Training on Migration to FOSS
From FOSS Nepal Community Wiki
Contents
1 TRAINING DATE
2 TRAINING VENUE
3 ABOUT THE TRAINING
4 RATIONALE
5 OBJECTIVES
6 TRAINING METHODOLOGIES
7 TRAINING SETUP REQUIREMENT
8 PARTICIPANTS
9 TRAINING SCHEDULE
10 ABOUT ORGANIZERS
10.1 High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT)
10.2 FOSS Nepal Community
TRAINING DATE
The 1-day training was conducted on Asadh 30, 2065 (July 14, 2008) from 9:45 – 17:00.
TRAINING VENUE
The training was conducted at the High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) hall.
ABOUT THE TRAINING
The training is intended to be given to IT focal persons of different ministries. It will be coordinated by High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) and conducted by FOSS Nepal Community. The training program will mainly focus on the alternatives available in the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) world and how an end-user could migrate from existing proprietary software.
FOSS refers to such software which give users the freedom to use the software for any purpose, to get access to the source code of the software and study it, to make changes to the source code, to redistribute changes and changed versions of the software under these same terms. FOSS has been widely adopted as an alternative to proprietary software. It has advantages over the latter in security, reliability, flexibility, possibility of localization and finally low cost.
RATIONALE
The implementation of FOSS would drastically cut software costs for the government, while promoting the use of legal software and reducing illegal software piracy activities in the country. It would not only lead to decrease in payments to and dependency from foreign proprietary software manufacturers, but would also assure that software specifically developed for a given administration is reusable in similar administrations and available as Free/Open Source Software.
Free and Open Source Software undoubtedly provides a full fledged, low cost and high productive alternatives for the existing amass commercial and non-commercial applications, OS and standard utilities. This program targets government officials as audience for migration and starter for using Open Source applications including operating system and application essentials for performing and enhancing daily job of the officials.
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the one-day training course were:
To create awareness about FOSS in government sector
To enhance the skills in FOSS environment
To familiarize with FOSS related environment and tools
To prospect the effectiveness and methods of usage of FOSS
To present FOSS as easy, effective and cost-effective tools for productive day-to-day computing
TRAINING METHODOLOGIES
Some of the training methods that were used to teach are:
Slides and lectures: Slides were used to explain concepts and also illustrate the step-by-step procedure to perform each task.
Demonstrations: Resource persons performed live demonstrations of procedures
Open Floor Discussion: Any difficulties, quests and personal opinions were sorted out and discussed bilaterally among participant and resource persons in this session.
TRAINING SETUP REQUIREMENT
The specific requirement for hardware setup that was required for the training:
Computers – One each or at least two in one
Projector – One
Stationaries/White Board and markers
PARTICIPANTS
The expected number of participants in the training course was about fifty.
TRAINING SCHEDULE
Time
Proceedings
9:45 – 10:00
Registration + Tea
10:00 – 10:15
Opening Ceremony
10:15 – 13:15
Session 1 – 100 minutes
Introduction to FOSS and its Benefits – 20 minutes
FOSS activities in Nepal – 20 minutes
Unicode and its usability – 60 minutes (hands-on)
Session 2 (Hands-on) – 80 minutes
Migration to FOSS and Alternatives available
Firefox (With Featured Addons)
Thunderbird
7-zip
PDF Creator
Pidgin
13:15 – 13:45
Lunch Break
13:45 – 15:45
Session 2 (Hands-on) - 120 minutes
Introduction to OpenOffice.org Suite
OpenOffice.org Writer
OpenOffice.org Calc
OpenOffice.org Impress
15:45 – 16:00
Tea Break
16:00 – 16:15
Migration to FOSS (Security Utilities)
ClamWin Free AntiVirus
WinPooch
16:15 – 17:00
Open Discussion/Feedback
ABOUT ORGANIZERS
High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT)
High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) is an apex body formed under the chairmanship of Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Nepal with a view to providing crucial strategic direction and helping formulate appropriate policy responses for the development of ICT sector in the country as well as harnessing these technologies to meet key developmental challenges including governance reform and catalyzing economic growth for poverty reduction.
FOSS Nepal Community
FOSS Nepal Community is a team of volunteers who believe in the usage of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS). The primary objective of the community is to promote and diversify the usage of Free/Open Source Software in Nepal.
