The Government of Pakistan is committing itself to the reduction of Piracy and the protection of Intellectual Property. In this one element is the development of open source technologies and LINUX is going to be the corner stone of this initiative. This Task Force is expected to pull together committed professionals (e.g. PLUC), Academicians, practicing software people to set up future directions for Pakistan. This TF will have meetings, seminars and conferences to propagate and educate the user community at large. They will also come out with R&D programs for creating projects to be funded by the Government for the creation of user friendly Client/ Server software, training strategies, usage in the development of applications including local language software development, proposal for induction into the syllabus, etc.,  as well as focused training programs.

Formation of Linux Task Force

A professional Forum is being established with objectives to oversee and drive the development of Linux in Pakistan IT Community. Open Source is a global information technology phenomenon that brings the benefits of using and developing cutting edge software technology to all.  At the same time Open Source software frees economically deprived entities from the burden of resorting to software piracy for their genuine software needs.  Since the Government of Pakistan is committing itself to the reduction of Piracy and the protection of Intellectual Property Rights, a program to make Open Source technology indigenous in the country is strongly needed.  In view of this direction set by the GoP, LINUX is going to be the corner stone of this initiative, as it is the world over in the Open Source movement. A Linux Task Force is therefore being formed under the auspices of Ministry of Science & Technology under TReMU.

Terms of Reference

• The process of making Linux and open source technologies indigenous has to follow the open source model itself and hence the Linux Task Force is being established consisting of volunteers with the desire and capability to participate in the process.

• Professionals in the Task Force will also come out with R&D programs for creating projects to be funded by the Government for the creation of user friendly Client/ Server software, training strategies, usage in the development of applications including local language software development, proposal for induction into the syllabus, etc as well as focused training programs.

• Various subgroups will be formed under the umbrella of the Linux Task Force and they will contribute by initiating various inventive projects in different critical areas with regard to Linux.

• To help in formulating policies and guidelines that will in turn create opportunities for Pakistani people in field of Linux.

• The Task Force will have meetings, seminars and conferences to propagate and educate the user community at large. Further to that, policy makers, technocrats and technical experts from various software houses will participate and bring awareness of Linux and its usefulness among the layman class.

• The professionals associated in the Task Force will pick up various threads to perform various key activities to engage their professionalism to deal with maneuvering productive activities for achieving ultimate goals of Linux.

• The Task Force will be responsible for technical review of the proposals and PC-1s and will also coordinate all technical matters/administrative matters related with Linux with GoP.

• Finally, this initiative has roots in several discussion that have been taking place on the issue of protection of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), adoption of Open Source as a National strategy, providing a basis for creating a skill set to enable our people to do original work, create a pool of LINUX expertise and get into the real nuts and bolts issues like embedded software using the LINUX platform.

If you are interested in participating please do fill out the requisite forms on our TReMU website. You can also contact us on: linux@tremu.gov.pk, however the submission of forms via the website is mandatory.