The official mythology of FOSS states that it is a meritocracy, and that only the code matters. The reality is not nearly so happy. On September 19th, the GNOME Foundation and the Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on women in FOSS. Will it do any good? How much of a problem is it really?

When you are a free and open source software (FOSS) supporter, life often seems black and white. What you decided would say a great deal about your reasons for supporting FOSS.

The headline says "Why Code For Free", but it's really more complicated than that because there are many FOSS developers who are paid to work on FOSS projects. In this final part of our series, more developers speak on the rewards of being part of the FOSS community.

I've been watching the latest kerfuffle about sexism in the FOSS community with a combination of concern and dismay. Concern, because it's an issue I care deeply about and dismay because both sides are so busy screaming at each other, no one is stopping to listen.

Last week we took a look at four great Linux/FOSS applications that are as good as any of their competitors, FOSS or proprietary. Today I'll wrap up with four more.

I can’t help but feel that concentrating on one single aspect of FOSS (the cost) was rather missing a trick here. As we approach the BETT show next week and my head is firmly in FOSS-in-Education mode right now I think there are other really great features of FOSS that are in my opinion at least as, if not even more, important than cash

"If you care about FOSS generally, I need you to show up at the HIMSS meeting. If you care about FOSS in Health IT, it is especially important that you be there. I believe that FOSS is the only real hope for untangling the mess that is Health IT." - interview with Fred Trotter

A new wave of women's liberation is crashing on an unexpected shore, the world of free and open source developers. The FOSS communities might pride themselves with being the promoters of free, open and transparant. It is a world where a meritocracy rules, where you are judged by your skills and not by who you are of who you know. Right? Wrong!

FOSSDev is an year long (Jan '08 to FOSSMeet@NITC '09) contest which aims at promoting contributions to FOSS projects. Total prize money amounts to Rs. 23,500 (will increase, subjected to sponsorships). If you have any queries regarding FOSSDev, make a post in the forum.

It is announced as part of FOSS Meet@ NITC 2008 and its focus of bringing more student contributors to foss. Programs like Google Summer of code is helping more student contributions to foss from India. 60 students got selected in this years program. List of students selected for Google Summer of Code from India