FOSSLC
The Free and Open Source Software Learning Center ( FOSSLC for short ) is an independent, non-profit organization that has set itself the task of spreading knowledge and awareness about open source software and open standards and giving those who are curious about it the opportunity to deal with these issues.
FOSSLC offers lecture series and workshops for beginners and advanced users to immerse themselves in the topic of open source or to delve into it.
background
origin
At the end of 2007, the Ingres company in Ottawa, Canada put together a young team of developers who were supposed to deal with the implementation of geographic information system data types (GIS) in the database management system (DBMS). The majority of the team at the time consisted of university interns, for whom working in an open source environment was completely new. In preparation for the project work, the team's manager, Andrew Ross, organized training material on basics from Linux to Eclipse . Via connections to Carleton University and the Talent First Network, this introductory course quickly became the first open source boot camp to which everyone who wanted to get a taste of the topic of open source was invited. Several dozen participants came to the first event in January 2008 and the idea was born to expand the open source boot camp into a regular facility.
Success and spread
The idea of full-length events that convey beginners' knowledge in a condensed form to a wide audience was a complete success at the Carleton and within a short time, more bootcamps on a wide variety of topics related to open source followed almost monthly.
Still as part of the community work of the Ingres company, the open source bootcamp expanded at the end of 2008 to the USA, England and also to Germany, where local events were held in cooperation with the company's other locations. For example at the University of California, Berkeley and in Germany at the Technical University of Ilmenau .
Foundation of an association
Especially after the event in Berkeley with its very strong presence of lectures by Ingres employees, the open source boot camp threatened to lose its status as an independent platform. To counteract this, Andrew Ross decided at the end of 2008 to found the non-profit organization FOSSLC, or Free and Open Source Software Learning Center. With this form of organization, he gave the bootcamps the necessary legal framework and thus ensured their neutrality.
For the same reasons, the idea of founding an association arose in Germany in spring 2009, which then took place on July 8, 2009 at the TU Ilmenau. Since September 18, 2009, the German branch of FOSSLC has been entered in the register of associations in the city of Ilmenau and recognized as a non-profit organization.