OS Summit Asia 2007 to Drive Pace of Open Source Adoption in Asia
(Interviews, 11 Jul 2007 )
Two of the leading organizations in the Open Source community, The Apache Software Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation, have announced plans for Asia's largest Open Source community conference—the first of its kind in Hong Kong and China.
The inaugural OS Summit Asia will be held at the Le Meridian hotel in Hong Kong's leading edge Cyberport IT development zone on November 26-30, 2007.
With Open Source software rapidly growing in popularity in the region, this community summit, the first joint conference between Apache and Eclipse and the first in Hong Kong and China, is expected to be a vibrant event, encouraging a lively exchange of ideas between all those involved in OSS, including developers, vendors and users.
Winston Damarillo, Co-Executive Producer of the OS Summit, said: "As Asia moves to become the largest consumer of Open Source technologies, it is increasingly important that the region is able to experience the Open Source community process in action. We are excited to be able to demonstrate this in the context of the collaboration between Eclipse and Apache. Local communities and associations have been a tremendous help in supporting us and providing the best possible venue to launch this initiative."
According to recent research from Evans Data Corp., the number of developers using Open Source software in Asia has jumped by 40 percent over the past three years. The popularity of the Linux operating system has also boomed in recent years, providing the region's developing countries with a free and robust alternative to leading commercial operating systems.
Justin Erenkrantz, President of The Apache Software Foundation, said: "The Apache Software Foundation is delighted to be supporting Open Source communities in emerging countries with the OS Summit Asia 2007 conference. We hope that by showcasing the combined communities behind Eclipse and Apache that we will be able to cultivate a stronger presence for Open Source in the region."
OS Summit Asia will offer unique educational opportunities, with hands-on training, competitively selected general sessions, and a small number of invited speakers that address new technologies, development methods, business and marketing, and licensing issues in Open Source software. Topics featured at the summit include:
- ASF-wide projects such as Apache HTTP Server, Jakarta, Tomcat, Axis, Harmony, Maven, Web Services, and SpamAssassin - Eclipse-wide projects such as BI and Reporting Tools (BIRT), Web Tools Platform (WTP), Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF), Data Tools Platform (DTP), Equinox and the Rich Client Platform (RCP) - Programming languages such as Java, Perl, Python, Ruby and PHP - Web development technologies and techniques including security, performance tuning, e-commerce and Java EE - New technologies and trends such as Web Services and Web 2.0 - Open Source projects and activities in Asia, local efforts and case studies
Members of the Apache and Eclipse Open Source communities are invited to submit session proposals no later than 13th July 2007. Delegate registrations for the conference will open by the end of July.
Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation, said: "This event is not just about technology: it's about the community and culture and inevitability of Open Source—a movement that creates and maintains a wealth of innovation and ideas. Across Asia interest in Open Source is building. The timing of this event is perfect to harness and build on that interest."
