This year, the almost 5 years old Beijing Linux User Group (BLUG) is organizing Software Freedom Day in Beijing in collaboration with China OSS Promotion Union (COPU), China Silicon Intellectual Properties (CSIP), Tsinghua University and Ubuntu LocoTeam.

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this annual celebration is to educate the Chinese young public and their mentors about of the benefits of using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in their everyday life. Why, you will ask? Because Free Software can make your dreams come true!

Not only Free and Open Source Software allow you to do everything from office work, Internet browsing, emailing, chatting, 3D animations and movies, software development, listening to music and much more for free, but it gives you the additional freedom of participating and contributing in any of those community-developed applications without any job interview, learning from people past experiences, capitalizing on it and improving the output. This is your chance to contribute to make a better world all together, your chance to learn from the best free of charge, your chance to get a professional experience working with people all around the world without any selection, your chance to show that you are who you are and can get things done!

Software Freedom Day exists to show the general public what is the spirit of FOSS, that this is the way society has been evolving since the beginning of times, passing on knowledge from parents to children and improving it at every steps, and that now is applied to Software. The results have been overwhelming, producing high quality software and endorsed by leading companies, organizations and individuals around the World . Through the use of free software, you regain control over your computer and your data. Every person has the freedom to participate in and use free software, whether it be on a totally free operating system like Linux or on a non-free platform like Windows or Mac OS.

This Saturday, the Beijing LUG together with invited guest speakers from all horizons of the Open Source world will explain how beneficial Open Source is. Our activities shall gravitate around interactive speeches and demonstrations:

• 12 speakers from companies and communities supporting Open Source;
• 15 exhibitors covering everything from office suite, Internet suite, 3D applications, operating systems, games, mobile devices just to name a few.

We will be happy to answer any questions that you may have pertaining to FOSS. We will have CDs specially made for that event as give aways to every participant and loaded with Open Source Software in Chinese to install on Windows systems, as well as many other surprises!

At the end of the day a lucky draw will determine who will be the happy owner of a brand new OpenMoko mobile phone, a device running only Free Open Source Software.

Unlike with non-free software, FOSS is typified by extensive community networks that are able to provide detailed support should you need help. Examples include the Beijing Linux Users Group (BLUG), which hosts a forum, monthly meetings, and many social events for people of all skill levels.

Thanks to the financial and kind support of market leaders like Google, Red Flag Chinese 2000, Red Hat, Blue DJ Games, Mozilla Online, OpenMoko, CANDIS, Comsenz, Hoodong Wiki, MySQL, Red Flag Linux, Thiz Technology, TurboLinux and UbuntuCN this event can happen the right way and hopefully send out the right message!

If you have any further questions, please visit http://sfd.beijinglug.org. Otherwise, come and see us on Saturday, and we’ll show you in person!