Financial Times

Google support for Lankan software industry

Google, the popular Internet search engine company, has donated $25,000 to the Lanka Software Foundation (LSF) in recognition of its open source software development efforts.

LSF is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates global open source projects and has been a stepping stone for many local software developers.

In a statement LSF said open source software such as the Linux operating system where users can view and access source code to customise IT solutions, has gained a lot of attention as an alternate way to develop and distribute software. Because open source software comes under extreme public scrutiny, it is most often more flexible and secure than closed proprietary software.

Sri Lankan developers have also been active in driving a number of open source projects, especially at the Apache Software Foundation (ASF).

It said this year Sri Lanka will be on the software developers’ map when it hosts ApacheCon Asia for the first time in Asia this month, bringing together over 300 Sri Lankan and international open source software developers to Colombo from August 14 to 17.

The conference will be a meeting ground for the big players, project leaders, inside experts and independent innovators. In addition the participants will be able to share their knowledge, hit upon new ideas, find solutions and connect with peers at this gathering of users, developers, and vendors.

It is organized locally organized by the Lanka Software Foundation, the Lanka Linux Users' Group and The Linux Center, all of which are non-profit organisations driving the Sri Lankan FOSS community.

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