raghuarr's blog

All good things come to an end, so has the National Conference on Free Software-2010, but not without overwhelming everyone involved with its results and by itself.

"Free Software, Free Society" was the mantra which echoed from every perspective of its applicability in the first day of the National Conference on Free Software-2010, Bengaluru.

With voices of eminent people inclined to, and affiliated to the Free Software Movement and its ideology reverberating in the auditorium, while they were substantiating each and every nuance pertaining to Swatantra Software, the inauguration couldn't be any better.

Conceptualized before less than three months, initially facing skepticism from every direction "National Conference on Free Software" is now a reality, which is happening from tomorrow at the Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, Bengaluru.

"Thiruvizha" was the word which was ringing in my head while witnessing today's run-up event, that of releasing the Kannada version of GNU/Linux operating system which we called "Namma Debian ". Thiruvizha is a Tamil word which stands for joyous celebration!

This was exactly how the atmosphere had metamorphosed in the Ambedkar Community Computing Centre or AC3, as we call it. AC3 is based in a small community of slum dwellers,adjoined to the establishments of the biggest IT players in the world. Here,computer and related skills are imparted to the local kids by enthusiasts from FSMK.

FSMK(Free Software Movement- Karnataka) is organizing the National Conference on Free Software, where issues pertaining to Freedom in Computing and the related Software are going to be discussed and debated in a week's time, on the 20th and 21st March. Campaigning for the Conference took a different shape today when Freedom Walks were organized starting from two nodal points in the city; One starting from Mahatma Gandhi statue on M.G. Road and the other from Jayanagar 4th Block.

This is one of the questions we at FSMK are trying to ask ourselves and throw the same at others. This question is of prime importance in today's scenario of socio-economic disparity. Genuine answers with pragmatic solutions have to be discussed and implemented to bring equality in the society.

Free Software Movement-Karnataka will be holding a National Conference by the end of March this year to portray the essence of a society interlinked with Free Software. This would be one of the means to demonstrate the larger goals we are striving towards-"Breaking the Knowledge Divide".

As our Conference will be touching upon the various facets of the society, we thought it best to involve the elite group from all sections of the society to fuel the run to the Conference by seeking their valuable inputs, efforts and resourceful help.