*Discussion on Open Source Business Model* While many of the ICT people are developing their capacity by practicing Open Source, some of them are even developing profitable business on it! Experts commented so during a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) on Saturday, 22nd March. With this event, BdOSN has launched it's Monthly Talk Program on Open Source Issues in the country. On the very first event, the speaker was Mr. M Zakaria Chowdhury, Director, WebCraft Bangladesh, and the title of the speech was "Business Opportunities with Open Source Software". Mr. Chowdhury runs his business on the Internet from Sylhet. In GetACoder, one of the most prominent workplace for freelancers, he has achieved 532nd rank among 2,00,000+ developers! WOW!
Mr. Chowdhury discussed on different aspects of Open Source projects. He also focused on what is Open Source business, different websites for projects, types of available projects, how to start on them etc. Freelancing on the Internet is a profession which doesn't require even an office. The catch is you can work for any person or company of any country while staying at home. In his speech, Zakaria described the process of freelancing websites like Rent-A-Coder, Get-A-Coder etc and how to start working with them. Using Open Source softwares and technology, one can start an ICT based business with a lower cost, he added. Recently, the customers are also relying more on softwares developed using Open Source tools because of their transparency and robustness. Most of the projects available on the freelancing websites are PHP based websites. Others include software projects on different platforms. As Mr. Chowdhury said, many Bangladeshi developers are working with very high reputation in these projects. He answered different questions from the participants and demonstrated an animation created on Open Source software Blender. Munir Hasan, General Secretary of BdOSN, Bellayet Hossain, Administrator of Bangla Wikipedia, Mr. Asif, Professor of Dhaka University, Rashid Naim, Tarif Ezaz, members of BdOSN were present among the participants. The title of the next episode of this series is "Game Development on Open Source Software" and it will take place next month. The organizers also informed that they are going to arrange a workshop on PHP technology from 3rd to 6th April. -- BPR Ferdous Ahmed Tanin -- |=============| Regards, Abu Mohammad Omar Shehab Uddin Ayub Software Engineer, Nilavo Technologies, Banani, Dhaka Bangladesh Open Source Network, Dhaka 2000 batch, Dept. of CSE, SUST www.nilavo.com www.bdosn.org www.sust.edu
