SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY07
From GluCki
Software Freedom Day is a global, grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of software freedom and the virtues and availability of Free and Open Source Software. Local teams from all over the world organise events on the third Saturday in September.The most recent event involved over 200 teams from all over the world. Software Freedom Day07. In this quest GLUG-NITH has also ventured to spread awareness about Free and Open Source Software amongst the masses either from or not from National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. On this day we plan to showcase the power and simplicity of Free and Open Source softwares with a focus on the underlying principles which led to their rise. Its a day to celebrate freedom. Its a day to celebrate the power of knowledge, a day to celebrate man's eternal quest to know the unknown. In short it is a day to have fun.
We are celebrating Software Freedom Day07 on 22nd September here in National institute of Technology,Hamirpur, owing to the first mid-term examinations which are between 17th and 19th September. In order to ensure that we can reach out to maximum possible people and to make them aware of Free Software this shift of dates have been done with consent of Software Freedom Day07 organisers.
Contents |
Events
1.Introductory session to Free Software and Open Source
An introductory lecture cum demo of a Free and Open Source Software will be held so as to make people aware of Free Software and what are their potentials, the philosophies behind their use and what it offers. It will be an attempt to create an awareness amongst people who have no idea about FOSS or those who are quite not sure how to go about it. The basic objective of the demonstrations will be to show that how Free Softwares are not only an alternative but a better alternative to proprietary software. It aims to show how one can use Free Softwares to do whatever they can do with proprietary softwares. The introductory session includes talks from people who have been using Free Softwares and how they got hooked onto it. It also includes the problems they faced and most of all WHY THEY USE IT. The talk include people from all walks of life i.e. developers, end-users, students, teachers. It promises to be a highly interactive session and is not an usual presentation and talk. Its a place to know and have fun.
2. Python Programming Workshop
Python is a dynamic object oriented programming language which is mostly used for rapid application development. In today's world Python is an indispensable language if one is to mark his stamp in the digital world. The greatest feature of this language is ease of learning so that one can learn it in a few hours. In fact in HBCSE Dr. Nagarjuna G. , the chairman of Free Software Foundation, India had taught a group of 20 students about Python programming in 1 hour and then had a hands on programming workshop. Believe it or not the students were in standard 11. So we plan the workshop on similar lines where we will first teach the essentials of the language and we will provide tutorial sheets as well for reference.Then, we will have a hands on coding contest. Believe me, once you learn Python you will hardly be seen programming in other languages.
3.GCC/GDB/GMake Workshop
For all the C programmers and enthusiasts who want to know how does a .c code ultimately end up as the browser in which you are reading this page or the player which plays your music or the endless applications which help you in computing, this workshop explains the vagaries of compiler, debugger and linking tools which work behind the scene. What do the developers use? What tools can I use? All this will be explained in this workshop. The standard ANSI compliant tools which help you to debug and compile your code will be explained with demonstrations how to use them so that you can get the raw power of Free Software. Its time to explore the GNU Compiler Collection, GNU Project debugger, GNU Make.
Mind it, its not only about C programs, the tools support C++,Objective-c,Fortran,Ada.
When,Where,Why
When
We are a registered team with the Software Freedom Day organisers for this year's celebrations. Its a big event. Please be a part of it.Its a time to celebrate freedom. Freedom was never easy but it comes easy to you on September 22nd. We are celebrating Software Freedom for the first time. Its a global effort. Come join in with us.
Where
We will put up posters intimating the time and place for the different events but they will be centred mostly around Computer Science Department. More regular updates and discussions are done in mailing list. Subscribe to it if you want to know more about GLUG activities and have problems with GNU/Linux softwares or for other related discussions. Discussions on SFD are also held there so to be a part subscribe there.
Why
The World is celebrating freedom. Do you want to be left out of it?? The only price you pay is the effort you put in to land up at the venue
Free Stuff
On that day we will also be handing out Ubuntu 7.04 cds to whosoever is interested, alongwith some shiny stickers and balloons. If you are a Windows user and are reluctant to use GNU/Linux do come along on 22nd September, hear and see the talks and in case you want to try out Free Software we have some Open Cds with Free Software programs which will run on your Windows machine. After using them you can yourself decide if you want to install GNU/Linux distros.
Let's celebrate freedom. Let's get on with it.
Its freedom for all and its free both as in freedom and as in Free Beer
