[Fsfe-ie] FSFE Newsletter - April 2009

[jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com]

http://www.pitchengine.com/flosskosovo/group-establishes-kosovo-floss-organization/11087/

Group Establishes Kosovo FLOSS Organization Will organize first Kosovo
Software Freedom Conference
05.10.2009 – For Immediate Release

(May 10, 2009) Prishtina – A group of Kosovo Free Software enthusiasts
established last week the Kosovo Free/ Libre/ Open Source Software (FLOSS
Kosovo) organization. The organization aims to promote Free and Open Source
Software and knowledge in the newborn South East European country of Kosovo.
It will do this by providing essential infrastructure and organizational
framework for the support and development of open knowledge and software
projects and other endeavors which serve this mission.

Flakron Bytyqi, President of FLOSS Kosovo, says, "open standards are key to
the development of a country such as Kosovo. We are not inventing anything,
but joining a global movement and applying proven models to the local
situation."

The keystone event of the organization is an annual Software Freedom
conference (on the web at http://kosovasoftwarefreedom.org) to be held for
the first time on August 29-30, 2009 in Prishtina, Kosovo. Its goal is to
showcase local and global speakers and software developers to a regional
audience. Conference proceedings will be conducted in English, Albanian,
Serbian, German and Turkish. Topics discussed will include Free Software,
Open Source, collaborative content such as Wikipedia, and Voice over IP.

The group has found plenty of support in the local industry and is working
in securing more participation from global companies and sister
organziations. Some of those who have already expressed interest to speak at
the conference are representatives from Sun Microsystems, Mozilla, Pilot
Systems, and Google Summer of Code.

The organization is non-governmental and non-profit according to the
relevant laws in force in Kosovo. People contributing to the projects come
from the local industry, academia and free software enthusiasts.

The founder of FLOSS Kosovo, James Michael DuPont, is an American living in
Gemany who will soon marry a Kosovar woman. He tells me “the youth spending
time in internet cafes should be writing software instead. Instead of
playing Counter Strike, they should be editing the Wikipedia.”

Kosovo is a country of 2.1 million inhabitants with an area the size of
Connecticut. Seventy percent of the population is under 35 and 25 percent is
in some way involved in the education system. GDP per person is only around
$1500 and high unemployment is a problem for the youth. Despite this, its
population remains highly motivated and the capital Prishtina offers some of
the best nightlife and restaurants in this corner of Europe.

For more information, contact FLOSS Kosovo Spokesman Arianit Dobroshi, Tel:
+377-44-905-647 or arianit at gmail.com
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