Shurkum discusses FOSS role in entrepreneurship
The Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC) on Sunday organised the tenth session of Shurkum highlighting ‘the role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in enhancing entrepreneurship’ at Sas Center for Mobile Apps Development.
It was attended by Dr Salim bin Sultan al Ruzaiqi, CEO of Ministry of Technology and Communications and specialists from government and private organisations.
The session covered topics like the actual utilisation of FOSS in Oman and its influence on the economy, education and entrepreneurship. Another topic discussed the challenges facing individuals and organisations that want to benefit from FOSS in Oman.
The session also discussed enabling FOSS utilisation in the Omani market and the relation between FOSS and Open Data.
The session was attended by representatives of government and private entities, and members of the public.
It featured speakers from different entities.
The first speaker was Prof Hadj Bourdoucen, dean of the College of Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University, who talked among other things about the importance of FOSS on the society to provide development solutions in various fields.
The second speaker representing MTC was Khalil al Maawali, project executive, who said, “Oman has been leading the field in supporting FOSSbased initiatives since 2010 and is now viewed as a FOSS-friendly country.”
The third speaker was Dr Riyadh al Balushi, assistant consultant in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, who commented on the legislative perspective by saying, “There are no legislative obstacles facing the users who purchase these applications, whether entities or individuals.”
The final speaker was Mazin al Saadi who represents Mazaad, a success story in terms of an SME using FOSS. He said that ‘licensed programmes are expensive, that is why FOSS is the saving solution for Small and Medium Enterprises’.