<div class="gmail_quote">Assallam o Alikum! Following is introduction to COSP, a emerging community related to Open Source in Pakistan. << WHAT IS COSP? >> COSP stands for Community for Open Source Promotion. It is recently established community with the slogan of "Open Source - Opportunities Unlimited". << PURPOSE >> COSP's purpose is to promote Open Source by all possible means. We at COSP conduct workshops, quizes, seminars, exhibitions and etc to promote the word and raise awareness. From time to time, COSP members also develop applications which are licensed mostly under GPL and targeted at different industries. Details of such applications can be found at the Open Source Projects page here (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/os-projects" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/os-projects</a>). << MAJOR LIFELINE EVENTS >> COSP was established on 3rd January 2007. After a one solid year, with the joining of more people from other universities, COSP original branch was renamed to COSP Islamabad and a separate Local Team called COSP Lahore was created to facilitate new members on 1st January 2008. For the management of both team such as to synchronize them, a governance team called COSP HQ was created which is solely responsible for management of Local Teams, synchronizing them, avoiding disputes, defining new rules and structure, and enforcing Code of Conduct. << ACHIEVEMENTS >> •    Workshop-1, in PIEAS during February-March 2007 on Ubuntu, was the first achievement. And it then turned into a key to new inductions as well. •    Workshop-2, in PIEAS during the summer breaks in 2007 on LAMP. •    Workshop-3, in PIEAS on December 5, 2007 on LaTeX •    Software Freedom Day Team •    ODF Alliance Member << FUTURE PLANS >> •    Plan to conduct some Open Source Awareness Seminars and workshops. •    Plan to raise awareness to more of the people and induct new members. •    To develop a small network of students, putting their effort in promoting Open Source. •    Decreasing the rate of dependency on closed Source especially at university level. •    To create a cooperative environment in promoting Open Source. •    Develop some open source applications to facilitate students to migrate to open source. << FUTURE EVENTS >> •    LWC20OS (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/LWC20OS" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/LWC20OS</a>) (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32494800526" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32494800526</a>) << LOCAL TEAMS >> •    COSP Islamabad (Previously COSP) •    COSP Lahore << DISCUSSION VENUES >> •    COSP Forums: <a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/forum/" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/forum/</a> •    COSP Facebook Group: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11777764508" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11777764508</a> << DOWNLOAD PROFILE >> If you are interested, you may download detailed PDF version of COSP Profile available here (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/profile" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/profile</a>) << WHO CAN JOIN AND HOW TO JOIN? >> We would welcome anyone who has an interest to join our growing community. Whether you are a lover of GNU/Linux , or considering starting to learn about Open Source software, we would love to hear from you. We recommend you to view the articles below for some basic information on what Open Source means, and information about the COSP: •    What is Open Source? (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/what-is-open-source" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/what-is-open-source</a>) •    Open Source-onomics (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/open-source-onomics" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/open-source-onomics</a>) •    How to Contribute? (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/how-to-contribute" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/how-to-contribute</a>) •    Code of Conduct (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/home/join-us/code-of-conduct" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/home/join-us/code-of-conduct</a>) If there is a way in which you may be able to contribute, we would be more than happy to have you on board. Please contact us at cosphq[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk including your name, email address, address[optional], country, interests and which team you would be interested in joining e.g. COSP Islamabad/Lahore. Also if there are any other Open Source promotion communities in your neighbourhood, please let us know to facilitate working together in the promotion of Open Source technologies. COSP is mainly run by students, who conduct events in their universities with the help of whole team. So university students are more than simply welcomed to join us and COSP Team will help in conducting such events e.g. seminars, workshops, etc in your university. << HOW TO SUPPORT US? >> We are a non-profit organization who either do not charge participants or only that much which is enough to compensate our venue charges, refreshments, printed manuals, CDs and etc. We are looking for companies or individuals which are interested in supporting us. You can help us by: •    Giving us your Financial support. You can send your funds to cosphq[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk on AlertPay.com •    Arranging resources such as transport •    Helping us in preparation of this event like Designing & Printing of posters, leaflets, certificates etc. •    Developing the required Modules for the site listed here (<a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/home/support-us/modules-required" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/index.php/home/support-us/modules-required</a>). BENEFITS OF BEING A SUPPORTER You will be included in our Friends' network for 1 year during which: •    Your logo with a link to your site will be placed on our site, your information will be included in the community profile. A Forum category will be created where you could advertise your product and/or inform people of your research areas and etc •    You will get implicit invitation to all events of COSP. •    Your company banners and poster will be displayed on event sites. •    From time to time OSS Exhibitions will be conducted where you would be able to advertise your products. •    You will have access to the training material used during events like guides, howtos and etc. If you find yourself interested, you can drop us an email at cosphq[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk << CONTACT US >> •    If you want to join/support COSP, contribute to COSP site or just want to contact COSP HQ, email at cosphq[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk •    To contact COSP Islamabad, email at cospisb[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk •    To contact COSP Lahore, email at cosplhr[SPAMFREE]cosp[DOT]org[DOT]pk •    You can also get to us via joining #cosp on <a href="http://irc.freenode.net" target="_blank">irc.freenode.net</a> •    Facebook Group : <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11777764508" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11777764508</a> •    COSP Forums: <a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk/forum/" target="_blank">http://www.cosp.org.pk/forum/</a>  </div> Regards, Allah Nigehban and Assallam O Alikum, Muhammad Shoaib, Team Lead COSP HQ, <a href="mailto:shoaibi@cosp.org.pk">shoaibi@cosp.org.pk</a> Registered Linux User #442883 Registered Ubuntu User #12051 <a href="http://www.cosp.org.pk">http://www.cosp.org.pk</a> <a href="mailto:iknewitalready@gmail.com">iknewitalready@gmail.com</a> Contact # 0321-5185334 ------------------------- "Community for Open Source Promotion, Open Source - Opportunities Unlimited" "Great programmers are lazy, and lazy programmers think in terms of reusability." If i can make French Fries at my home free, why should i go to next door McDonalds? Wheelchairs are meant for the people who are limp, cannot walk, do not want to walk or afraid to walk, are they for you?