SFD 09 eve

Sun Club celebrated Software Freedom Day with BIT Linux User Group on 18 sept. We had more than 50 attendees and three speakers. We started off by giving a general introduction to FOSS (Free and open Source Software) and Sun's contribution towards open source. We introduced OpenSolaris to the attendees and distributed live CDs of OpenSolaris. After that we had an introduction to java and netbeans. We demonstrated a few simple tools of netbeans and showed project building on it. Then we showed them a few other open source tools like drupal. A QnA session was conducted immediately after this. We distributed sling bags for the most appropriate answers.
We are looking forward to organize more of such events in near future, so stay tuned.

Software Freedom Day 2009

Its that time of the year again , when we celebrate the Stallmans and the Mozillas....
Software Freedom Day is celebrated worldwide by open source enthusiasts on the 19th of September , and this year it promises to be bigger than ever before....
The event is being partnered by Ubuntu , Google , Red Hat , Linode , Free Software Foundation and a host of other open source centric groups on an international front , who are committed to make the message reach farther and wider than even before ...

Sun Club, BIT and LUG will be jointly celebrating the day on the 18th of September by organising the following events on this day ....

1) A session on FOSS and Open Source . Goodies to be won in this session !!!!

2) A session on web development using Drupal .

3) Sun Club will also be inaugarating a study program targeted at Sun Certifications and a "Project Buddy " program in which projects will be assigned to students who will be mentored by seniors from ACM, LUG or Sun Club....

Details will follow soon ...

Looking forward to see your participation ...


Cheers ...

Obtaining discounted Sun Certification Vouchers Under SAI

SAI Learning allows students that study in institutions affiliated to SAI Learning ( BIT , Mesra happens to be one of them :) ) to purchase the Sun Certification vouchers at a discounted price at 40$ (around INR 2000 ) . Here is a step by step guide to obtain the discounted vouchers :

1. Direct your browser to http://saic.educationservicesgroup.com/
2. Register youself for the required voucher.
3. Accepted payment methods are Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or PayPal.
4. The SAI program name for procuring the voucher is SAI - INDIA.
5. The program id , not to be disclosed to non SAI students can be obtained by contacting the CA or OSUM Leader of the institute or by sending a mail to bitsunclub@gmail.com .
6. You will need to provide a proof that you indeed study in the institute , details of which are available on the same link.

So, register, get a voucher , get certified and add value to your resume. Gain the advantage of Sun Certification, which can never be over emphasized, and give your career a boost .

In case of any queries, drop a mail to bitsunclub@gmail.com

Cheers ...

SAI Learning and Certification

A great way to separate yourself from the crowd is with an industry leading Sun Certification in Java or Solaris. The Sun Academic Initiative is now offering certifications only for students at $40 USD worldwide! That is over 85% off the commercial price of $300. This offer is only for students and only for members of the Sun Academic Initiative program. Take advantage of this offer while you are a student and still qualify. Don't wait until you have graduated to realize you missed a great opportunity to boost your resume with a Sun Certification. This is a fantastic value!

Participation in the Sun Academic Initiative is free to any student! Here are some of the program offerings:

* Web-based courses via SAI Learning Connection on Java, Solaris and StarOffice are free — save thousands of dollars.
* Free ePractice Certification exam — get prepared for the certification exam.
* Learn cutting edge technology from the source. Sun is the founder of the Java Programming Language.
* No prior programming knowledge necessary — courses are self-paced
* When you pass the certification exam, you will receive a special Sun logo to put on your resume, CV and business cards
* SAI certification exams are now available in 9 languages

NetBeans 6.5 : Workshop at BIT , Ranchi

" Truely a revelation " that is the most befitting desscription for NetBeans 6.5 i can think of .... Its also a compliment in disguise to the NB 6.5 team ( NB sounds cool na !!! ) for literally " putting it all together" .

Inspired by the power and convenience NB brings to the process of software development , i organized a workshop on NB 6.5 to introduce my fellow campus mates to "The joys of NB" .....

17 January , a Saturday , was the date chosen , and arrangements began well in advance .

We got the well equipped Management hall- 2 allocated , got the notices ready , got it posted on the hostels' and institute's notice boards .

With all "external arrangements" in place , it was time for me to do the "internal arrangements" i.e. prepare for the actual workshop.......

I have been working with NetBeans for the last 2 months or so , and so was confident that the preparation part would not take much long..... But once I actually got down to the preparation , phew .....

It gets tough once you realise that questions will be "shot" at you and google.com would not there be to rescue you......and that every term that you use in your presentation is a potential "Pandora's box"......

So, i prepared, concentrating on every tiny bit of detail i could zoom into.......

And then it was the D-day.....

It was an afternoon session and Saturday afternoons in our college are really lazy .... so, with some delibrations, partly due to the late coming participants and partly due to the microphone and projector settings ( i know , i can screw connections with one pin points also ...this had many....)....

But , once the session started , i was greeted by a cheerful crowd , which made my job quite a fun.....

Enthusiastic juniors, encouraging seniors, and admiring batchmates , all the impetus i needed to be a "charming" geek ( sounds improbable , i know ....) was there. So , by the kind of reception i got , and by the after the session informal talk , i guess i did a good job....

And anyways, i never had to work very hard ..... the X factor of NB was there all the time .....

So, all in all , the session was a success .... quite a few juniors have asked for a follow up session and a lot of students have contacted me with regards to using NB since then .

I am planning to take a follow up session in February sometime ...

Till then to the power of NB....

Cheers