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Discussing open-source solutions to cope with the economic crisis

AvantiKumar | April 28, 2009

Open-source leaders at inaugural conference in Kuala Lumpur: MDeC

KUALA LUMPUR, 28 APRIL 2009 The inaugural MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference (OSCONF) 2009 to be held

next month will discuss solutions to help with the economic crisis, according to government agency MDeC.

OSCONG is part of the annual Malaysian government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON). It is

organised by government agencies MDeC (Multimedia Development Corporation) and MAMPU (Malaysian

Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit), and supported by the Malaysian open source

community.

Themed Open to Change', the OSCONF is targeted at business executives, developers and open source communities

in Malaysia, while MyGOSSCON organised by MAMPU is targeted primarily at government agencies and institutions of

higher learning, including the R&D and business communities, said MDeC vice president, industrial development

division, Saifol Shamlan.

The four-day event (www.mscmalaysia.my/onsconf), to be held at Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Centre

from 31 May to 3 June, is expected to attract more than 600 local and international participants.

MAMPU, as a key member agency of the prime minister's department, is responsible for implementing modernisation

strategies for Malaysia public service, and also advises the government in the area of management, while acting as the

central agency for ICT development and automation in the public sector.

In the forefront

I am delighted that Malaysia is in the forefront in contributing open-source software experience and for this inaugural

event we are bringing together the best brains from around the world to explore how open source can mitigate the

impact of the global economic crisis, said Shamlan. OSCONF 2009 is clearly one of the ways in which MSC Malaysia

is transforming the nation into a knowledge-based society driven by the new economy.

He said that with the business theme How Open Source Software and the Community Can Creatively Help

Businesses Survive the Impact of the Economic Crisis', the conference seeks to show that by adopting the right

business model, commercialisation of open-source software can bring lucrative business revenue and provide lower

total cost of ownership.

Shamlan said that OSCONF 2009 would comprise three separate tracks business, developer and community and

would feature speakers from organisations such as Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Red Hat, Ubuntu, BSD, Fedora, and

PHP. International speakers would include Chris DiBona, open source program manager at Google, Gen Kanai,

director of Asia, business development and marketing at Mozilla, and Oliver Bell, regional technology officer at

Microsoft Asia Pacific.

This conference marks another milestone towards putting Malaysia as a leader in open- source software. Now, we can

enhance synergies between public and private sectors in accelerating adoption and development opportunities, said

Dr. Nor Aliah Mohd Zahri, deputy director general (ICT) of MAMPU.

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Proven savings in government agencies

Dr Nor said MAMPU, which aimed to implement open-source software systems in all 724 agencies in the public sector

by early next year, has been driving, leading and guiding the Malaysian Public Sector OSS Programme. To date, 462

agencies nationwide have implemented OSS with known savings of more than RM47 million (US$13.01 million).

The Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Programme has proven that OSS drives down the total cost of

ownership through its pilot projects, said MDeC's Shamlan. An overall 30 per cent savings have been achieved, of

which 80 per cent arose due to savings in licensing fees and 58 per cent was due to a reduction in development costs.

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