Avinash Joshi

When
NASA decided to build Mars Exploration Rovers at a cost of several
hundred million dollars, it chose free and open source software to
power the robots. Launched on the Martian surface in 2003, the rovers
are still going strong today. When Amrita decided to build a complex
ERP software solution for its 1300-bed specialty hospital AIMS, the
decision was taken to use a free and open source operating system and
database. Free and open source software (FOSS) is now a world-wide
movement; many computer companies are investing their resources to
support the effort.

For example, Sun Microsystems. Its operating system Solaris,
initially a proprietary product, is now open source. Amrita University
students have, in fact, contributed to the development of this product.
Abhilash TG, a final year B Tech student at Amrita was the first person
not employed by Sun to fix a bug in OpenSolaris’s Open High
Availability Cluster. Senior executives from Sun Microsystems and other
companies were in Amrita recently as resource persons and to
participate in FOSSTER 09, Amrita’s first national conference organized to promote the use of free and open source software and technologies.

Conceived
and organized by students, the conference had extensive support from
the Amrita faculty and administration. Nearly a hundred non-Amrita
delegates — students, faculty members and professionals from industry
– in addition to hundreds from Amrita, participated. “We wanted to
promote the awareness of FOSS and take steps to create a user base
competent in the use of this technology,” stated Avinash Joshi, the
student coordinator. Avinash will graduate with an engineering degree
from Amrita next year; he was the one to first float the idea about the
conference a few months ago. “I am happy that we have met these
objectives,” he added.

Invited speakers
included several eminent names from the FOSS community. The sessions
were organized in two parallel tracks — technology/education and
culture/society — and covered topics as varied as Linux, blogging, 3D
games, movie-making, Drupal. The keynote address on the inaugural day
by Mr. Nageshwara Rao, Sun’s Senior Site Director of its India
Engineering Center, underscored the importance of FOSS in students’
lives in terms of employability, becoming part of a vibrant community,
and learning and sharpening technical skills. The importance of FOSS in
the world of emerging technologies was also highlighted.

Most sessions were house-full,
delegates participated enthusiastically. “I learned so many new
concepts; I am inspired to develop new skills now,” said M. Sangeeta, B
Tech student from Bannariamman Institute of Technology in Tamil Nadu,
which sent nearly 90 student-delegates. “You all have done a great
job!” added Yadu Nand B, from College of Engineering, Trivadrum.
Several sessions were ‘taught’ by Amrita students and staff. These
included two demos on installation and customization of GNU/Linux and
doing everyday things with it; the sessions made migration to this
operating system look easy. A session on building websites using the
content management system, Drupal, was also conducted by Amrita
students.

Multiple
sessions on blogging were included. “I learned to blog late in my
life,” stated Mr. Chandrasekharan Nair, a retired jawan, now a farmer.
Mr. Nair helps other farmers through his blog; he publishes correct
rubber statistics and campaigns against genetically modified crops. “I
am glad I could attend his talk,” said Swapna Laxman, B Tech student.
“The talk was moving and inspirational. Mr. Nair’s experience proves
that age is not a bar for learning new technologies.” Additional
sessions on blogging were conducted by ‘Uncle’ Chandrakumar who
contributes to community service through his blogs, Anand Subramaniam,
a professional blogger and Arun Basil, a student, whose blogging has
brought him fame and fortune.

Apoorv
Singhal, a final year BBM student in Amrita, was the event manager for
this event. “I want to make my career in Event Management, I learnt a
lot from having the opportunity to plan for this event,” he shared.
“Initially there was a lot of turmoil but in the end, everything worked
out well; the conference was a big success.” “I am very happy with the
response to the conference,” added Dr. Sankaran, Principal of the
School of Engineering, the chief patron of this initiative of the
students. “The response exceeded our expectations. I am glad that the
students came forward with the idea and we were able to provide them
the needed support.”

For more information about the conference, please see http://foss.amrita.ac.in

Article: http://amrita.edu/news2009/events-news/d-march/fosster.php