BWI: OSI Days 2011: The Power of Open Source

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Open Source India
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 05:15 PM IST (11:45 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Environment; Business: Business services, Information technology, Media & entertainment; Technology
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OSI Days 2011: The Power of Open Source
The huge turnout at Asia's largest open source convention bears testimony to the fact that the FOSS has strengthened its roots in the country

Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Wednesday, November 23, 2011 -- (Business Wire India) -- Free and open source software is the future of the technology world. FOSS is not just about opening the software but is also about opening the mindset. Open Source India 2011 concluded on this positive note, only to come back next year with much more power and participation of the community. The three-day affair turned out to be an ideal platform of interaction and sharing amongst the FOSS enthusiasts. The huge turnout at Asia's largest open source convention bears testimony to the fact that the FOSS has strengthened its roots in the country. All the sessions in all three days were jam packed. Apart from industry experts/professionals, a lot of newbies were also present to have a close look and feel of the FOSS environment.

Even Microsoft, popular for its rigidity against opening the source code of software, expressed its desire to hire 'serious Kernel developers' in India and US. Regunath Balasubramanian, principal architect of the Govt of India UIDAI project, said, "Open source is not yet a mass movement in India. People want to hear success stories and replicate them. OSI Days 2011 offers a good platform for us to share success stories."

Those who believe that only professionals can unleash the power of open source technology must know that every common Indian is being influenced by the power of FOSS. Running with a mammoth project like Aadhaar, FOSS in India has now gone to a new level. From school teachers to university students, from housewives to high-flown corporates, from ministers to common man, everybody will be touched by 'Aadhaar', courtesy FOSS.

A call was raised to market the open source business properly on different platforms including the social media. Kapil Gupta, founder and CEO of OMLogic Consulting, talked about best practices and dos/don'ts from a marketing standpoint at OSI Days 2011. His talk on Marketing Open Source Businesses using Social Media delved into viral marketing for open source businesses and its impact. Gupta said, "Technology companies don't market themselves well, especially open source companies. They should differentiate themselves. Two easy ways to do this are leveraging using social media and branding of the company by developing an online presence."

The security aspect of the open source software was also discussed at length. Anirudh Singh Rautela, security lead at Microsoft Corporation, shared on the second day of Asia's largest open source convention: "Applications are the most vulnerable pieces on the Web today. Microsoft SDL (Security Development Lifecycle) is an approach to ensure safety. It includes process and framework that any developer can use on any platforms like Eclipse or Visual Studio to develop safe applications."

He further added, "At each stage of software development, you can take a look at security considerations. In design phase, threat modelling should be considered. At the SRS (software requirement specification) stage, security requirement needs to be captured. During implementation and verification, there are numerous security checks like static analysis and fuzz testing that can be done on SDL for free."

Apart from the enriching talk sessions by industry experts, OSI also provided for hands-on training through the workshops. Appreciating the training sessions, Shobhit Choudhary, a first timer at OSI and a novice at FOSS, said, "I am just introduced to the world of FOSS. The workshops at OSI were very helpful for me to understand the concepts of open source software better."

Keeping the spirit of FOSS, OSI bids adieu this year only to come back with greater enthusiasm next year.


CONTACT DETAILS
Vandana Sharma, EFY Group, +91 (11) 26810601-03/ +91 9810295045, vandana.sharma@efyindia.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY

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