I would like to share with the audience my great pleasure of being here in Nitte.

Most of you probably don't know me.

You probably wonder what this guy, who is definitely no longer a
student....and certainly not a professor....who has a quite funny accent....and talks 
too much : what is this guy doing here?

Well, when the idea of these mini-Debian Conference in India emerged last year, I have
to admit that I wasn't sure about their success.

But last year in Pune, the conference had over 150 attendees. 

This year, no less than THREE of these conferences happened in
India: one in Kuttipuram, Kerala, in April, one in Pune again in
August and this one in Karnataka. 

These three conferences altogether had 300 people attendance.

Three hundred.

To give you an idea, for last year's mini Debian conference in Paris, we had
about 150 participants.

So, what am I doing here? I am coming where things are
happening. Here, in India.

India is a country that invests a lot in education and development of
its citizens. Information technology is a key for this. And here is
the place where free software, free information, free knowledge can
have.

You could choose to base everything on proprietary technologies,
developed in a closed way in some other countries. Or you can choose
to play your role in the information technology game, by investing in free software.

This is the philosophy of the Debian project. This is the philosophy I
had when I joined this project, more than 10 years ago.

And, as a consequence, this is why I am here, after a 24-hour journey
with 3 planes, 2 trains, 2 cars, 1 overpriced taxi (but, up to now, no
horse, camel or any animal riding).

I am here to share the success of this conference with you and I
would particularly thank the organizers for allowing me to come here
all the way and try sharing a bit of Debian knowledge with you.

I would also thank the Nitte Institute of Technology for providing
the facilities for the conference and make it possible to happen.

And finally, I would like to thank you, the audience, for attending
our talks in the hope of learning more about the Debian project.

Many thanks again.