FOSDEM
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| Started | 2000 as OSDEM, 2001 as FOSDEM |
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| Type | Event |
| Location | Brussels (Belgium) |
| Website | FOSDEM |
Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free and open-source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and open-source software movement. It aims to enable developers to meet and to promote the awareness and use of free and open-source software.
FOSDEM is held annually, usually during the first weekend of February, at the Université Libre de Bruxelles Solbosch campus in the southeast of Brussels, Belgium.
FOSDEM was started in 2001 under the name Open Source Developers of Europe Meeting (OSDEM) by Raphael Bauduin. Bauduin said that since he felt he lacked the brains to properly contribute to the open-source community, he wanted to contribute by launching a European event in Brussels. Bauduin teamed up with Damien Sandras. The team repeated the event. The F (of FOSDEM) was added at the request of Richard Stallman.
The event has been annually in February since then, with growing numbers of visitors, talks and tracks. It is organized thanks to the help of many volunteers.
The meeting hosted about 4,000 visitors every year by 2011.
Entrance and participation in the event is entirely free. It is financed by sponsors who accept the non-commercial nature of the event, and by donors amongst the visitors. Donors receive an incentive in form of a token present. Everything is organized and set up by volunteers.
The Free Software Foundation's ceremony for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software was held at FOSDEM from 2002 to 2006 (for the awards for 2001 to 2005).
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