A group of Kosovo Free Software enthusiasts established last week the Kosovo Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS Kosovo) organization. The organization aims to promote Free and Open Source Software and knowledge in the newborn South East European country of Kosovo by providing essential infrastructure and organizational framework for the support and development of open knowledge and software projects and other endeavours which serve this mission.

“Open standards are key to the development of a country such as Kosovo. We are not inventing anything, but joining a global movement and applying proven models to the local situation”, says Flakron Bytyqi, President of FLOSS Kosovo.

The keystone event of the organization is an annual Software Freedom conference, to be held for the first time on August 29-30, 2009 in Prishtina, Kosovo. It aims to showcase local and global speakers and software developers to a regional audience. Conference proceedings will be conducted in English, Albanian, Serbian, German and Turkish. Topics discussed will include Free Software, Open Source, collaborative content such as Wikipedia, and Voice over IP.

The group has found plenty of support in the local industry and is working in securing more participation from global companies and sister organziations. People contributing to the projects come from the local industry, academia and free software enthusiasts.

James Michael DuPont, American living in Germany and founder of FLOSS Kosovo says that “...the youth spending time in internet cafes should be writing software instead. Instead of playing Counter Strike, they should be editing the Wikipedia.”

Seventy percent of Kosovo’s 2.1 million inhabitants are under 35 years or age, while 25 percent are involved in the education system one way or another. (Source: www.pitchengine.com)