Indonesia to organize ASEAN open source workshop

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an effort to support the ASEAN Go Open-source initiative, Indonesia is set to hold the ASEAN Workshop on Open Source Software on Nov. 7-8 to promote the use of legal and free-to-download office computer software.

The workshop will take place in Serpong, Banten, according to a media statement from State Ministry of Research and Technology, which will host the event.

The ministry will provide training on the application of open-source-based systems to participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The participants will also hold presentations on the developments and applications of open source software in their respective countries.

The concept has been implemented in Indonesia under the name of Indonesia, Go Open Source! (IGOS) since 2004 and the country launched officially its open-source software, called IGOS Nusantara, in December 2006 in cooperation with public, business and technology institutions such as SUN Microsystems, Intel, Oracle and IBM.

IGOS Nusantara 2006 is desktop software based on Linux Fedora Core 5, which has the capability to operate applications such as Open Office for text documents, Firefox for internet browsing, Thunderbird for e-mail and Gaim for chatting.

Most of these applications can function both independently and collaboratively with those developed by the Microsoft. (nkn)