PHNOM PENH —
Phnom Penh will host one of Asia’s biggest technology conferences later this month.
FossAsia, a conference on open source and free software, will be held in the capital Feb. 28 to March 2—a free event open to students, developers and entrepreneurs.
Technologies discussed at the conference will include many ideas for developing countries, such as mobile apps for education, 3-D printing technology, and IT solutions for start-ups, said Hong Phuc Dang, a co-organizer of the conference, which began in Vietnam in 2004.
“It’s not only for developers, but for everyone who is interested in technology,” he said. “If you have a laptop or a smart phone you can come to this event. Even you don’t have any of these, you still can come and meet us and learn more about open source.”
Participants will share open source software, which is free and allows users themselves to edit, customize or otherwise improve it.
That kind of software goes a long way in Cambodia, Hong Phuc Dang said. “Look at Cambodia 15 years ago: it was very difficult to find Khmer fonts. What happened is that people from Cambodia gathered and learned to do this, and now we have a lot of Khmer fonts because of the open source community.”
For larger software companies like Microsoft, Cambodia is a small market, one that is not considered important, Mario Behling, another co-organizer, told VOA Khmer. “And with the power of open source, you don’t have to wait for big companies to do things for you.”
FossAsia, a conference on open source and free software, will be held in the capital Feb. 28 to March 2—a free event open to students, developers and entrepreneurs.
Technologies discussed at the conference will include many ideas for developing countries, such as mobile apps for education, 3-D printing technology, and IT solutions for start-ups, said Hong Phuc Dang, a co-organizer of the conference, which began in Vietnam in 2004.
“It’s not only for developers, but for everyone who is interested in technology,” he said. “If you have a laptop or a smart phone you can come to this event. Even you don’t have any of these, you still can come and meet us and learn more about open source.”
Participants will share open source software, which is free and allows users themselves to edit, customize or otherwise improve it.
That kind of software goes a long way in Cambodia, Hong Phuc Dang said. “Look at Cambodia 15 years ago: it was very difficult to find Khmer fonts. What happened is that people from Cambodia gathered and learned to do this, and now we have a lot of Khmer fonts because of the open source community.”
For larger software companies like Microsoft, Cambodia is a small market, one that is not considered important, Mario Behling, another co-organizer, told VOA Khmer. “And with the power of open source, you don’t have to wait for big companies to do things for you.”
