by sflc_admin    |    September 4, 2015

Croatian policy encourages open source adoption

Earlier this year, Croatian political party Sustainable Development of Croatia (ORaH) published a new policy that encourages the government to pursue open source solutions, addresses the dangers of vendor lock-in, and insists on open document standards. Best of all, they did it the open source way.

Croatia is newest member of the European Union and has an economy that’s largely driven by tourism. In IT, Croatia’s largest export is brains: young and not-so-young engineers leave the country to work for companies all around the world. Why? With an unemployment rate of 15.3%, Croatia’s economy is one of the weakest in the EU. In Croatian startup incubators, new entrepreneurs are taught “if you want to succeed, you have to leave.”

Despite this, the Croatian open source community is rather active. There’s a number of nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, and the Association of Linux Users, which boasts more than 3,000 members, is one of the largest.

Linux and open source stacks are well established in Croatian industry and academia—empty wallets make free software even more attractive. Despite this, most Croatian government agencies have failed to recognize the benefits of open source software.

Read full article here : http://opensource.com/government/15/8/croatia-open-source-policy

Linux helps rural student transform rocky academic start into FOSS confidence

Gauthamraj Elango, based in Erode, district in state of Tamilnadu in south India.  Perundurai is a small town in the district of Erode, located in the state of Tamilnadu in southern India. agricultural farming was the main source of work and income for people in the village. But due to poor rainfall and the low cost of crops, many people stopped farming and left the village to work in factories in the city. There is one elementary school in Sullippalayam that teaches up to class of five students from the village, where exposure about to computers and technology is limited but does exist.

This article tells story of Mr. Gauthamraj Elango, whose life have been changed because of Linux operating system. Read full article here : http://opensource.com/life/15/8/my-linux-story-gauthamraj-elango

Original author: sflc_admin