ICE FOSS 11 inaugurated

KOCHI: Free and Open Source Software is not  an alternative to proprietary software but it is in the mainstream, said K Anwar Sadath, Executive Director, IT@ School Project. He was inaugurating the Free and Open Source Software meet ‘ICE FOSS 11’ organised by the Computer Science department, FISAT Engineering College, Angamaly.He said that world class open source digital resources are developed and used in the education sector in India.Kerala is a role model to others in this regard. By using open source software, there is a saving of Rs 15 crore for the state treasury. During the Onam holidays, 10,000 students in the state will join IT mission to make animation movies with open source software. This is going to be a Guinness record, he said.FISAT chairman P V Mathew presided over the function. K V Sunderesan, C Sheela, U Mini, Pailo Paul, E K Raja Varma and J C Prasad spoke. An exhibition of academic projects developed by students using Open Source Software was held in connection with the event and evaluated by an expert team from TCS, Kochi. The two-day event includes technical talks by experts on Open Source Software, workshops and discussions.