Software Freedom Kosova Conference

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Prishtina Hosts Second International Conference on Software Freedom


For the second year running the Kosovar Association for Free/Libre and
Open Source Software
(FLOSSK) and the University of Prishtina are organizing a conference
dedicated to free software - Software Freedom Kosova Conference
2010.

This conference follows upon the success of SFK09 held in August last
year attended by more than 500 participants and over 40 national and
international speakers and professionals.

SFK10 will take place on 25 and 26 September starting at 9:00 in the
venues of the
Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of
Prishtina. This year the conference will host several notable hacker
keynotes.

Leon Shiman will speak on the use of FLOSS in public administration;
Rob Savoy of Gnash project will talk about network protocols; Mikel
Maron will speak on the geopolitical use of open maps and Peter Salus,
historian of operating systems, will lecture on the history of
development of GNU/Linux.

Overall, over 20 topics will be discussed, ranging from issues associated with the Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia, GNU/Linux, intellectual property licenses, building of communities, OpenStreetMap, Sugar, and many other topics in the field of free software.

Topics to be discussed and the quality of lecturers, along with the success of last year's conference make SFK10 the largest conference of its kind in Southeast Europe.

The conference is held under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo and is supported by a number of donors from whom it is worth mentioning: the Ministry of Energy and Mining, Mozilla, Rrota, PC World Albanian and the University of Prishtina Student Center.

The conference is free to participants during the two days. The presentations and detailed information on the conference can be found at www.kosovasoftwarefreedom.org
 

Annual conference of the software in UP

Starting this year, every year at the University of Pristina will be organized annual conferences in the field of computer science.

University of Pristina and "Kosovo Organization for free and open software " (FLOSS Kosovo) have signed on Wednesday (04.06.2009) an agreement.

For more information about the agreement, please read it as PDF-Format or JPG-Format:

http://www.kosovasoftwarefreedom.org/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=viewcategory&catid=2&Itemid=59

http://www.kosovasoftwarefreedom.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=8&Itemid=73
 

Group Establishes Kosovo FLOSS Organization

Will organize first Kosovo Software Freedom Conference

05.10.2009 – For Immediate Release

(May 10, 2009) Prishtina – A group of Kosovo Free Software enthusiasts established last week the Kosovo Free/ Libre/ Open Source Software (FLOSS Kosovo) organization. The organization aims to promote Free and Open Source Software and knowledge in the newborn South East European country of Kosovo. It will do this by providing essential infrastructure and organizational framework for the support and development of open knowledge and software projects and other endeavors which serve this mission.

 

Flakron Bytyqi, President of FLOSS Kosovo, says, "open standards are key to the development of a country such as Kosovo. We are not inventing anything, but joining a global movement and applying proven models to the local situation."


The keystone event of the organization is an annual Software Freedom conference (on the web at http://kosovasoftwarefreedom.org) to be held for the first time on August 29-30, 2009 in Prishtina, Kosovo. Its goal is to showcase local and global speakers and software developers to a regional audience. Conference proceedings will be conducted in English, Albanian, Serbian, German and Turkish. Topics discussed will include Free Software, Open Source, collaborative content such as Wikipedia, and Voice over IP.


The group has found plenty of support in the local industry and is working in securing more participation from global companies and sister organziations. Some of those who have already expressed interest to speak at the conference are representatives from Sun Microsystems, Mozilla, Pilot Systems, and Google Summer of Code.


The organization is non-governmental and non-profit according to the relevant laws in force in Kosovo. People contributing to the projects come from the local industry, academia and free software enthusiasts.


The founder of FLOSS Kosovo, James Michael DuPont, is an American living in Gemany who will soon marry a Kosovar woman. He tells me “the youth spending time in internet cafes should be writing software instead. Instead of playing Counter Strike, they should be editing the Wikipedia.”


Kosovo is a country of 2.1 million inhabitants with an area the size of Connecticut. Seventy percent of the population is under 35 and 25 percent is in some way involved in the education system. GDP per person is only around $1500 and high unemployment is a problem for the youth. Despite this, its population remains highly motivated and the capital Prishtina offers some of the best nightlife and restaurants in this corner of Europe.


For more information, contact FLOSS Kosovo Spokesman Arianit Dobroshi, Tel: +377-44-905-647 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it