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Thursday October 29, 2009

A vision becomes reality

By LESTER KONG


Open Source philosophy fosters environments where people readily exchange knowledge and willingly share innovations as a way to develop skills for the betterment of humankind.

THE public is invited to learn more about how Open Source Software development can bring benefits to both the public and private sectors at the third Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSS­CON).

MyGOSSCON 2009, to be officiated by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon on Nov 5, will be attended by high-profile government officials, CEOs from the private sector and closed by the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan and executives from local and international organisations.

Opening on Nov 4 to 6 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, MyGOSSCON 2009 promises to wow participants and visitors with its large repertoire of speakers who are experts in policy-making and development of open source software (OSS) in both the public and private sectors.

This year’s conference themed “Leveraging OSS to Ride the Econo­mic Wave” will also showcase a myriad OSS opportunities and benefits using plenary and track sessions, exhibitor booths, OSS community forums, competitions and other informative and entertaining events to stimulate participant imagination.

In 2004, the Government of Malaysia began its OSS journey with a clear mandate, a master plan and the resolve to encourage OSS adoption throughout public sector agencies, schools, colleges, universities, private sector organisations, and all social layers to reduce the digital divide.

By 2009 the number of government agencies adopting and implementing OSS products and services has grown to 546 from 50 in 2004.

At the same time, migration to Op­e­n­­Office.org by government ag­e­ncies as the office productivity suite of choice has increased some 20-fold.

Unlike conferences in 2007 and 2008, whose primary beneficiaries were public sector agencies, MyGOSSCON 2009 will also reach beyond the government sector to engage private sector entities, chambers of commerce, educational institutions, and Malaysia’s social fabric to nurture and expand OSS communities to further enhance the “OSS Ecosystem”.

Using OSCC eMarketPlace as its core, this collaborative network optimises resources and expertise from each community in a complementary manner to encourage people to learn and develop skills, to promote competition, creativity and innovation, to share and exchange knowledge and ideas, and to advance OSS communities to be stronger, larger and improved.

“Open source philosophy fosters learning environments where people readily exchange knowledge and ideas, and willingly share innovations as a way to develop expertise and skills for the betterment of humankind and to improve quality of life.

“MyGOSSCON 2009 sets out to capture and embody the true energy of OSS and its vibrant communities, and in so doing, instil open source’s spirit of sharing and innovation in conference participants,” said the Malaysian Administrative Moder­nisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) deputy director for ICT policy and planning Tan King Ing.

MAMPU is the overaching agency in charge of the Government’s Open Source Competency Centre (OSCC).

MyGOSSCON 2009 is the brain-child of MAMPU and co-organised by Multimedia Development Corp­oration Sdn Bhd and National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) in cooperation with Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM), Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM), and Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI), with support by the Malaysian Open Source Comm­unity.

The conference will feature many events over the three-day conference, such as keynote and track sessions, OSS Showcase exhibition, Lightning Talks and the ‘Birds of a Feather’ cocktail.

Spurring the competitive spirit on are the Best Exhibitor Awards, OSS Case Study Awards, 24-Hour OSS Web Development Contest and the OpenOffice.org Competition.

“During Days Two and Three, conference participants will have access to no less than eight sessions, offering insights and opinions from notable industry and community luminaries from diverse cross-sections of local and international locations such as Australia, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Ger­many, Sudan and USA,” said Tan.

She noted that over two days and eight sessions, 45 papers will be deli­vered covering government, business and technology.

One of the many qualified speakers during the eight sessions is Michael Tiemann, touted as a true OSS pioneer whose work led to world-leading open source technologies and formed the first open source business model.

Currently, Tiemann also serves as the chief technology officer of Red Hat, a leading supplier of Linux and OSS as well as on the board of various bodies such as the Open Source InitiativeTM, the Embedded Linux Consortium, the Jabber Technical Advisory Board, the GNOME Foun­dation Advisory Board, and of Activ­eState Tool Corp.

OSS Showcase exhibitions comprise at least 40 booths dedicated to public and private sector exhibitors displaying OSS products and services which are relevant in today’s global economic environment.

“The Lightning Talk” is an informal session which allows participants to share and put forth ideas, thoughts and observations on particular areas of interest on OSS-related subjects within the span of a few minutes using short presentations or talks, and is open to those registered for this segment.

The “Birds of a Feather” cocktail, guided by OSS communities, is organised specifically for informal gatherings where participants come together to discuss shared interests, aiming to facilitate networking and partnership opportunities,” Tan said, adding that competitive spirit abounds at MyGOSSCON 2009 with no less than 4 competitions.

“Best Exhibitor Award” goes to that ONE showcase exhibit capturing hearts and minds of judges, as well as attracting excitement and interest of conference participants.

“OSS Case Study Awards” provides opportunities for Public Sector agencies and Public Higher Education Institutions (IPTA) to display their OSS projects for local and international audiences, with 2 winners emerging from 6 finalists,” she said.

New in MyGOSSCON 2009 is “24-hour Open Source Web Application Development Contest 2009” designed to challenge and benefit Malaysia’s open source web application development skills, to promote growth of local OSS web application communities, and to encourage students to participate in developing open source web applications to prepare them to meet OSS and ICT Industry needs.

This team event, limited to 5 members per team, is open to Malaysia’s programmers, developers and ICT wannabes, with each team developing a simple generic open source web application within 24 consecutive hours.

“The 24-Hour OSS Web Application Development Contest has received participation from 25 teams consisting 104 Malaysian developers working in the Public Sector, Private Sector and also students from Insti­tutes of Higher Learning.

“Eight of them will be short-listed to take the programming challenge for 24 hours continuously at PICC on 4-5 November.”

Another new competition this year is “OpenOffice.org Competition” appropriately themed “1Malaysia - People First, Performance Now”.

Open to Putrajaya primary school Level II students (Standard 4 - 6), this competition is organised in collaboration with Ministry of Education (MOE) to stimulate student OSS awareness and interest, to encourage students to use OpenOffice.org, and to recognise and reward students for their talent and creativity using open source technology.

Groups comprise 1 - 3 students plus advisor who will compete by preparing and delivering innovative and meaningful presentations based on the “1Malaysia” theme.

Not surprising, the responses from all quarters to attend this event are overwhelming with admission free for Government agencies, RM250 for members of PIKOM, Chambers of Commerce and MSC-status companies, RM350 for others, and especially for 1st 50 students registering – a special admission price of RM50.

For complete information, please visit MyGOSSCON 2009’s website at mygosscon.oscc.org.my/2009/.

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