In 1989, Chitnis set up a
Bulletin Board System (BBS) called CiX which provided an entry point for many users to online communities. He was the author of a
PCQuest magazine column – COMversations. Chitnis gave talks on data communication in Indian industry, the Internet and intranets. As a Consulting Editor for
PCQuest, he worked on the
PCQuest Linux Initiative. Working as a volunteer in the FOSS community such as the
Bangalore Linux User Group, and through seminars and articles, he encouraged use of FOSS technologies. Chitnis was one of the organizers of the Linux Bangalore series of FOSS community driven conferences.
FOSS.IN is said to have been one of Asia's largest annual FOSS events. Atul also served as one of the members of the faculty committee at the National Resource Centre For Free/Open Source Software. He often spoke at various fora on FOSS technology and adoption. ==Death==