Open Source Software Symposium Held in Yarmouk University

A symposium on Open Source software was organized by the Faculty of Information Technology and Computer Science at Yarmouk University. The event which was opened by President of Yarmouk University, Dr. Abdullah Al Mousa, lasted one day.

Dr. Al Mousa stressed in his introductory speech several benefits of Open Source software, especially the use and development of such programs without charge, adding that Yarmouk University since its first inception in 1976, has taken care of multidisciplinary activities, scientific research and extracurricular activities that might give an added value to the learning process at the university.

The university's president praised the efforts of the Faculty of Information Technology and Computer Science  to link students and community with the most needed technology and skills by the labour market.

Yarmouk University is taking huge steps towards embracing the digital and IT world, focusing on training and education, said Dr. Al Mousa, "under His Majesty's vision to give the IT sector greatest attention, since its impact on Jordanian national income and sustainable development".

Dean of Faculty, Dr. Ahmad Ta'ani, introduced Open Source software characteristics to the participants in a clear and rational way, he explained that Open Source software use licenses that allow everyone to study, copy and modify the source code of the programs, allowing the improvement of the software itself to end users, based on the Open Source philosophy and development methodology.

Dr. Ta'ani expressed as well the faculty's intention to provide training courses about Open Source technologies.

The symposium contained a number of lectures, including an introduction to Linux, its distributions and features, Open Source software for individuals and companies, and ended with a lecture about Mobile Programming with Android.

The activity was attended by the Vice-President of the University, a number of deans, administrative staff and students of the Faculty of Information Technology.