INAUGURAL MSC MALAYSIA OPEN SOURCE CONFERENCE 2009 TO FOCUS ON HOW OPEN SOURCE CAN MITIGATE AND HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

Conference to feature Open Source luminaries from Malaysia and abroad to discuss creative ways to stave off the effects of the downturn

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23, 2009: The stage is set, and the curtains are poised to be raised at the inaugural MSC Malaysia Open Source Conference (OSCONF) 2009 next month.

Organised by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in cooperation with the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), the annual OSCONF is also supported by the Malaysian Open Source community. This event complements the annual Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON) as the premier platform for all things Open Source in Malaysia.

With this year’s umbrella theme “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.

The four-day event will be held at Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Centre from May 31 to June 3, 2009, and is expected to attract over 600 local and international participants.

“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 En. Saifol Shamlan, Vice President, Industry Development Division at MDeC. “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.”

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, commercialization of Open Source software can bring lucrative business revenue and provide lower total cost of ownership. The Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Program has proven that OSS drives down the total cost of ownership through its pilot projects. An overall 30% savings have been achieved, of which 80% arose due to savings in licensing fees and 58% was due to reduction in development costs.

Innovation in Open Source software development can bring about the next breakthrough in product commercialization through shorter development cycle. Since 2004, MAMPU has utilized Open Source software development model for rapid development of products at a lower cost by building upon existing solutions. Up to now, MAMPU has developed 8 OSS-based products for use by all public sector agencies. This OSS development methodology will be the key differentiator to be more competitive. In addition, by providing a skills development environment valued by employers and retaining a greater share of value-add within a business organization, Open Source software can encourage the creation of businesses and jobs.

Alongside in this conference, MAMPU’s sharing of the Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Program and experiences is critical for the industry’s understanding of the Government's objectives, policies, strategic thrusts and targets, which involves the participation of the business and R&D community.

“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.

MAMPU as the lead agency has been driving, leading and guiding the Malaysian Public Sector OSS Program. “To date, 462 agencies nationwide have implemented OSS with known savings of more than RM47 million,” she added.

OSCONF 2009 will consist of three separate tracks – Business, Developer and Community – that will feature speakers from the likes of Mozilla, Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Red Hat, as well as Ubuntu, BSD, Fedora and PHP.

Among the renowned International speakers at the conference are Chris DiBona, Open Source Program Manager at Google, Gen Kanai, Director of Asia, Business Development & Marketing at Mozilla, and Oliver Bell, Regional Technology Officer at Microsoft Asia Pacific.

In the business track, the objective is to share/exchange knowledge on legal issues, business models, case studies, addressing talent issues and qualifying potential markets / users, so that participants can be more creative and resilient in creating opportunities during these challenging time.

In the developer track, the objective is to share/exchange contemporary and advanced knowledge on the Open Source technology, such as new tools and languages, new computing models, new ways, as well as new approaches and application of Open technology, so that developers can grow new ideas and innovate for better future products and services.

In the community track, passionate and innovative community members and leaders will put forth their ideas and concepts, to other members of the Open Source and business community, so that the community can gain insights and contribute further refinement or add value to the speakers’ presentations.

Besides presentations by confirmed speakers, OSCONF 2009 is also calling for papers to be presented at the Community Track.

In addition, there will be a Hackathon Day on the opening day of the conference, featuring various Open Source workshops and tutorials, an Install Fest, and a Lamp2Win competition with prizes comprising worth RM10,000 and free enrollment to MSC Malaysia Intensive Technopreneur Development program are up for grabs.

OSCONF 2009 is sponsored by Red Hat Asia Pacific, Telekom Malaysia, Microsoft, Jobstreet Bhd, AeU University, Sun Microsystems and Novell.

For more information on OSCONF 2009, please visit www.mscmalaysia.my/onsconf.

Conference Highlights
Day 1Hackathon Day -- various workshops and tutorial, InstallFest, Lamp2Win competition.
Day 2Conference keynote by Anthony Baxer of Google and Oliver Bell of Microsoft
Day 3Conference keynote by Chris DiBona of Google
Day 4Conference Keynote by Harris Pillay of Red Hat