Hello,I am a teacher of Computer Science, from India.

Last week I was a participant in a very fine event, here in trivandrum. This was the Linux installfest, held at Technopark, Trivandrum. The fest was the brainchild of LUG Trivandrum. It was supported by ZYXware a FOSS based techompany of TVM. They actually assembled and built a "Freedom Toaster" which looked like a softdrinks vending machine. There were just two major differences though. 1. It did not pour out soft drinks. It gave you CDs of the Linux distro of your choice. 2. You didnot have to drop any money, to get it working. It was all FREE ! Gratis !  Muft. There were of course other goodies available for a modest price. But the best offer was the bunch of enthusiastic young volunteers who were all too ready to help you with your Linux related glitches. They just came to you on their own, like angels, and solved your problems.

The saddest, and the most shameful part, was of course the poor attendance. Even students and staff of IIITMK, an IT institution which is literally next door, did not care to take notice of this golden opportunity. When will we shed our indifference and callousness ? When will we stop patronising big-money-bullies and Hitlers ?

Any way, thanks to you guys of TVMLUG. You did a great job.

partha