National Resource Centre for Free/Open Source Software

It is jointly administered by the Chennai Division of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the AU-KBC Research Centre of Anna University.

Some state governments, for example Kerala, already have programmes to popularize FOSS among the masses especially among the students. The founding of NRCFOSS is the first initiative by the Government of India in the direction of making efforts for increasing the acceptance of FOSS at a national level. NRCFOSS is designed to give a boost to the efforts to popularize FOSS products among lay computer users of India.

Objectives

NRCFOSS is mandated to work in areas related to Free/Open Source Software basically with the following objectives:

• Human resource development by
  • training engineering teachers in the formal sector
  • giving support to educational agencies in the nonformal sector.
• Development of technology, tools and solutions by
  • making available certified tools to industry and users
  • creating a repository of information on resources.
• Localisation for Indian languages by
  • enhancing the presence and visibility of Indian Languages on the web
  • coordinating with various local language communities.
• Policy formulation and global networking by
  • providing support to the Government and other agencies in policy and program formulation
  • joining global networks, especially with similarly placed nations, and participating in international events.
• Entrepreneurship development by
  • creating appropriate business models.