House of Open Source Technology (HOST) project is part of the national FOSS initiative organized by Information Technology Authority (ITA), aiming to support local FOSS community in Oman and link its members with international FOSS development communities. Main objective is to identify an existing and active FOSS software/project that is recognized internationally to be further developed or customized through a number of Omani FOSS developers from the FOSS community for a specific period of time, and mentored by an internationally recognized expert in this area hosted in Oman. Keeping in mind the support and supervision part of ITA in alliance with specific members from the FOSS International Community that are involved to evaluate the progress at different checkpoint levels.
For first edition, there were 10 talented students/graduates with required programming skills been selected then a FOSS related software project was identified to be Arabized and fit for the use in the Arab region; considering its development and deployment for a period of six months. The selected candidates been attached with an expert who is closely working with them to insure knowledge transfer and skills development under his supervision. The main achievements were:
1- Contribution of an Omani FOSS talents, were recognized internationally and fulfill a demand in the Arab region.
2- Knowledge transfer and international exposure for the Omani talents in this area.
3- Encouragement of Omanis to be in a continuous touch with international FOSS Community, and have the innovative passion to benefit the local ICT industry of Oman.
HOST Oman in Github.
