MUSCAT: The third Edition of the Free and Open Source Software Conference, FOSSC-17 Oman, jointly organised by the Communication and Information Research Centre at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), and the Information Technology Authority (ITA) will be held at SQU on February 14 and 15. The main theme of the 2017 event is “FOSS Deployment, Strategies and Practices” which is a continuation of the previous conference efforts and in line with the proposal of the national FOSS strategic deployment plan drafted by SQU and ITA last year.
The opening ceremony of the conference will be held under the auspices of Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Prof Hadj Bourdoucen, Chairman, Organising Committee of the Conference, said that in line with the theme of the conference, the committee has invited a number of well-known worldwide specialists who are actively involved in various FOSS deployments, strategies and innovative applications and developments.
“This is to build an attractive and sustainable environment for networking FOSS users, industrials, researchers, developers and experts. Twelve invited talks on the conference theme are scheduled for the conference, in addition to a main keynote address, ten workshops, and twelve technical and research papers will be presented”, he said.
FOSSC Oman series, organised by SQU and ITA is aimed at supporting the national initiative on FOSS. It is scheduled for two days and aims at disseminating the use and development of free and open source software for professionals, staff, students and the community in Oman.
The conference targets ICT companies and professionals, researchers, faculties, staff, students and the broader FOSS community.
A number of well-known international and local experts in the FOSS field are invited to enrich the conference with topics, such as: sustainability of open source security, role and opportunities of FOSS in public administrations, open source for the public sector, scaling applications for global communities, business management, business information systems, e-collaboration, educational management and others.
FOSSC Oman is a good opportunity to discover, discuss and exchange ideas in this field in the Sultanate. It also provides the opportunity to network different groups of FOSS users, benefit from insightful lectures, share mutual experiences and discuss potential implementation of FOSS.
Through its exhibition section, FOSSC Oman 2017 displays the national and international open source solutions and products. A number of workshops tailored with the needs of local communities were scheduled in parallel session with conference. FOSS experts from industry and private and government sectors will present these workshops.
Prof Hadj Bourdoucen said that this year the organising committee is offering pre-test on Linux administration skills. The test will be during the conference and candidates with best results will receive free Linux+ exam vouchers to conduct the exam through COMPTIA organisation.
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