Day one report ..

[Isam Bayazidi <bayazidi at arabeyes dot org>]

MAN IS 12 HOURS THAT LONG !! you can't imagine the number of people I met 
today.. the number of people that were interested in some way, and the 
potincialities .. OK .. to start with ..

I was there at 8 .. one hour before the starting session .. they where giving 
away some handouts .. and the KNOPPIX version 3.1 CDs .. it is a Linux distro 
that runs from the CD without the need to install it .. it seems to be 
popular in the events and workshops ..
Peter Gallagher from (devIS) gave me some statistics and numbers that they had 
been doing.. it is to help the speakers know the level of the audiance .. 
they survied the people who registered for the workshop .. about 154 
(attendance is about 250) to know the level of their knowledge of Linux and 
the use of OSS.. the results are with me .. it is a 4 page report .. I will 
scan and send later.. 
Later on .. the event started be some introductory remarks deom Ms. Deema 
Anani, Director of IT policy in MoICT .. she noted that Jordan's movment to 
OSS is a part of it's move to IT as a whole .. and they want to investgate 
OSS and how it can benefit Jordan .. and hoped that the workshop will be as 
much educational as possible .. 
Right after her Robin Miller made some other Introductory Remarks noting what 
is Open Source, comparing it to Jordan's Hospitality .. and saying that it 
about being nice to others so that they can be nice with you ... a rough 
presenation but right to the point .. something that he had to present in the 
15 minutes time frame he had ..
After it .. Dr. Fareed Metwaly, General Manager IBM Middle East, Egypt, and 
Pakistan .. announcing the Launch of a new Linux LAB in the Jordan's 
University .. Donated by IBM to the JU .. 
After it .. Mr. Tony Stanco, Associate Director, Open Source and e-government, 
cyber Security Policy and Reseach Institute from George Washington Univ - 
made an introductory presentation about OSS .. a lengthy one .. about 45 
minutes ..
in the coffie break after Rasha Morgan catched me (I didn't know what she is 
there already) and asked me about what I will be presenting .. because it 
seems that she will be preseting something about Arabization .. and her 
session is right after mine .. and wanted to know about what I will present 
.. her presentation will be mainly about Arabization probelms and chalanges 
.. without being specific about one product or effort .. when I told her that 
we at Arabeyes are a little upset because of the ingnorance we received, she 
asked me directly .. what do we want .. and that she will be happily 
presenting it to the administration .. she is an Engineer.. not a decision 
maker .. she seemed nice, but it seems that IBM is not investing much efforts 
in Arabization as they used to be .. the reasons of that is not clear .. I 
will not state them in the core list until I am sure of them ..
Any how I would be happy to check my email and find something that we want 
from IBM .. I know what we want .. and if I didn't receive anything I won't 
mind .. but I thought maybe I will collect some of the toughts you have ..
OK .. after the coffie break we were back with Robin Miller .. this time about 
the "Myths about OSS" .. nicly presented .. he opened a wide window for 
discussion .. that MS people grabed and starting thier FUD through .. Robin 
with the help of others was able to answer properly .. but it was clear that 
the MS sponsor is not that comftable .. 
anyway afterwards came a very nicly presented session, by Dr. Khalid from 
KSA.. about "Open Source Security" .. it was a complete 45 minutes all about 
security from an expert .. although he used some comparisons with MS and 
Solaris and so, which made the MS people angry again ..
after that came a Q&A session .. mainly dominated by MS and Kifa Issa notes, 
and the 3 previous speakers present .. 
in the Lunch Break after it .. I jumped from my seat to go and meet Kifa .. he 
is another story that needs another email .. but maybe not very AE related ..

in the Lunch I sat in the table with some of the Private sector 
represtnatives.. some of them are familiar with what OSS and Linux is .. 
others just heard about it for the same time .. we exchanged bussiness cards 
(I don't have any.. so they gave me thiers :-) ) and talked a little about 
what they expect fro the workshop, and why they came .. 
After Lunch the Mr. Nasser Khasawned, Business Software Alliance (BSA) Vice 
President, Europe Middle East and Africe - presented what is BSA and what is 
BSA stand on OSS .. and so ..
Right after him came Jamel Eddin Sghair - President & CEO OpenNet Software .. 
OpenNet is the RedHat partnet in Africa and Middle East, and they are the 
ones that market Hancome Office/Linux in the Region .. He explained about 
OpenNet experience in embracing Open Source Solutions in Govermental 
institutes and ministries of Tunis .. it seems that indeed the Gov in Tunis 
run on OSS IT wise .. thanks to OpenNet efforts ..
Last session was from Dr. Ahmed Tantawi - Technical Director of IBM in the ME 
and North Africa .. is was an excellent presentation .. one of the best today 
in my opnion .. very vendor nutural .. gave strong points about "OSS in 
Business and Academia" and noted it in a very proffisional matter .. 
After that we can antoher Q&A session that almost turned into a fight 
(kidding) between the MS people and everyone else :-) anyhow ... nothing new 
in that q&A .. same FUD we hear all the time ..

After it .. the Day os over .. sessions for today are over .. I was not 
satiffied with that .. and ran after Mr. Jamel (OpenNet) and Robin and Dr. 
Khalid .. I spent the evening with them .. and talked furtherly about 
different issues .. Jamel is cirtenly interested in Duali .. and think that 
Hancome people would be very interested .. we will see on that later ..
I went with Dr. Khalid, and Romin Miller and my friend Anan (who is a LUG 
member) to have dinner .. we ate Falafel, Foul, Homos with a big cup to tea 
.. it was great .. I came home at 11 .. started CD copying stuff that I 
promissed to people .. finished copying 20 CDs .. downloaded emails .. and 
now writing one to you ..
Long day I guess .. and I hope that tomorrows are that long too ..

Later
Isam Bayazidi