FOSS Meet @ NITC

The recent Free And Open Source Software (FOSS) Meet we conducted recently at NIT Calicut was a shout-out to the world that the Free and Open source world is growing up into a movement of international scale, and sooner or later India would turn over completely to FOSS for its IT industry base. FOSS Meet@ NITC 07 took place on March 2nd to 4th, and proved to be 3 days of absolute entertainment and a learning experience at the same time..

As the Chief Minister Of Kerala couldnt make it to the event, the Director of NRC FOSS Dr.C.N.Krishnan was the chief guest of the event. He gave interesting examples showing the importance and emergence of FOSS. The Eye-Opener was when he mentioned discussion with the Director of NITC on inclusion of FOSS in Academics! Imagine studying FOSS as an elective..

The meet was glamorised by the presence of prominent personalities from all over India from the Open source world and beyond. Atul Chitnis from Geodesic, whose keynote address on 'FOSS in Career' went through in grand style..

Quotes like "Ask not what you can do for your country,but ask.. Whats for lunch..." and "..Your country can wait, gentlemen,Leave the country and focus on yourself.." etc. definitely caught audience interest..not to mention his eerie one-word slides...

The second talk on the opening day by Kiruba Shankar on blogging saw a record fully-packed Aryabhatta hall..despite being a post-dinner late-night session..
The second and third day went through in similar fashion with more than 30 talks touching on several areas of Free and Open Source software.. Delegates were understandably confused on which talks to attend, with three parallel sessions going on at the same time..

The dinner at Mamachans with the speakers and the late night discussion on all sorts of topics from girls to toilets was another highlight of the event, and gave us organisers a change too..
The event was less of a talk and more of an entertaining get-together for the speakers, volunteers and delegates alike.. Some quotes on FOSS..

"You guys treat us so well..Hospitality in the free and open source world aint so great..The food tastes great too.." - Vivek Khurana,speaker at FOSS

"I think every laugh at this place will be a learning experience to all.."-Delegate Teacher from a nearby college

"I give a big thumbs up to the spirit and the enthusiasm of the students.The organizers,all students,showed phenomenal passion and zeal.The hospitality was near perfect.There was always someone to take care of our needs..This is good college publicity, you must be paid for it.." - Kiruba Shankar

"I feel content about being at FOSS.NITC and I'm very much looking to be there next year too.."- Parthan, speaker at FOSS

Our Help (Less) Desk at work

Our sponsors were: Principal sponsor was IT Kerala Mission, Platinum sponsor- Tata Consultancy Services, Gold Sponsor IBM, Silver sponsors Wipro and Indian Oil Servo, and communication partner Idea Networks. We thank them for their support and cooperation.

(Also see.. Venky and Monster blogs on FOSS)

The finale was another very happening talk on blogging by India's top blogger Kiran Jace.. it too saw a packed Chanakya hall..
The 'prize distribution' and informal valedictory function..where the organisers, speakers and delegates had an equally fun time...

See ya all at FOSS @ NITC 08 !!