THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) was awarded the first-ever Bhasha Pratibha Puraskaram instituted by the Malayalam Mission. ICFOSS was selected for making Malayalam language technology-friendly and also for promoting open-source software. ICFOSS chief and CEO of Kerala IT Parks Sasi PM received the award from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Ayyankali Hall here recently. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a citation.
This is the first technology award instituted by the Malayalam Mission for the technical help got for “expanding and democratising” Malayalam on the internet and Malayalam computing, said a statement. ICFOSS focuses on a variety of areas including machine translation, free and open-source software (FOSS) training, research and development.
The jury observed that the ICFOSS made commendable efforts in coordinating the development of free software and thus by defending corporatisation in the language computing arena. It also lauded the efforts of the agency in developing new fonts and for giving free training government staff in language computing.