Kerala - Kochi

Free software group formed

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

COOPERATION IS KEY: A member of Indian Libre User Group, Kochi chapter, explaining computer hardware components at the expo held as part of the free software meet at VHSS, Irimpanam, on Friday.

Kochi: The ‘Swathanthra Software Sangamam’ (free software meet) at Vocational Higher Secondary School, Irimpanam, organised in collaboration with Indian Libre User Group (I-LUG), Kochi chapter, ended on Friday with the formation of a ‘free software collective (user group)’ at the school.

“The school-based collective will be a free thinkers’ forum where students, teachers and free software practitioners can mutually learn, collaborate and disseminate knowledge in a bid to create a free thinking society,” M.R. Sanal Kumar, programme coordinator, said.

Jay Jacob, I-LUG, Kochi, founding member, said free software was a means to arrive at a free society. “The collective rests on the principle of knowledge sharing,” he said. The meet, begun on May 25, had a four-day intensive workshop on programming using Python which was attended by students from different schools in the locality. A hardware expo conducted on Friday morning provided a peek into the internal components of computer hardware.

A quiz competition on free software on Friday had students participating with zeal. “Students’ response to the philosophy and practice of free software has been amazing.

“The success is prompting us to widen the scope of the next meet by encouraging schools in the neighbourhood to actively participate,” said Mr. Jacob.

Vimal Joseph of the Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE) presented a seminar on the ‘future of student community through free software’. M.I. Andrews, manager, VHSS, Irimpanam, presided over the closing function. V.A. Thampy, principal of the school, welcomed the gathering.

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