Biggest ever Local Software Freedom Day event slated tomorrow

One Nation, Unity for Software Freedom: Software Freedom Day 2008

The biggest ever grassroots event for free and open source software (FOSS) in the Philippines will be held tomorrow starting 8:30 am, September 20, 2008 at the University of Makati. Together with over 500 teams in 90 countries around the world aiming to introduce software freedom to all, the Philippine celebration will be marked by simultaneous events from Luzon to Mindanao and will be simulcast over the internet.

The registration booths will open at 8:00 am and the celebration will go on throughout the day until 5:00 pm. The morning plenary discussion in Makati will cover an introduction on what is open source software, its use in everyday computing and the Open Source bill filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino in Congress.

A board member of the coordinating body of the global celebrations, Software Freedom International, Mr. JM Bitangca of the UnPLug will be gracing the event. Breakout sessions will be held in parallel in the afternoon on varied topics such as FOSS for education, for NGOs and advocacy organizations, for developers as well as FOSS for internet cafes and small business.

Aside from the affair in University of Makati, there will also satellite events in the University of Santo Tomas and PUP Taguig in
Metro Manila and regional events in the Holy Angel University in Angeles, and the Mindanao State University in Marawi. The event is expected to bring in more than 2000 advocates and enthusiasts all over the country in line with this year's call of "One Nation: Unity for Software Freedom." A phone patch and internet video streaming will be available to connect these regional events together during the open forum.

The latest versions of free operating systems and applications can be copied and written on a CD on site. There will also be fun games with exciting prices as well as t-shirts proclaiming software freedom for sale during the event. High quality free software will be available for computers in the office and at home. There will even be well-polished games for the gaming enthusiasts.

In 2007, over 330 teams all over the world celebrated Software Freedom Day. Last year's activity was attended by more than two hundred enthusiasts in Manila and was marked by other regional events. Attendance in this year's event is expected to increase due to the participation of more schools and groups working to make the event successful.

The Software Freedom Day 2008 Team is composed of the Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) in cooperation with University of Makati (UMAK) - Computer Society together with TXTPower, PHP User Group Philippines (PHPUGPH), Joomla! Users Group Philippines (JUG-PH), Philippine Ruby Users Group (PhRUG), Drupal User Group Philippines, Adobe User Group Philippines, Mindanao Bloggers, Angeles City Linux Users Group (ACGLUG), Internet Cafe Association of Imus (ICAII), University of the Philippines - Linux Users Group (UnPLUG), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) - Taguig, Mindanao State University (MSU) - Marawi City, Bayan Muna and the Office of Rep. Teddy Casino.

Software Freedom Day is a yearly celebration of software freedom and a day for educating the public on the importance of an affordable software alternative especially for a third world country like the Philippines. Information about the Software Freedom Day event in the Philippines can be found at http://www.sfdphil.org . Sponsored by Globe, Hubnob, Scenovia, Web.com.ph, Stratpoint Technologies and Sysandsoft, Software Freedom Day 2008 will be a day of fun with giveaways and information.

Those who cannot attend the event but would like to view the live video broadcast may do so using VLC player thru the URL - http://live.hubnob.com/sfd or view it thru the SFD Phil. Website - http://www.sfdphil.org/wicast

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