I have been on my toes for the last one month doing the ground work for the upcoming GNU/Linux Install Fest in Technopark. The install fest is scheduled for the first week of September and you can read more about it at GNU/Linux Users Group Trivandrum's website. Preparations for the fest are still underway and we have got most of the issues under control.

Planning and operations are being managed out of Zyxware. I have barely been able to get myself to check my personal mails let even blog about anything for the last month because of this fest. Most of the official and bureaucratic issues for the fest have now been taken care off and I am a bit relaxed and thought I should update my blog with the latest happenings at my end.

Running after the relevant permissions and partnerships, waiting for appointments, waiting to see people, typing letters, calling up people, preparing and editing documents took up most of my time for almost a month. I was doing insane schedules also. Yesterday was a very important day in the organization of the event as we got a confirmation from the Education Minister's office that he will be coming for inaugurating the install fest.

During this install fest, we at zyxware are planning to launch India's first freedom toaster, Work on that is already under way and we should have a working Freedom Toaster at the end of this week or early next week. This is sure to be a block buster hit as nobody has done this in India before. We have designed the toaster in such a way that the whole thing can be dismantled and packed and shipped very easily. If we get queries to build more of this we should easily be able to do it.

The install fest in Technopark is very significant in several perspectives. This is probably the first time that a community is aggressively pushing free software to the heart of non-free software. This is again important given that it is going to be conducted in Kerala where the government has proclaimed that free software is going to be the way forward. Additionally this is a test on the claims by the community that GNU/Linux has already grown into a viable alternative to proprietary systems.

We still have a lot to complete before Sep 1, but I am very confident that we are going to pull this off. The whole organization and mobilization part was a learning experience in itself and the fest itself is going to be another good experience. Irrespective of the outcome we are going to have a lot of fun. In any case let us wait and see.