FOSS Means Business, Ireland

(contact details at end of mail.)

 IRELAND TO HOST TOP LUMINARIES OF FREE SOFTWARE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

   RICHARD STALLMAN AND BRUCE PERENS IN NORTHERN IRELAND MARCH 16th

	OPEN SOURCE / FREE SOFTWARE MEANS BUSINESS IN IRELAND

On Thursday, March 16th, in the Spires Conference Centre Belfast,
Richard Stallman and Bruce Perens will give keynotes at a whole day
event about Free Software/Open Source Software (FOSS) in business. The
event, "FOSS Means Business", is tailored toward IT decision makers
and consultants, but the topics are sure to attract a crowd that will
challenge other events to be the biggest FOSS event so far on the
island.

The event was conceived last December when trade associations and
business representatives from all across Ireland met in Newry for a
workshop on Free Software/Open Source Software.

Perens and Stallman were among the few software developers in the 80s
writing FOSS ("Free Software" or "Open Source Software"). Perens moved
into business consultancy and has well over a decade of FOSS-related
experience talking to CEOs and CIOs and is often seen as the business
face of Free Software. Perens currently works as Vice President of
developer relations and policy at SourceLabs.

Stallman is the author of the GNU General Public License, and the
founder of the GNU project. He will deliver his business-orientated
speech "Free Software in Ethics and Practice". A substantial part of
his presentation will discuss the redrafting, this year, of Free
Software's core software licence: the GNU General Public License
(GPLv3). Stallman currently serves as President of Free Software
Foundation.

The overall goal of the event is to fuel discussion over transitions
toward FOSS solutions, in the private and public sector. As well as
the reasons for doing so, the challenges facing such transitions will
also be discussed by those with real-world experience.

Quotes

Ian Graham, Momentum NI, the Northern Ireland ICT Federation, says:

  "Free software/Open Source software is rapidly emerging as an
   alternative to traditional proprietary software, fuelled by the
   success of products such as Apache, Linux and MySQL and through the
   support of major corporations such as IBM, Sun and HP. However,
   questions remain to be answered. For the software user, will open
   source software really reduce my total cost of ownership and can I
   really run my business on software that does not have one controlling
   manufacturer? For software development companies, the key question is
   how can I make money if I make the source code for my software freely
   available? Does a new revenue model based on subscription service
   rather than licence fees make economic sense?

   This event will address some of these questions and provide the
   audience with a real opportunity to question the experts."

Ciaran O'Riordan, Free Software Foundation Europe, adds:

  "A lot of individuals and organisations have colloborated to make this
   event happen, and it shows both the level of interest that there is
   for Free Software, and the size and energy of the Free Software
   community here. My aim with this event is to spread awareness within
   businesses of the unique selling point of free software, and that is
   that it gives the software user the freedoms to see what the software
   is doing, to adapt the software for whatever purpose, and to benefit
   from the adaptations which others publish. For businesses, this means
   no vendor lock-in, and it means really being in control of their data
   and their security. Hopefully this gathering will also be used to
   organise future projects."

Paul McCormack, New & Emerging Technologies Cluster ETC, said:

  "The NETC group which is part of the Border Vision programme has a
   critical mass of OSS users. In seeking to develop this commercial
   potential we held the meeting in December in order to gauge the all
   island use of open source software and to explore the potential for
   further deployment and industry uptake. This conference is the next
   step in our strategy of establishing an all-island OSS cluster and
   highlighting the advantages of this platform to business and other
   potential software developers. This conference provides a mutually
   beneficial opportunity for all developers and business to collaborate
   and explore the burgeoning potential of open source software."

Glenn Strong, chairman of the Irish Free Software Organisation, said:

  "This conference is a tremendous opportunity for potential users of
   Free Software to see the advantages it can bring them, and to connect
   with the substantial community of Free Software developers and users
   on the island. By making two key figures in the field available for
   discussion it promises to give business users the chance to hear from
   the experts how Free Software can bring benefits to their business".


Further information

The FOSS Means Business website:
http://foss-means-business.org

Ciaran O'Riordan
Free Software Foundation Europe
+32 477 26 44 19
CiaranORiordan@office.fsfeurope.org

Paul McCormack
New & Emerging Technologies Cluster
Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency
WIN Industrial Estate
Canal Quay
Newry
BT35 6PH
+44 (0) 28302 67011
pmccormack@net-cluster.com