Where is the girl!!!
Jamil Ahmed wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Nov 28, 2006 3:34 PM > Subject: [iosn-general] Free and Open Source Software gets new 'poster girl' > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Free-and-Open-Source-Software-gets-new-poster-girl_6312.shtml > Free and Open Source Software gets new 'poster girl' > Nov 28, 2006 - 2:33:26 PM > > IBM has facilities in all the major cities of India -- Bangalore, > Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad. IBM has a Linux > Solutions Centre and a Linux Competency Centre, both in Bangalore. > Bhattacharya is attached to the India Software Lab. > > * * * * > > By Frederick Noronha, RxPG News Service, Bangalore, Nov 28 - India's > Free and Open Source Software - movement just has got a new > poster-boy, or rather girl -- Suparna Bhattacharya, the star of the > just-concluded FOSS.in event held here and presenter of the inaugural > keynote, is seen as one of India's most respected Linux kernel > developers. > > For a growing network of techies taking to Free and Open Source > Software in India, the find of a woman who has achieved so much so > quietly came as a big surprise. And long-felt gender issues become a > little less painful, thanks to 35-year-old Bhattacharya's 'we can do > it' proof. > > Commented FOSS.in project lead and tech guru Atul Chitnis: '- is an > Indian, working in India, contributing to the FOSS world... Not only > is she everything that FOSS.in wants to achieve -, but she proves that > it can be done.' > > The Linux kernel is at the heart of the GNU/Linux operating. Linux is > now one of the most widely ported operating system kernels, running on > a diverse range of systems from the hand-held iPAQ computers to the > massive mainframe servers and supercomputers. > > Kernel programming is considered complex. > > Amidst intense applause, the soft-spoken and lightly built > Bhattacharya took the stage. One of her first slides read: 'In case > you are wondering why I am the keynote speaker, you are not alone.' > > She declined interviews with 'I'm more comfortable discussing > technical issues', and only relented after awhile. > > Once on stage, obviously overawed by the adulation, in a full Indian > Institute of Sciences hall, she explained -- sometimes speaking too > fast for foreigners in the audience to keep track -- concepts like > 'beauty' and elegance in coding, 'minimalism' - in software, and > ephemerialisation -. > > Bhattacharya herself plays down her own achievements. She has been to > global hacker conferences -- usually held in Ottawa, Canada -- for > five years. > > 'I never felt the difference -. People tell me I've been very lucky,' > she said in a hall so dominated by young male geeks that you'd be > lucky to see 20 women in 750 seats. She said the corporation she works > with, IBM, has a couple of more women working on the kernel. > > 'Probably people didn't know my gender from my - name. In any case, > the Linux world is very diverse. The colour of your hair doesn't > matter. It's just the quality of your code,' Bhattacharya told IANS. > > Bhattacharya, who grew up 'mostly in Delhi' and then went to Indian > Institute of Technology --Kharagpur, feels Indian contributions to the > world of alternate computing -- Free and Open Source Software -- might > be under-recognised because coders from this part of the globe tend to > be not 'very vocal or shy'. > > 'It's easier for me to talk technical stuff...Some amount of humility > is a good thing, I sometimes feel.' > > But others see it differently, and take pride in her achievement. > > Ubuntu-India developer Baishampayan Ghosh said of Bhattacharya: 'She > is one of the very, very few - kernel hackers in the world, and a very > unassuming person.' > > IBM India, by some counts, is seen as the fourth largest employer in > the Indian IT industry -- after TCS, Infosys and Wipro. India also has > the second largest workforce for IBM now, second to IBM US. It is one > of the mega-corps that is investing heavily in Free and Open Source > Software. > > IBM has facilities in all the major cities of India -- Bangalore, > Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad. IBM has a Linux > Solutions Centre and a Linux Competency Centre, both in Bangalore. > Bhattacharya is attached to the India Software Lab. > > Some unofficial statistics say IBM India's 43,000 employees are > expected to grow to 100,000 by the end of this decade. > -- > FN 9822122436 +91-832-240-9490 (phone calls after 1 pm please) > FLOSS, geeks, blogs: [http://planet.foss.in/] > _______________________________________________ > iosn-general mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.apdip.net/mailman/listinfo/iosn-general > > > To unsubscribe send a blank mail to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > >
