[icedwater]

Included below is the official mailer. No, this isn't spam, it's advertising. Draw the line where you will Sent on behalf of the FOSA Secretary...

=====
Hi there!

The Free and Open Source Alliance (FOSA.sg) would like to invite you to take part in Software Freedom Day Singapore 2009. We have a number of events lined up for you next month on September 18 and 19 at the Singapore Management University, Bras Basah and the National Library Building, Bugis, and we hope you'll be able to join in.

We'll have events all day on both days. On Friday (September 18), we'll be organizing a series of talks at the NLB, providing an overview of setting up and using free and open source software in business, government and education, aimed primarily at a non-technical audience. Saturday (September 19) will see two simultaneous events: at SMU, we'll have tutorial sessions on the use of open source tools and techniques, aimed specifically at a technical audience. At the same time, we'll have booths set up at the National Library Building's plaza to introduce members of the public to the benefits of open source, the wide range of powerful, reliable tools available for free, and to the participants, both companies and groups, involved in the open source community in Singapore. Event overviews are available at Free and Open Source Alliance (Singapore) ; detailed schedules will online as soon as they're ready.

Please get in touch with us if you'd like to take part. We're especially eager to get open source groups to come down to the NLB plaza on Saturday to present themselves to passerbys, geeks and non-geeks alike, and to advertise your particular area of interest within the open source galaxy to all our visitors. While we'll definitely try to cover as many bases and organize as interesting an event as possible, I'm sure your expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm will make all the difference in turning curious onlookers into interested participants - and maybe the open source users and contributors of tomorrow.

We need all the help we can get, particularly in volunteers, ideas and marketing. If you'd like to help out, cheer us on, promote us to your friends or family, or support us in any other way, you can find out more at the FOSA website (Free and Open Source Alliance (Singapore)) and the SFDS website (Free and Open Source Alliance (Singapore)), or on our mailing list at fosa-discuss@foss-alliance.sg. If all else fails, you can get in touch with me, gaurav at ggvaidya dot com. This would also be a great time for you to meet FOSA.sg and give us your ideas and suggestions on how we can best work towards the common interests of open source groups and communities in Singapore.

See you in September!

cheers,
Gaurav