Jakarta, 09 September 2009. With support from the Ministry of Research and Technology and the Department of Communication and informatics, Association of Open Source Indonesia (AOSI) is currently preparing a great event titled “Global Conference on Open Source”. This event scheduled to be held in Jakarta on October 26 to 27, 2009 and targeted to be attended by 500 participants, 50% of them are delegates from various countries around the world.

Global Conference on Open Source (GCOS) aims to bring the global open source community together in order to address the growing demand for open source technology in every social spectrum. GCOS will generate an international collaboration among governments, businesses, academicians, and communities to strengthen the position of open source, making it more attractive and valuable for the society at large.

“In Indonesia, through GCOS we expect to build momentum for the growth of national ICT industry and to promote Indonesia’s leadership in Open Source to the international community," said Betti Alisjahbana, Chief Organizer GCOS..

In a meeting organized by the GCOS Committee on September 11, 2009 at the Ministry or Research and technology office in Jakarta, various aspects of GCOS event such as speakers confirmation. venue and participants was discussed.

Nearly 100% of Indonesian speakers have confirmed their participation They are: Dr Zainal Hasibuan from the National ICT Board (DeTIKNas), Dr. Gatot HP from SEAMOLEC (Southeast Asian Minister of Education Organization Regional Open Learning Center), Dr Onno W Purbo (the National ICT

activist), and from various institutions such as Telkom, Samudera Indonesia, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province, Jembrana District-Bali,  BlankOn Linux, Sangkuriang Studio, University of Gajah Mada, Department of Communication and Informatics, CommonRoom, and Bandung Istitute of Technology.

Many International speakers such as Todishiro YOSHIDA (NTT Japan), Dr Clam Webb ( Harvard University), Richard Randriatoamanana (CNRS France), Prof. A Min Tjoa (Vienna University of Technology), Ms Andrea Reimer (Councilor, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada),  Prof. Rajanish Dass ( Indian Institute of Management) have confirmed their participation. In addition, Asia Open Source Software (AOSS) and NECTEC Thailand  have also confirmed to participate.

The GCOS  committee is at the moment finalizing several more confirmation from other international speakers from:  MAMPU (Malaysia), SITA (South Africa,), Gendarmeri Nationale (France Police), MIC (Japan), NICTA (Australia), TEC (New Zealand), Indian State of Kerala, Open Source Initiative, Extremadura Regional Government (Spain), KERIS  (Korea), Asianux, (Korea), Bayanihan Linux (Philipines), IBM, Sun Micro System, Userful, Inc ( Canada),  Ubuntu, Canonical Inc (UK), dan OpenSUSE, Novell (German/USA).

Several workshops will also be conducted  during the conference. For more information and registration please visit GCOS official website at http://gcos.info