The first ever Sarawak Open Source Competition 2004 is hailed as a benchmark for its importance in opening doors for budding software wizards in the State.

The recently concluded competition was a joint-effort between the Information Communication Technology Unit (ICTU) of the Chief Minister’s Department on behalf of the State Government, and Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS).

The objectives of the competition were to promote public awareness of Open Source Initiatives (OSI), and to encourage participation and contribution to OSI project implementation. The main target group being the new generations of software engineers, developers, programmers and such who have the interest and talents, but not much resource to develop their visions.

Through this competition and the prize incentives offered, budding software wizards are given the encouragement to prove their ability and knowledge by building intelligent systems using cheaper and viable alternative sources. The fact that Open Source software codes are readily available on the Internet and allow for free use and customisation offers legitimate alternative to software piracy, and also give way for better software to evolve over time.

The competition was successfully kicked off in August last year and concluded in February 2005. The organisers received encouraging participations from talented software builders; among them were IT students from private and public educational institutions, and also working professionals. Open Source was the basis of the competition whereby all software or systems developed must use Open Source technologies.

During the period of the competition, participants were required to follow through 5 stages: submitting of proposals describing the analysis, design, development and deployment of the proposed application or system; shortlisting of proposals by panel of judges from both ICTU and SAINS; project implementation to build up the proposed system; evaluation by the same panel of judges; and project presentation or demonstration by the participants.
Based on these rules and regulations, the shortlisted participants were selected to win First Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize, and 2 consolation prizes.
The top winning system is Internet Quota Management System (IQMS), co-developed by students, Praveen Raj A/L Santhira Rajah and Jennifer Law. Praveen and Jennifer will share the prize of RM6, 000 cash and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

In essence, the IQMS has the ability to manage the usage of Internet and thereby reduce network congestion. As a result, this controlled mechanism allows speedy access of Internet services. The system also educates users through resource sharing on how to have better and effective usage of the Internet.

Other winning systems were Secure e-Medical Record System (Second Prize), Web-based Online Testing System (Third Prize), JS Contact System (Consolation Prize), and Online Directory Service (Consolation).
The winners were rewarded for their efforts at the Prize Giving Ceremony held today at Level 2, Wisma Bapa Malaysia. Chairman of SAINS, Y.B. Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr George Chan Hong Nam, who is also the Chairman of State Information Technology Resources Council (SITRC), presented the prizes to the winners.

This competition was a follow-up event to last year’s ‘Open Source Appreciation Seminar and Workshop’ which was held at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) on February 11, 2004 and was officiated by Deputy Chief Minister, Y.B. Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr George Chan Hong Nam. In his speech, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr George had emphasized that the widespread adoption and application of OSS can play a vital role in the development of a knowledge-based (k-society) in Sarawak. Our youths, he said, are the key to make that happen.
For more information on the competition, visit http://opensource.emoss.com.my.