DUSHANBE, March 27, 2013, Asia-Plus – Open Source ERP (enterprise resource planning) specialists from Central Asia’s countries have gathered in Dushanbe for the Regional Open Source Conference of Central Asia (ROSCCA) 2013 that kicked off here on March 26. 

Organized by Open Source Alliance of Central Asia (OSACA), ICT Center, Public Fund Internet, and Public Fund CIPI in partnership with ICT Council under the President of Tajikistan under financial support of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF-Tajikistan), the ROSCCA 2013 is being held at the Ismaili Center Dushanbe.

The Regional Open Source Conference of Central Asia (ROSCCA) 2013 is a consultation of the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) users groups from Central Asia and South Asia.  This is the 2nd Regional Open Source Conference of Central Asia.

The Regional Conference has brought together experts, advocates, educators, policymakers, high officials, youth and the mass media to discuss the most pressing technology issues, foster regional collaboration and showcase latest technologies.

The conference members, in particular, include Talat Numonov, Asomiddin Atoyev and Muhabbatsho Ruzadorov from Tajikistan, Lilia Kim from Kyrgyzstan, Omar Mansour Ansari from Afghanistan, Sohrab Monfared from Iran and Sufyan Kakakhel from Pakistan.

ROSCCA 2013 covers variety of topics, presents research and industry papers, tutorials, thematic sessions, panel discussions, hands-on training workshops and project demonstrations.

Held every year at one of the Central Asian cities, ROSCCA is the premier forum of Open Source technologies in the region.  It brings together the most influential business leaders, academics, researchers, policymakers, government officials and professionals from around the world to discuss the present and future of FOSS in Central Asia.

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that respects the freedom of computer users (private individuals, as well as organizations and companies), by putting the users first and granting them freedom and control in running and adapting their computing and data-processing to their needs; as well as allowing them the freedom to be able to actively cooperate with any users and developers of their choice.  Users of free software are free in these activities (in the sense of freedom), since they do not need to ask for any permission and are not restricted in the activities (compare e.g. copy-restriction of proprietary software licenses).