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RP's biggest 'Software Freedom Day' set Saturday


MANILA, Philippines - The biggest grassroots event for free and open source software in the Philippines will be held on Saturday starting 8:30 a.m. at the University of Makati. Together with over 500 teams in 90 countries around the world aiming to introduce software freedom to all, the Philippine celebration will be marked by simultaneous events from Luzon to Mindanao and will be simulcast over the internet. The registration booths will open at 8 a.m. and the celebration will go on throughout the day until 5 p.m. The morning plenary discussion in Makati will cover an introduction on what is open source software, its use in everyday computing and the Open Source bill filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino in Congress. A board member of the coordinating body of the global celebrations, Software Freedom International, Mr. JM Bitangca of the UnPLug will grace the event. Breakout sessions will be held in the afternoon for NGOs and advocacy organizations, for developers as well as for internet cafes and small business. Aside from the event in Makati, there will also be satellite events in the University of Santo Tomas and PUP-Taguig in Metro Manila and regional events in the Holy Angel University in Angeles, and the Mindanao State University in Marawi. The event is expected to bring in more than 2,000 advocates and enthusiasts all over the country in line with this year's call of "One Nation: Unity for Software Freedom." A phone patch and internet video streaming will be available to connect the regional events during the open forum. The latest versions of free operating systems and applications can be copied and written on a CD on site. There will also be fun games with exciting prices as well as t-shirts proclaiming software freedom for sale during the event. High quality free software will be available for computers. In 2007, over 330 teams around the world celebrated Software Freedom Day. Last year's activity was attended by more than two hundred enthusiasts in Manila and was marked by other regional events. Attendance in this year's event is expected to increase due to the participation of more schools and groups. The Software Freedom Day 2008 Team is composed of the Computer Professionals' Union in cooperation with the University of Makati - IT Society together with TXTPower, PHP User Group Philippines, Joomla! Users Group Philippines, Philippine Ruby Users Group, Drupal User Group Philippines, Adobe User Group Philippines, Mindanao Bloggers, Angeles City Linux Users Group, Internet Cafe Association of Imus, University of the Philippines - Linux Users Group, Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Taguig, Mindanao State University-Marawi City, Bayan Muna and the Office of Rep. Teddy Casino. Software Freedom Day is a yearly celebration of software freedom and a day for educating the public on the importance of affordable software alternative. Information about the Software Freedom Day event in the Philippines can be found at http://www.sfdphil.org . Those who cannot attend the event but would like to view the live video broadcast may do so using VLC player thru the URL - http://live.hubnob.com/sfd or view it thru the SFD Phil. Website - http://www.sfdphil.org/wicast - GMANews.TV
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