Having pioneered a movement to adopt free and open source software (FOSS) in various domains ranging from education to governance, the State has set its eyes on achieving self-reliance in publishing, an industry that is largely driven by proprietary software.
Spearheaded by the Kerala Media Academy, the proposed endeavour has taken shape at a two-day summit that got under way here on Tuesday.
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To fuel its efforts, the collective aspired to emulate the success story of Oman which had undertaken the development of free open-source desktop publishing software, Scribus.
Inaugurating the conclave, Fahad Al-Saidi, an Omani expert programmer who played an instrumental role in the development of the software, said the Middle Eastern country had registered significant progress by implementing various programmes as part of its digital strategy, eOman.
Presiding over the session, academy chairman R.S. Babu said that the survival of several media outlets were at stake over the rising expenses.
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Communist Party of India -organ, Janayugom , is set to become the first Malayalam daily to switch over to publishing using free software on Thursday. Rajaji Mathew Thomas, the editor of the daily, said the joint efforts made to develop a common application for publishing could benefit around 70,000 publications.