether your focus is relevant to the chosen topic, do not hesitate to send electronic mail to Murthy Devarakonda, coots01ATWchair@usenix.org.

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions (BoFs)
Wednesday Evening
Lead or attend a BoF! Meet with your peers! Present new work! Don't miss these special activities designed to maximize the value of your time at the conference. The always popular evening Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are very informal gatherings of persons interested in a particular topic. BoFs may be scheduled during the conference at the registration desk, or in advance by contacting the USENIX Conference Department by phone (1.510.528.8649) or by email (conference@usenix.org). BoFs are open to all attendees. Topics will be announced at the conference.

Social Activities
Meet the Conference speakers and connect with your peers in the community.
There will be a Welcome Reception Sunday evening, and a Conference Reception on Wednesday evening.