Link from the Philippines... and many ideas

Keep in touch with what's happening in the Philippines, a country which has had a user group going for a decade and more. Surely Asia has a lot to learn from here. Marvin Pascual, who heads the Philippine Linux Users' Group, Inc. tells us about the activities of user groups in the Philippines that gives a nice picture of the way ahead.

Marvin Pascual of the Philippines has been actively leading efforts to plug for Free and Open Source Software through the group, aptly, called the PLUG. That's short for the Philippine Linux Users' Group, Inc.

A short, self-description goes thus: " For over 10 years already, the Philippine Linux Users' Group, or PLUG, has been actively promoting the adoption of the GNU/Linux operating system in the Philippines. It is composed of volunteers, individuals as well as institutions, who actively advocate for the wider usage of the GNU/Linux operating system and other free and open source technologies."

Marvin mentioned that Eric Pareja was the first person in the Philippines to get a copy of GNU/Linux on a floppy disc! The PLUG was created in 1994. It has a mailing list. Actually, lists, because there are five lists. There's an IRC channel, with all the geeks active on it at night, offering real-time support! There's also a web portal, and quarterly technical seminars.

Besides observing Software Freedom Day both this year and in the last, the group has also marked Linux 99 (to mark the birthday of the kernel), Linux 10th birthday, Manila Con 'Know They Enemy' (a hacking competition to see who could find a hidden file from various OS-based servers onto their desktop), the Phil OS Conference, and Linux World Philippines Conference 2005 comes up from September 14-16.

Check out this list of Filipino-made (Free and) Open Source Software Index. Marvin gave a list of 'extension' groups of the PLUG, including Unplug, CebuLUG, DabaweGNU, MITCLug, Batangas and more... but it slipped past a bit fast in the presentation. Great work guys!