Nepal's first FOSS Training and Research Center is opened at Brihaspati Vidyasadan School (BVS) at Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal. This Center has been made possible by the financial help from Help Nepal Network and BVS Alumni and technical help from FOSS Nepal, the community involved in spreading free and open source technologies in Nepal.

Every year, for the last couple of years, FOSS community Nepal has been getting a small stall to showcase whatever they have to the unusually large mass that come to witness the event. Not that FOSS is going anywhere in Nepal, but still that opportunity to try and create awareness existed.

On the occassion of Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2008, one of the three winners of the SFD 2007 Best Event competition, the FOSS Nepal community has issued "Kathmandu Declaration", that was signed by over 700 professionals, students and other FOSS enthusiasts, amidst the presence of Nepal's Minister of Science and Technology, journalists and government officials.

On the fertile battlefield of open source vs. closed source, Nepal has signalled a change as free and open source software such as Linux has been adopted as a serious contender to commercial software, a la Microsoft.

Simply Give donation program has brought the first XO Laptop to Nepal. The lucky one is Prajesh Dulal. Jane Smith (USA) has contributed the laptop. Today he came to OLPC Nepal office for learning how to use this beautiful machine.

September 15, 2007 is going to be celebrated the world over as Software Freedom Day(SFD). SFD is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

What do you plan to do on this year’s Software Freedom Day? I plan to do the following in the coming days leading up to September 15:

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere!

The main factor working against the growth of open source software in Asia has been the ready availability of pirated versions of Microsoft's software. However, open source advocates are gaining traction in places such as Nepal, where Linux is growing in popularity.

Please join us in bringing some of the Software Freedom Day celebration and advocacy to the LibrePlanet wiki, to build a resource and meeting place that will last throughout the year. Saturday, September 18th is Software Freedom Day, a worldwide celebration of user freedom.