Aakash Team to Conduct Workshop on Application Development in Technopark

Trivandrum, February 11, 2013 – Three-member team from IIT Bombay’s AakashCore Development Team led by Sachin Patel will conduct the workshop on Aakash programming in Technopark on February 16 and 17, 2013. Aakash tablet for the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) is being developed by the team at IIT Bombay under the leadership of Padmasree Prof (Dr.) D B Phatak. The two-day workshop is being organized by International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) as part of its pre-incubation support activities. MHRD plans to distribute Aakash at a subsidized price of Rs.1130 for students. It is planned to be distributed to about 50 lakhs students across the country over the next few months.

The workshop will benefit independent developers, students and IT companies who want to develop applications on Aakash.  Aakash runs on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)-based operating systems such as Android and Ubuntu-12 platforms and therefore applications to be developed needs to be architected on both platforms. The workshop covers the basics of designing, implementing, debugging, testing and version control for applications on Aakash, using both the Ubuntu and Android platforms. Besides these technology aspects, the workshop will also cover marketing and release mechanisms for the apps developed for the platform.

Aakash was initially unveiled by Shri KapilSibal, the Minister for Human Resources Development, Government of India, in October 2011. The second version of the device, Aakash 2, was released on 11 November 2012 and has significantly improved capabilities. The device is expected to link 25000 colleges and 400 universities in a nation-wide e-learning programme.

“As an open, FOSS-based platform that can support applications that provide educational, business and social utility, Aakash holds immense potential, both for developers and software companies, as well as for large users such as central and state Governments. ICFOSS would like to offer the benefit of this programme–the first of its kind outside IIT Bombay–to students and developers, especially those who are planning start-ups, under its pre-incubation support programme. ICFOSS believes that Aakash, once its planned penetration in different parts of the country is achieved, can be a useful tool in bridging the Digital Divide and bringing about inclusive development in the country.”, said Satish Babu, Director ICFOSS.

Students and techies interested to attend this workshop can contact 0471-2700012 or mail to [email protected] .