Folks, this is special. Because, of NRC-FOSS’ efforts, FOSS curriculum is offered as 2 electives in all of Tamilnadu engineering colleges. This is being widely copied by colleges across the country now. And today when I went to the seminar, I was astounded by the awareness of FOSS by pretty much everybody from the Profs themselves, to the Dean and even the Vice-Chancellor. Truly, it’s an inspiring effort, and NRC-FOSS is one of the few govt.-sponsored organizations which shows how much change you can bring by getting Industry and the Colleges to be stakeholders in IT education.

I was touched by the fact that many attended inspite of pouring, non-stop rain, it made it all the more worthwhile for me, as I had to brave the rains myself. I did my best to evangelize FOSS and explain what we do as part of our job. I was pleasantly surprised when one of the students followed me outside the auditorium to ask a few more questions. As you can probably see, I’m still aglow from the interaction. There’s nothing more fulfilling than being able to give back and open a few doors for the enthusiastic students.

Well done, and thank you NRC-FOSS. I don’t know how much benefit the students got out of my talk, but it certainly made me feel better about the path I’ve chosen. I’m betting at least some of them will make this country proud.

It is quite refreshing to see a conference take pains to be beginner-friendly, and very student oriented. FossConf, just like ILUGC, is about real community, and real contributions. There is nothing quite like ILUGC when it comes to active grassroots FOSS advocacy. I have always been a great supporter of technical events with a strong community, and FossConf, organized by ILUGC, as per my expectation, will turn out to be a gem of an event.

If you are in Chennai, or can make it, do come down, and it is a great place to meet us, just drop us a mail with your contact, and one of us will catch up with you at the event. See you there!