[Ambassadors] Software Freedom Day 2008 (Philippines)

[Magie Antonio]

Hi,

Fedora Ambassadors Philippines took part in the Software Freedom Day
celebration last Sept. 20, 2008. More than 500 attendees flocked to the
National Computer Center building at the University of the Philippines in
Diliman, Quezon City for the whole day affair.

A booth was allotted to Fedora Project by the organizers, Bluepoint Linux
Users Elite (alumni of Bluepoint Foundation) and Commission on Information
and Communications Technology – National Computer Center (CICT-NCC).
Former Senator Jovito Salonga, Bluepoint Trustee Emeritus, gave the
invocation and Director General Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera of CICT-NCC
delivered the opening remarks. Linuxcare founder, former Linux Foundation
CTO, Linux Professional Institute and Free Standards Group founding
sponsor Arthur Tyde delivered the keynote and talked about Oracle
Unbreakable Linux. Tyde is currently a Linux & Open Source Solutions
Architect at Oracle Philippines. The plenary session was capped by
presentations about Open Source for the Visually Impaired, SM's Open
Source Experience, IPv6, and the Fedora Project.

Other organizations that supported and sponsored the event were:
Philippine Linux Users Group, Philippine Linux Windows Users Group,
Slackware Linux Users Group, LinuxChix Philippines, One Laptop Per Child
(OLPC), Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), Computerworld,
Oracle Philippines, and Sun Microsystems. Trend Micro was the official
Codefest Sponsor that was participated by 15 college students from
different universities and colleges in Metro Manila.

The Fedora burnfest was a huge success. There was an overwhelming demand
for Fedora discs and USB sticks. Participants also expressed interest in
joining the Fedora Ambassadors. They are also looking forward to the
Fedora 10 release party in December. We hope to receive support from
FAMSCO by then. ;)

More details and photos will soon be posted at http://bluepoint.com.ph/sfd08/

Regards,
Magie

-- 
Marie Grace Gaffud-Antonio
Bluepoint Institute of Higher Technology Foundation
http://bluepoint.com.ph/


> Congratulations Magie and Herson! We originally expected 150 attendees,
> but more than 500 came! I'm sure the next events will be even better. I
> talked about the Fedora Project while Magie was running the whole event
> and Herson was manning the Fedora booth. Several teachers from different
> colleges expressed their interest in making the Fedora Project part of
> their students' thesis requirements. Scheduling of presentations to their
>  college deans are now in progress. ;)
>
> On Mon, September 22, 2008 10:16 pm, Heherson Pagcaliwagan wrote:
>> I was waiting for Ma'am Magie to post the pics of our recently
>> concluded SFD celebration but since she's still probably recuperating
>> from the event, let me, in her stead, report what happened last
>> Saturday at the National Computer Center here in Quezon City.
>>
>> Official registration was supposed to start 8:30 AM but when I passed
>> by the venue around 7:30AM on my way to my office, students were
>> already milling around the complex and a provincial bus was already
>> parked beside the venue. Talk about being early! When I returned around
>> 8:45AM, the place was already packed and Ma'am Magie was already going
>> on circles :)
>>
>> I was designated as the booth man by virtue of seniority :D *(Truth be
>> told, Ma'am Magie was busy organizing the whole event while Sir Engels
>> was giving speeches)*. The Fedora booth consisted of a tarpaulin,
>> flyers, two LiveUSB Station posters and my office laptop featuring
>> Fedora 9. I originally planned to bring my Asus eee loaded with eeedora
>> to the event but I was locked out of our office with no keys -- stupid
>> me. A friend later took pity on me and sent for his two laptops *(both
>> of which are Windows)* and together we burned away those USB sticks.
>>
>> Apart from burning LiveUSBs, I gave away flyers, cajoled SFD-goers to
>> try Fedora 9 using my laptop, gave impromptu talks about the merit of
>> Fedora and its difference with other Linux distributions (most of the
>> time - Ubuntu), met students, teachers and other professionals and had
>> a blast the whole time. Talking particularly with the kids made me feel
>> like a rock star :)
>>
>> The major drawer of our booth was ceratinly the LiveUSB creation. It
>> would have been FreeMedia but early on, we have decided to do away with
>>  the distribution of DVDs and LiveCDs because that would entail
>> spending money we don't really have much of. What meager funds we have
>> scrapped together were funneled into the whole event. Either way, we
>> had registered around 50 individuals who still wanted to hear more
>> about the Fedora Project and possibly contribute themselves. These
>> included teachers who want their students contribute as ambassadors
>> and/or developers, students who wanted to make a case study in the use
>> of Fedora and professionals who are interested in holding
>> seminars/trainings in deploying Fedora in their line of work.
>>
>> ~ Herson