Yesterday, i had an opportunity to participate in FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) Expo in Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai. As an unregistered member of INLUGC (Indian Linux User Group - Chennai), i went to the college in the morning to manage a stall which was titled "Internet Tools". There were about 14 to 15 stalls which was meant to explain students about various Open Source Products like Internet Tools, Open Office Products, Scripting Languages like PHP, databases like MySQL etc.

My stall was to explain students on Internet tools like Mozilla Firefox Browser, Konqueror Browser, Evolution Mail Client etc. My initial thought was that about 100 to 200 students will turn up for the expo.

But as the day progressed, more & more students came calling to all the stalls. I hope about 1000 students from nearby colleges & schools would have turned up at the expo. Many of them asked some interesting questions about the Open Source Products & particularly the Operating System, Linux.

Infact some of them are already using Mozilla Browser in Windows (it is possible to use Open Source Products in Windows) & some of them have already started using Linux. One Student has even tried to use a Dial-Up Internet connection in Linux.

This expo clearly demonstrated to us that even in a town like Tiruvannamalai people have started using Open Source Products which augurs well for the future.

This kind of expo, if conducted in Chennai will generate a lot of interest among the city students who have many resources at their disposal. Spreading the knowlege about Open Source Products is very important to encourage the usage of them. I hope INLUGC takes the lead to conduct an expo in a college in Chennai.

If you are interested to work with Open Source Products, you can start with any of the following practices.

1. Download Mozilla Firefox (a browser) from www.mozilla.org & start using it in Windows.

OR

2. If you are a technical person, please log onto www.ubuntu.com & order free copies of Ubuntu Linux (a flavour of Linux) & you will get the same shipped directly to your home from USA.

Usage of Open Source Products at home will promote the knowledge about them to the young generation which augurs well for the IT future!!!!