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Localization

The official language of all 140 million people of Bangladesh is 'Bangla'. Though English is taught in schools, colleges and universities here, a big portion of the literate people can't read English. The localization related activities of the BdOSN divided in Software Localization and Content Localization.

Software localization, lead by Ankur deals with the localization of Linux, Open Office, Gaim etc. The present thrust is with Open Office.org. To involve more people in the localization of software BdOSN organizes boot camp in different educational institution.

One of the main reason that open source is not being popular in Bangladesh is lack of Bangla contents that can reach the mass people. These contents mainly comprise books and web contents. At this moment there are a good number of open contents exists in English language. Some of them are published under GFDL/GNU/CC license and thus suitable for translation in other language. Among these two special types of books may be taken for translation. First, the books that will help people understand open source, benefits of open source, impact of open source in government, education and other important sectors of our lives. Another type of books is tutorials and user guides that will help people to use open source software.

One of the most successful open source projects is wikipedia. Like wikipedia of other languages, Bangla wikipedia is growing also, though still infant. After BdOSN has taken initiative to expedite the growth of Bangla wikipedia, it's growing faster. Though number of entries in Bangla wikipedia is already over 9000, most of these are stubs (i.e. incomplete article). So the next thing to do with Bangla wikipedia is to enrich the current articles or to create new good/complete articles.

Other Affairs

First BdOSN Code Sprint concluded with much appreciation and success

Four teams of students, led by professional software engineers from the industry, developed four Open Source Software in First BdOSN CodeSprint 2008 held in Sylhet from 15th to 17th August. The concluding ceremony was held on 17th August with the demonstration of the projects. The concluding ceremony was attended by the students, teachers as well as the participabts. Ms. Anika Mahmud, Lecturer of the department of CSE attended the same as the guest of honor. BdOSN arranged this event for the first time in Bangladesh with the support of SUST Open Source Network and CSE Society.

The SPIDER team, led by Tamim Shahriar Subeen, developed a tool which will allow the user to know the stock price on real time from cell phone. The team used Python as their programming language. Zakaria Chowdhury, along with his team - HOTCAKE, developed a rapid website development tool using PHP. Team GITTU, led by Mizanur Rahman Bipul, developed a social networking tool in Bangla and Omar Shehab, leading his team SHIAL MAMA, developed a Mozilla FireFox toolbar extension which will allow the user to type in Bangla in web page forms even if there is no Bangla support in the system.

Sylhet, August 17, 2008 READMORE

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First CodeSprint in Bangladesh begin

Students of Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology , Sylhet and few professionals start the first Code Sprint organized by Bangladesh Open Source Network. Professionals from Tiger It Ltd, Nilavo Software, Webcraft Bd Ltd, Arena Mobile and D.Net Bangladesh are also participating in the sprint. Supported by the CSE Society and OSN of SUST, the 3 days event begins with much enthusiasm. The programmer attending the Sprint will focus on 4 projects- A visual tool for quick website development, mobile tool for stock price searching, Development of a Bangla social networking site and a simple Bangla Input plug-in for Firefox.

The Sprint was inaugurated by Khandaker Tavir , Lecturer of CSE Department SUST and also addressed by the General Secretary of BdOSN.

SUST, Sylhet, August 15, 2008 READMORE

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UGC Chairman appreciated the members of NSTU OSN

Professor Dr Nazrul Islam Khan, the Chairman of the University Grant Commission appreciated the creative activities of the members of Open Source Network of the NSTU. In his recent visit to the university, he inaugurated the website of the CSTE Department of the University developed by NSTU OSN. On this occasion, a simple ceremony titled "Interactive Software as an Emerging Technology", was organized at the CSTE Department. Mr M.Mushfiq-E Mahabub presented the OS Philosophy and the necessity of using open source software in the country. He explained that the cost is not the only the reason, but to dominate in the field of technology, Bangladesh don't have any alternative other than using the open source software.

Noakhali, Bangladesh, August 09, 2008 READMORE

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Talk on Zen Cart held

The monthly talk of BdOSN for the month of July 2008 held at FREPD auditorium on 26th July 2008. Mr Suhreed Sarker presented the keynote talk on the topic “e-commerce site development using Zen card”. ( Zen Cart) an open source shopping cert software is now gaining popularity among the e-commerce site developer. Mr Sarker explained that the popularity was because of its user friendly environment and new features. Some of the features included but not limited to multiple customer modes, unlimited category depth , multiple sales and discounts , XHTML template system , multiple shipping options , multiple payment options, provision for gift voucher etc. Besides the programme allowed to write and uses third party plug-ins in a comfortable manner. He showed the different aspect of the programme to the audience.

Dhaka, July 26, 2008 READMORE