Last Thrusday, 25th June, took place the II Comunity Morfeo Meeting in Iberoamerica organized by Morfeo Cono Sur in the Technologic Institute of Buenos Aires – ITBA (Argentina). Latin Americans Software Industry representatives, universities and free software communities of different nationalities enjoyed in this meeting.
Opening the event took charge by the admiral Dr. Enrique Molina Pico, rector of ITBA, who offered a warm welcome to all participants of the meeting and stressed the importance of Free Software in the technological evolution. Gerardo Renzetti, ESI Cono Sur Center director and head of the Morfeo Regional Office (Cono Sur), continued with the presentation of the regional office of the Morfeo Project. T hereupon, he gave way to the head of the Morfeo Office Andrés Leonardo Martínez Ortiz de Telefónica I + D (Spain), who explained the objectives of the project and the different stages since its inception in 2004.
During the meeting, it was talked about the current vision of free software in the region. Released free software projects undertaken at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, the role of governments and the Chambers and the projects housed in the various communities in the region.
Andrew L. Martínez Ortiz stated some of the free software development that are taking place in the Morfeo Community. For example, MyMobileWeb technology that simplifies the development of accessible websites and EzWeb/Fast, technology web that allows you to configure your own web window and interrelate various gadgets to offer facilities and services that were not possible to obtain before. He also presented the Free Software Universities contest that has been done at several universities in Spain through the Morfeo Community in which allow collaborative development knowledge to students and it can be translate into ideas that may have a future economic development. Due to the success of these competitions in Spain, the representative of the Spain Morfeo office suggested this scheme in Cono Sur with the universities in the region which could be interested.
He also introduced the Competence Center QualiPSo/Morfeo, whose goal is help to boost the free software industry to translate projects into products of the market demand. Their quality are evaluated, interacting with traditional communities of free software and give information to companies that can provide this kind of technology and return benefits to traditional communities. Morfeo Center also works in cooperation with the international network Qualipso with a center in Brazil and another in China.
The representative of the European Software Institute of Bilbao Alejandra Ruiz introduced the Morfeo Formación y Certificación en Tecnologías Libres service to boost training in the Morfeo projects and free software projects in general. Training courses are aimed at universities, businesses and centers of competence in order to integrate a program of certification of industry professional skills under license from Creative Commons.By.ShareAlike.
These Morfeo training courses are now required in Paraguay, Brazil or Venezuela to implement the management of their governments because of the lack of access and digital inclusion, and a massive shortage in the supply of local free software. As a measure to develop free software, the government has decided to incorporate professionals of these technologies in their administrations, said Ivan Prieto, president of the free software community in Paraguay, COSOLPY.
For her part, Claudia Banchoff, secretary for the extension of the School of Computer Sciences UNLP, explained the work done in free software for that academic unit. It is included the distribution of GNU/Linux Lihue and its application in education in primary, secondary and university levels. She described the successive addition of free software in the faculty for the last 10 years and also that they work with large companies to dispose of hardware with Linux, Java, PHP, etc. in the university. As well, she mentioned the social action projects that allow students to encourage development tasks for IT support to social assistance organizations, educational ones and sectors that do not have funds for their solutions, all of this, of course, with free software uses.
Among the speakers of the day, besides those already mentioned, we can emphasize the following names: Miguel Ángel Calello (CESSI – Argentina), Daniel Coletti (Cadesol – Argentina), Martín Olivera (Asociación Solar – Argentina y MORFEO Cono Sur) and Tania Gallardo Turiel (CSOL – Chile).
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