National Conference on Free Software 2010 - Day 1 Brief

Spirit of freedom was celebrated at Jnanajyoti Auditorium, by over 1500 participants. Over 1000 young students rubbed shoulders with IT professionals, academics, leaders from political/admin fields, free software movement activists from all walks of life. Positive energy was palpable with an overwhelming young audience. The occasion was inauguration ceremony of the third National Conference of Free Software Conference hosted by Free Software Movement Karnataka on Mar20.

Delivering the welcome address Prof. K Gopinath said that initially the free software was an academic concept and now is being accepted in different strata of society over about last 15 years. It is now seen that it is good for the industry and particularly in e-governance. Use of free software is indispensable for some of the major problems facing mankind (viz. Climate change, effective use of energy resources) for which large number of people should jointly work.

Dr. Prabhudeva, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University said the liberty that free software provides, gives a great advantage to the academics and e-governance. The Rs. 860 crores that are earmarked for e-governance in the 10th Five Year plan can be most effectively used with the free software, making things adaptable to changing needs at minimum cost. He said while Bill Gates has pledged $ 400 Million for computer literacy in India, there is also hidden agenda to create a secure market for the Microsoft in future. He also said that while copyright is well known, concept like copyleft which free software movement has thrown up made a fundamental contribution to the legal framework that promotes freedom.

In his inaugural speech, Professor Baragruru Ramachandrappa said the Free Software gives a means to challenge liberalization, which actually is liberty given to monopoly to exploit the masses ,as is done through proprietary software. The way the digital divide is being perpetuated is akin to untouchability. Strongly defending the Kannada localization project he said that such project will draw mass participation that will widen the base of education. It will also award the respect that all Indian languages deserve as national languages. He also said that Free Software Movement is like Bhakti religious movements against IT industry which is like Mutts (or organized religion).

Revealing Gartner prediction in 2007 that proprietary software will sink into oblivion by 2017, Sri Umashankar e-governance specialist and senior IAS official working with Tamilnadu government, said that unfortunately NASCOM is propagating that proprietary software should be promoted to protect Indian IT industry. What will happen when America changes for free software he asked? Narrating his experiences in implementing the e-governance scheme through free software, he said that with only 2500 cores invested in e-governance through free software (of 5 lakh crores annual union budget) about 25000 cores can be saved annually.

Prof. Ashok Thakur,VC West Bengal state university recalled that he as a biologist moved to free software very early and implemented it in the Jadhavpur University. He said that government of West Bengal is moving towards the e-governance and showed a brief video clip about implementation of e-literacy in a village school attended by poor section of society. Bengali localization program implemented through free software significantly changed the scenario.

Sri Kiran Chandra Convener of Swecha, Andhra Pradesh, traced the path of the free movement since its inception in India in1990s. The movement began with popularization of the concept of free software in the Indian academic field. Its first wider activity was through GNU/LINUX install fest in 1998 and the idea to launch localization projects followed soon after. In 2001 during Richard Stallman visit to India free software movement got further fillip. All India level consolidation discussion at the Asian Social forum 2003 and world social forum in 2004. Use of free software in public sector such as Geological Society of India, further strengthened it. Use of free software in e-governance in Tamilnadu, and Kerala policy of free software use in education & e-governance were notable victories of the movement. The first Nation Conference was held in 2007 at Hyderabad and second in 2008 at Kochi. Strategy for widening the access and user base of computer, opening to wider sections of society, addressing digital divide, lobbying for policy changes – are future directions charted out by Kiran Chandra.

A session on e-governance and Free Software that traced the experience, challenges and way forward shared by Umashankar, Govt of Tamilnadu, Asok Kumar Manoli and Ajay Adala of Govt. of Karnataka. Technical sessions on Python, Amazon Web Services and Migration to Free software were also held.