FOSS.IN, previously known as Linux Bangalore, was an annual

free and open source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

(FOSS) conference, held in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from 2001 to 2012. From 2001 to 2004, it was known as Linux Bangalore, before it took on a new name and wider focus. During its lifetime, it was one of the largest FOSS events in Asia, with participants from around the world. It focused on the technical and software side of FOSS, encouraging development and contribution to FOSS projects from India. The event was held every year in late November or early December.

History

Linux Bangalore

Linux Bangalore
was India's premier Free and Open Source Software event, held annually in

. It featured talks, discussions, workshops, round-table meetings and demonstrations by Indian and international speakers, and covered a diverse spectrum of Linux and other FOSS technologies, including kernel programming, embedded systems, desktop environments, localization, databases, web applications, gaming, multimedia and community and user group development. First held in 2001, the event saw the participation of thousands of delegates and replicated its success i
20022003
an
2004
Linux Bangalore was a community-driven event, conceived, planned and built by the free and open source community of India, and Facilitation (business), facilitated by the Bangalore Linux User Group. The event was very popular among software developers as reflected heavily by the demographics of participants. At the conclusion of LB/2004, it was announced that name of the event would change and the scope would expand to cater to a wider range of topics. On August 12, 2005, it was announced that the name of the event would be changed to FOSS.IN.

FOSS.IN

While the Linux Bangalore conferences focused around Linux, FOSS.IN broadened the scope to all free and open source software technologies. It was founded by Atul Chitnis.

FOSS.IN/2005

FOSS.IN/2005
was held from November 29 to December 2, 2005, at the

Bangalore Palace Bangalore Palace is a royal palace located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, in an area that was owned by Rev. J. Garrett, the first principal of the Central High School in Bangalore, now famous as Central College. The commencement of the cons ...

. It had 2751 participants, with more than 140 speakers presenting more than 180 talks, workshops, tutorials and BOFs. International speakers included Alan Cox,

Harald Welte Harald Welte, also known as LaForge, is a German programmer. Welte is the founder of the free software project Osmocom and was formerly involved in the netfilter/iptables and Openmoko projects. He is a member of the Chaos Computer Club. Bi ...

Jonathan Corbet LWN.net is a computing webzine with an emphasis on free software and software for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It consists of a weekly issue, separate stories which are published most days, and threaded discussion attached to ever ...

Rasmus Lerdorf Rasmus Lerdorf (born 22 November 1968) is a Danish-Canadian programmer. He co-authored and inspired the PHP scripting language, authoring the first two versions of the language and participating in the development of later versions led by a gro ...

, Danese Cooper and Volker Grassmuck, among others.

FOSS.IN/2006

FOSS.IN/2006
was held from November 24 to 26, 2006, at National Science Symposium Centre of the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

, India. The sponsors included Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

), Sun Microsystems,

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, db4objects,

Wipro Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing directo ...

, ABB India, CDAC among others. For the first time in the history of the event, the inaugural keynote address was delivered by an Indian developer, Suparna Bhattacharya

of IBM. Other speakers included

, KDE develope
Aaron Seigo

Russ Nelson Russell Nelson (born March 21, 1958) is an American computer programmer. He was a founding board member of the Open Source Initiative and briefly served as its president in 2005. Career Nelson wrote code for some programs: In 1983, he co-wrote ...

Andrew Cowie
Christof Wittig of db4objects,

, German kernel exper
Christoph Hellwig
Sulamita Garcia of

LinuxChix LinuxChix is a women-oriented Linux community. It was formed to provide both technical and social support for women Linux users, although men are encouraged to contribute. Members of the community are referred to as "a Linux chick" (singular) and "L ...

Frederick Noronha Frederick Noronha (born 23 December 1963) in São Paulo, Brazil is a journalist based in Saligão in the Bardez taluka of Goa. He is active in cyberspace and involved with e-ventures involving Goa, developmental concerns and free software. No ...

, Sunil Abraham of

IOSN The International Open Source Network has as its slogan "software freedom for all". It is a Centre of Excellence for free software (also known as FLOSS, FOSS, or open-source software) in the Asia-Pacific region. IOSN says it "shapes its activities ...

an
Sirtaj Singh Kang

2007-2012

From 2007 to 2010, the event continued to be held in late November or early December at various venues in

. 2010 was billed as the last FOSS.IN event, and there was no event in 2011; but it was returned for one more year in 2012, which organizers again stated was the last FOSS.IN.Over and Out
, FOSS.IN blog, September 2, 2013

Role of the community

While the coordination of the event was handled by a core team led by Atul Chitnis, content (talks, workshops and tutorials) of the event were created by the FOSS community of India, as well as eminent international FOSS personalities. FOSS.IN was organized by the efforts of the linux-bangalore team.

Funding

The event was funded through sponsorships from the industry and a registration fee charged to the delegates.

References

External links

Official websiteFOSS.IN on TwitterPlanet FOSS.INNews report in LWN.NET
File:FOSSdotin2009 7.jpg, File:FOSS.IN2009.jpg, File:FOSS2009 1.jpg, File:FOSSdotin2009 5.jpg, File:KDE WorkoutFOSS.in2009.jpg, File:FOSS.IN2009 Kernel Workout Session.jpg, File:FOSSdotin2009 9.jpg, File:FOSSdotin2009 11.jpg, {{DEFAULTSORT:Foss.In Free-software conferences Software industry in India Linux conferences Recurring events established in 2001