The Malaysian Free Software Movement 2008

The Malaysian Free Software Community


The MalaysianFree Software Community

“An invasion of armies can be resisted,but not an idea whose time has come” Victor Hugo

Ditesh Shashikant Gathani© 2008 CC-BY


The Malaysian FOSS Community

The Malaysian FOSS Community is diverse:

● Governmental and government affiliated organizations (MAMPU, MOSTI, MIMOS)

● Trade organization (PIKOM)● Companies● University level initiatives● Grassroots members

The overall role of the community is:

● Policy● Advocacy● Knowledge sharing● Building a user, developer and contributor community


Building the community

What has the grassroots FOSS community done? In the last few years:

● Hacking!● The publication of a monthly FOSS magazine with a

Malaysian flavour but an international audience● Organized monthly meetups● Organized regular low cost LPIC examinations● Organized “Software Freedom and the Danger of

Software Patents” by RMS● Annual Software Freedom Day● Speaking at local universities and colleges


Hacking

The local FOSS developer pool is small, but our contributions are notable:

● ADOdb● Hex Live CD● m0n0wall development● Linux kernel contribs● OLPC contribs● Asterisk optimizations and code contributions● Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenOffice hacking● FreeBSD ports● MyKnoppix● GNOME/KDE localization work● Asterisk contribs● Various bug reports, patches and code contributions to

large FOSS projects


ADOdb (PHP DB Abstraction Library)


Ubuntu Localization

Translatable items: 371697Untranslated: 281644


Firefox in Malay


FreeBSD contributions

Malaysian contribs:

● Ariff Abdullah● Khairil Yusof● Ditesh Kumar


Hex Live CD

Hex Live CD:

● Platform for network security analyst● Used internationally

● Georgia Tech● Sans Institute● BlackHat Network Security Training


Jayakumar on the OPLC


Jayakumar on the OPLC


MyOSS Magazine

● Started mid 2006 as one man's itch to educate theMalaysian public on FOSS

● Impressive statistics:● Over 2000 readers● From over 10 countries● Over 20 contributors


The Meetups

We meet every month, first Thursday:

● Started as a small group gathering at a local Starbucks or

mamak stall, grew into knowledge sharing sessions

● Sessions typically have:

● Two speakers speak for 30-45 minutes each followed by

a Q&A session

● Attendance consistently high with average of 30

members and growing

● Attendees are students, businessmen, hackers,

developers, system integrators, users etc.

● Taken on the role as a community building session

● Meetups all over the country (Penang, Kuching, Ubuntu-my)


The Meetups


The Meetups


AsiaOSS Software Symposium 2006


PIKOM PC Fair


PIKOM PC Fair


Community Oriented LPIC Examinations

LPI is a Linux certification exam. We organized

examinations as there was demand for certified FOSS

expertise:

● Dr. Nah Soo Hoe appointed Malaysian proctor

● Close to a dozen certifications have been held

● At RM 200/paper, several hundreds candidates have

taken the exam





Why is LPI certification important:

● There's a clear demand for such certification from industry professionals

● There's a clear need for capacity building from local companies

● lack of capacity leads to lack of FOSS support● lack of FOSS offerings● lack of FOSS market dynamism

● LPI bridges this by:● building the basic FOSS skillset● providing an excellent background to the FOSS

culture● building a culture of self-empowerment and self-

sustainance



But,

● Certifying cannot be executed in an ad-hoc manner;● there needs to be a coherent and practical

strategy● One possibility is to let the market drive certification

● Microsoft's active engagement at universities results in the market demand being non-LPIC despite the employers wanting it.

● Clearly, the battleground has to be the universities:● Universities should organize LPIC training sessions● Universities should encourage students to get LPI

certified● The community can champion this, but it needs the

support of the government


Hosting Richard Matthew Stallman

RMS spoke in Malaysia to help build awareness of free

software and dangers of software patents:

● Spoke at two universities computer science faculties:

● University Sains Malaysia

● University Malaya

● Feedback was overwhelmingly positive

● Over 500 people attended

● Clearly a need for more talks by the FOSS

superstars

● The Edge, a well respected local business newspaper,

highlighted RMS's visit to Malaysia


RMS Visit


RMS Visit


RMS Visit


RMS Visit


RMS Visit


Software Freedom Day






OSCC Mirror


Initiatives at the Universities

● Universities are a fertile ground for FOSS playground:

● IIU has an active engagement program (training, advocacy, awareness, participation etc)

● UITM organizes open source expo's and security focused contests several times a year

● UPM and MMU (Malacca) has initiated Linux clubs whose focus is on awareness and advocacy

● Other universities are working slowly to build the culture

● Challenges:● The need for a platform for interaction and

engagement (think UniversityOSS Symposium)

● Microsoft


The Watering Holes

● Common places for discussions to take place:● Local mailing lists (ossig, myoss, mypenguin99)

● Active IRC Channel (#myoss on irc.freenode.net)

● Monthly meetups (first thursday of the month)

● Planet MyOSS (http://planet.foss.org.my)

● Local conferences

● Local events

● Impromtu meetings


Some Notable Community Members

●

Bad idea to do this ... but here are some notable

community members:

● Aizat Faiz

● Colin Charles

● Dinesh Nair

● Dr. Nah Soo Hoe

● Hasan Saidin

● Khairil Yusof

● Lee Nan Phin

● Yoon Kit

● Yusseri Yusof


Malaysian Government Support for Free Software


Malaysian Government Support for Free Software

● Government procurement policy:● “In situations where advantages and disadvantages of

OSS and proprietary software are equal, preference shall be given to OSS.”

● Ruthless Microsoft lobbying against policy● Attempt to revert by outgoing MOSTI minister:

● "There has been a lot of negative reaction towards open source (from the IT market) and that's why (choosing) the technology platform should be neutral”

● "If you believe that you can do more using the titanium parang, then use the titanium parang ... And if the stainless steel parang serves you better, you should use that.

● "It's about choice. Let the market decide,"

http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2006/11/22/technology/20061122094503&sec=technology


Response to Microsoft lobbying “Technology Neutrality”


Government Agencies Already Using OpenOffice.org

No Users1 Ant i Corrupt ion Agency 4002 Minist ry of Finance 1003 Minist ry of Human Resources4 Minist ry of Plantat ions and Commodit ies5 Minist ry of Housing and Local Government6 MAMPU7 Kedah State Secret riat Of f ice8 Pahang State Secretariat Of f ice9 Terengganu State Secretariat Of f ice

10 Melaka City Council1112 Department of Civil Aviat ion Sarawak13 Biro Tatanegara14 Kolej Professional Mara15 Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pelajaran 250Total 9965

Agencies

3000 250

1300 350

2202 500 416 300

Kemaman City Council 300 173 100 324


Government Agencies Planning to use OpenOffice.org

● Ministry of Health● 2000 users

● Majlis Keselematan Negara, Jabatan Perdana Menteri (JPM)

● 600 Users

● Biro Tatanegara● 150 users planning migration in August 2008

● Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pelajaran● This agency of 250 users is planning a full migration to

OpenOffice.org by August 2008

● Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation● This agency is planning a migration subject to

approval end of 2008/start of 2009


Government Agencies Planning to use OpenOffice.org

● Perak State Government● All state government agencies will be migrating to

OpenOffice.org from 2009. Migration and training in progress.

● Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia: Region III: Sarawak

● Migration in planning and training in progress for 173 users

● Ministry of Housing and Local Government● All staff - 1300 users. Migration June - November 2008

in progress.

● Kolej Professional Mara● Pilot project at KPM Bandar Penawar involving 324 PCs

and Notebooks for labs, administrative staff and lecturers.


The Reality Check

●

● On the ground, we have:● Education policies (schools and universities) which are

vendor dependent and not FOSS friendly


The Reality Check

●

● A serious disconnect and lack of dialogue among the various stakeholders

● An influential local ICT trade organization suggests that the open source bias in government procurement policies be removed

● Digital certificate initiative which forces users to use proprietary software

● Websites are force use of proprietary software


Charting the Future

●

● The need for a coherent strategy● Why are we doing this?● Where are we going?● Where would we like to go?● What are the stumbling blocks?

● The need to manage it professionally● An umbrella organization● Dedicated staff● Funding● Measurable soft KPI's

● Immediate action agenda:● Building the local FOSS culture● Capacity building● Building a developer community● Intence advocacy at university levels

● Sources of inspiration● foss.lk● linux.org.ph


Charting the Future

●

● The need for a coherent strategy● Why are we doing this?● Where are we going?● Where would we like to go?● What are the stumbling blocks?

● The need to manage it professionally● An umbrella organization● Dedicated staff● Funding● Measurable soft KPI's

● Immediate action agenda:● Building the local FOSS culture● Capacity building● Building a developer community● Intence advocacy at university levels

● Sources of inspiration● foss.lk● linux.org.ph


Questions?

Questions?

Happy Hacking, folks :-)

This presentation was created on FreeBSD. No penguins were harmed in the process.