Thanks to the good work from SFDChina, there were near 60 Software Freedom Day events hosted in different cities around China this year!  Some events had to be postponed either a day earlier or a day later due to Nanking Massacre Memorial Day conflicting date. Fred and I celebrated the D-day by joining forces with the one hosted by Shantou University.

As mentioned in my previous post, the event was organized by the Linux Association from Shantou University (STU). It started in the morning with an outdoor exhibition to demonstrate Free Software and followed with presentations in the evening.  Fred gave an overview on why Software Freedom matters, a quick history review of Free and Open Source Software and talked about how the audience could get involved and contribute to the community. Then I introduced some cool Free Software that I use everyday and demonstrated how FOSS helped me to get things done.  Unlike other events I have been involved with in China, we had the pleasure to talk to very active spectators asking plenty of questions such as:

• How can Free Software sustain without any financial support from companies?
• Which field / area do GNU/Linux systems apply to?
• Knowing that Free Software is so cool, why the market share is so little in China?
• How can we increase the market share of Free Software in China?
• What are the benefits to use GNU/Linux systems and Free Software in terms of software development?
• Do you think Free software will dominate the world market in the future?

The event ended with some great performances given by two other STU associations, namely the Guitar Players Associations and the Magicians Associations. This was totally in line with the purpose of SFD which is to make the day as constructive and fun as possible! We totally enjoyed our Software Freedom Day, how about you?