FOSS.IN/2008 starts tomorrow

This is it, folks, your last heads-up: FOSS.IN/2008, India’s best known, much awaited, Free and Open Source Software event, begins tomorrow morning (Tuesday, 25th November), at the National Science Symposium Center (JN Tata Auditorium), Indian Institute of Science (aka Tata Institute), in Bangalore, and goes on till Saturday, the 29th of November.

Tomorrow morning’s opening keynote is by Ueber-hacker Harald Welte, on how to do embedded Linux right, and the closing keynote on Saturday is by none other than our very own Kalyan Varma, who will show how his FOSS activities helped him achieve a larger goal in life.

Between the two, there is a jam-packed schedule of talks and WorkOuts, a FOSS expo that shows some of the community’s projects, any number of impromptu meetings, nose-rubbings, hail-fellow-well-met and any number of joyful community gatherings, all over the venue.

And on Friday, we have the largest-ever collection of Linux Kernel Hackers ever assembled in India, with a whole day dedicated to understanding the latest and greatest happenings in the Linux Kernel, and interacting with some of the most important contributors there are – and becoming a part of their world.

This year is special, because for the first time ever, a FOSS event in India attempts to go beyond the usual advocacy and politics, and will actually attempt to produce results. Real results – code the world can use.

Because this year, FOSS.IN is all about the code, all about recognising the fact that FOSS is about Free and Open Source Software and that the software freedom we seek comes out of improving the code.

So head for FOSS.IN, people. If you are into Free and Open Source Software, if you dig the community that has grown around it, if you want to make a difference, or simply interact with the best there are – this is where you want to be.

Make sure you bring your notebooks/netbooks/tablets, wifi adaptor functioning. Because at this event, you don’t just watch – you participate. Watch this video to learn more.

Have a good time. You earned it.