*SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY `07*
Free Software/Open Source's have been silent achievers over the last few
years. They are gaining momentum now due to growing popularity and awareness
among individuals to start a drive against proprietary products. As a
commemoration to this ode, Jaya FOSS Club (JFC) celebrated *SOFTWARE FREEDOM
DAY *on September 14 th at Jaya Engineering college premises. More than 650
participants took part in various events conducted on that day.
*Richard M.Stallman, *Founder of GNU Project and Free Software Foundation *sent
the following message:*
*"The students of **Jaya** **Engineering** **College** are fortunate that
you are holding an event that will teach them about the ethics of free
software: about the freedoms that they and all software users are entitled
to.
Teaching the use of computers and the writing of programs is not enough: the
most important subject in computing is that of the freedom that users should
have. Every citizen of cyberspace needs to appreciate and understand
freedom. Every school should teach its students this, but most schools do
not. By holding this event, you begin to fill this gap in the curriculum.
In the future, the school should add this subject to the coursework, and
give every student
practical experience of living in freedom by migrating all the school's
computers to free software*
*Yours in freedom,
Richard Stallman.**" ***
The event was presided over my *Prof. Dr.C.N.Krishnan*, Director, AU-KBC
Research Center & Coordinator NRCFOSS, MIT-Anna University. His valuable
address on the importance of freedom and applications being available on
open domain was an eye-opener to students. In order to involve greater
participation and inspiration, the proceedings of the day were kept open to
students from all departments and also from all colleges across the city.
Prior to this event banners were put up all over the college etching out
slogans in favor of Open source and also throwing light upon the basic
misconceptions that one perceives with regard to open source. With an aim to
propagate and also motivate students towards this realm, an array of events
were held ranging from Technical Talk to online quiz and banner design.
A very lively group discussion was also arranged for on the topic "Free
software vs. Proprietary products ". *T.Shrinivasan* of the ILUGC (Indian
Linux User Group-Chennai) also participated and shared their time and
thoughts with us.
We also plan to conduct a "FREE SOFTWARE DEMO DAY" during 1st & 2nd February
2008. We expect a similar support from ILUGC for making the event a grand
success.
Every participant was given a complimentary CD containing a few basic open
source applications. ISO image of many distributions were also available
with us which were given to those approached us. Students were awarded with
merit certificates and trophies alongside participation certificates to
encourage them.
--
sriram s
vice president
Jaya FOSS Club