Open World Forum and Open Source Think Tank to bring together key players from the world of Free, Libre and Open Source Software in Paris, September 28th-2nd October 2009.

FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) is arguably one of the best examples of open, collaborative, internationally distributed production and development. FLOSS provides numerous benefits for developing countries, such as low cost, adaptability, and a free-of-charge high quality training environment, as shown by the FP6 FLOSSWORLD study.

In my last post I mentioned Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). Many people don’t know what FLOSS is, but it’s really quite simple. FLOSS is software that anybody can see and that they are free to change to suit their needs. FLOSS is programs that that don’t cost an arm and a leg and a first born son. Examples are Linux, OpenOffice.org, GIMP, Apache Web Server, MySQL, and many more.

An important open source event will take place in Paris on September 24th and 25th 2008 : it is called "Paris Capitale du Libre" (PCL) and it is organised by the FNILL (French national federation of the free
software industry): http://www.paris-libre.org/.

Urging public administrations to use Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) and open standards is one thing. Getting them to really take the jump is quite another. In the Netherlands, the OSOSS programme is helping ministries and municipalities to make their IT strategies more open.

Documentation is one area in which free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) is weakest. A project called FLOSS Manuals is trying to remedy this situation. The idea behind project is to create quality, free documentation for free software.

In one of my earliest blog posts here I called Richard Stallman, a father of the open source movement and almost immediately got a personal nastygram. From Richard Stallman. I appreciated it and have sought to be more careful. Stallman believes in free software, which he calls Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). (It’s also called Free Open Source Software (FOSS).)

This year's Open World Forum 2009, held in Paris, brought together the company heads of open source companies, public and government organisations and customers who use open source, for an exchange of views and an opportunity to map out the future of open source.

A lot of discussion goes into how to talk about FLOSS - free libre open-source software (for starters how about not using strange acronyms that sound like something you keep with your toothbrush). A recent Earthweb article discusses this topic, pointing out some of the mistakes that are made.