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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's run-up to set up India's free software hub has got going this week with the International Free Software Conference, starring none less than Free Software guru Richard Stallman and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The meet is to be held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 9 to December 11.
The three-day conference, organised by Free Software Community and Kerala government, also runs an exhibition named "Freedom Expo 2008".
"The development of free software is important as it will symbolise the crusade again monopolisation of knowledge," Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan said.
The state government has proposed to open a "Centre of excellence" to integrate the activities of free software developers in the global arena. For this Kerala government had also signed an MoU with Red Hat Inc. Kerala is one of the few Indian states that has been well into promoting free software in its E-Governence initiatives and IT@School Project.
In an national meet on free software organised by CUSAT (Cochin University of Science and Technology) last month, a declaration was adopted. The resolutions included procurement of free software by government or government organisations/undertakings, appeal to the Centre to issue a white paper on the implications of financial crisis in the IT sector in India, and on appeal to the UGC, Centre and state governments to use free software both in curriculum framework and research. In three southern states, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, six universities had agreed to collaborate for the furtherance and development of free software.
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