SMC/StatementOnNCFS2008Kochi

The National Conference on Free Software which holds the motto of Free Software, Free Knowledge and Free Humanity was held on Cochin University of Science And Technology(CUSAT). The main organisers of the event are Cochin University of Science and Technology(CUSAT), Open Software Solutions Industrial Co-Operative Society(OSSICS), Appropriate Technology Promotion Society(ATPS) and Kerala State IT@School Project. In addition to the above mentioned organizations, other Free Software Community which also includes Swathanthra Malayalam Computing(SMC) was also invited to organise the event. Members from SMC were part of the Programme Committee and the Souvenir Committee. The prime sponsors of the event were Keltron, State Bank of India and Linux For You Magazine. A number of NGO's and private organization were also participated in the four day exhibition and two day seminars. All of the sponsors and the participating members were listed in the website of NCFS. However, one such organization was hidden from the sponsor list, which is the notorious Novell Corporation.

Even though, SMC was also included in the organising committee, there were no indication that Novell was the platinum sponsor of this Free Software Event. The organisers never communicated about the sponsorship and thus cheated the whole Free Software community as Novell did. This evident from the incidents that occured after the peaceful protest against Novell by the SMC members present at the meeting.