Ciao a tutte/i
sicuramente bill gates non sara' contento :P
lamp
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Iraqis get a taste for Linux
By Clark Boyd
Technology correspondent
A group of Iraqi computer enthusiasts are advocating
the use of the
operating system Linux to rebuild their country.
The US is running various computer training projects
in Iraq
Ashraf Hasson and Hasanen Nawfal are both natives of
Baghdad.
Like many 20-somethings, Hasson and Nawfal grew up
nurturing passions for
computers and for programming.
Both of them are firm believers in open source
software. Unlike expensive
proprietary software, open-source software can be
freely distributed and
modified, as long as the modifications are shared with
other users.
They are particularly fans of Linux operating system.
These two Linux enthusiasts, though, did not even know
one another before
the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
But they found each other online, in a Linux forum
hosted by Iraqi
expatriates, soon after Saddam fell and started
thinking about what they
could do.
"Every country has a Linux users group except Iraq, so
I thought, maybe
Iraq deserves to have a Linux users group," said
Ashraf Hasson.
"We started sending e-mails, and trying to figure out
how to help Iraqi
people here to know about Linux, educate them, spread
the word. And so we
did."
Cost savings
The Iraqi Linux User Group has now been up and running
for a little more
than a year.
Iraqis get a taste for Linux
By Clark Boyd
Technology correspondent
A group of Iraqi computer enthusiasts are advocating
the use of the
operating system Linux to rebuild their country.
The US is running various computer training projects
in Iraq
Ashraf Hasson and Hasanen Nawfal are both natives of
Baghdad.
Like many 20-somethings, Hasson and Nawfal grew up
nurturing passions for
computers and for programming.
Both of them are firm believers in open source
software. Unlike expensive
proprietary software, open-source software can be
freely distributed and
modified, as long as the modifications are shared with
other users.
They are particularly fans of Linux operating system.
These two Linux enthusiasts, though, did not even know
one another before
the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
But they found each other online, in a Linux forum
hosted by Iraqi
expatriates, soon after Saddam fell and started
thinking about what they
could do.
"Every country has a Linux users group except Iraq, so
I thought, maybe
Iraq deserves to have a Linux users group," said
Ashraf Hasson.
"We started sending e-mails, and trying to figure out
how to help Iraqi
people here to know about Linux, educate them, spread
the word. And so we
did."
Cost savings
The Iraqi Linux User Group has now been up and running
for a little more
than a year.
I wanted to find people to share knowledge with,"
explained Hasanen
Nawfal, "to learn from them, to speak with guys who
share my thoughts."
The Iraqi Linux User Group website lists more than 200
members, most of
whom are Iraqi expatriates.
They are united in their belief that open-source
software like Linux could
help their nation.
Its chief advantage is that Linux code is free to use
and modify.
To Nabil Suleiman, a member of the Iraqi Linux User
Group living in
Canada, Linux could mean significant cost savings.
"There is a shortage in power and water supplies, and
sewage systems, so
the last thing Iraq needs is spending billions of
dollars on very
expensive and overpriced products, especially software
products," he said.
"We believe that Linux can save us lots of money in
this field."
Illegal software
But it is about more than just cost for the Iraqi
Linux User Group.
The open source enthusiasts believe it could allow
Iraqis to build their
own home-grown technologies.
This enables the country to build its own
infrastructure based on open
source, on open ideas," Ashraf Hasson.
"That might help establish a solid base for Iraqi
technology, and help not
constrain the country with proprietary software and
prevent monopolisation
over Iraq by such major companies."
But getting Iraqis to think about Linux is an uphill
battle. Most have
never touched a computer, let alone thought about what
operating system
they want to use.
Computer software is now more widely available in
Iraq, but little of it
open-source.
"Currently, most software in use in Iraq is illegal
copies of proprietary
software," explained Don Marti editor of the US-based
Linux Journal.
Software giants like Microsoft, he said, are happy to
hook Iraqis on their
software.
"Proprietary software companies are using these
illegal copies as a free
sample program, and a marketing tool, as they have in
other countries."
"When the crackdown comes, and the people in Iraq
start having to comply
with the licenses for this software, then they're
going to be in trouble."
It means Iraqis are going to have to start paying
companies like
Microsoft, who declined to be interviewed.
Obstacles in the way
Ashraf Hasson of the Iraqi Linux User Group said he
would actually welcome
tech giants like Microsoft coming into the Iraqi
market.
Iraq has a computerised system at the Iranian border
He grudgingly even admitted that the Windows operating
system may be OK
for "people who want to do basic stuff".
But he is pushing small and medium-sized businesses,
and the Iraqi
government, to consider running open-source software
on their servers.
He is also leading Linux seminars at a couple of
Iraq's larger universities.
And Nabil Suleiman in Canada says that some expatriate
members of the user
group want to open a Linux training centre in Baghdad.
"But it all depends on how the political issues and
all the other issues
are resolved there," he said.
"I think it will take between two years and five years
to stabilise the
whole system, and then we can start building on a more
stable foundation."
Inside the country, the Iraqi Linux User Group is
thinking big. Their
ambitious goal is to see every server in the country
running Linux a year
from now.
Getting there, they face numerous obstacles.
"Security, electricity shortage, poor communications,
blurred view of the
future, money, bad response from government, lack of
resources," explained
Hasanen Nawfal, "too many to mention."
Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World,
a BBC World Service
and WGBH-Boston co-production
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