Solutions Linux 2005

[Youcef Rabah Rahal <y dot rahal at gmail dot com>]

Salam,

Here's a quick summary of my visit to the Solutions Linux expo held in
Paris (Feb 1st-3rd 2005) and my discussion with Christian Perrier at
the Debian booth (http://www.solutionslinux.fr).

Sorry for the delay in reporting back. Also, there's a picture we took
beside the BabelBox which I will post hopefully soon (nah, I don't
have a digital camera yet :-)

So, I got in there on the first day around 10 am, but I unfortunately
missed the Arabic install (the expo opened at 9:30 am), but I was
there for the Bulgarian, Bosnian, Catalan, Czech and maybe another
language? But you've seen the picture, so you got to believe Christian
:) But seriously, I can attest that the BabelBox works very well!
Except a minor problem when someone unplugged the mouse and the
installer started complaining ;-) But that's of course unrelated to
the BabelBox itself, so it doesn't count. I was surprised to learn
that the project was 'sponsored' by Christian's employer (I'm not sure
of the use the term 'sponsor' here). Reminded me that many of our
projects could certainly use some kind of sponsorship from (at least)
universities in the Arab world (not necessarily financial)... If only
we could get them interested.

As Christian already said, we talked for a relatively long time, and
for me it was certainly a very interesting discussion. I don't know if
it's worth reporting, and if so, I'm not really sure how... But here's
an 'attempt' anyway (Christian, please add what you deem necessary):

- We talked about l10n in general and the issues inherent to it,
politics in particular. This is Christian's daily work in Debian, as
you probably know (l10n coordination, not politics!). So, Christian
gave me the example of two cases where using the standard country name
led to WWIII... Namely Taiwan and Macedonia. Of course, in such cases,
it is very difficult to keep a neutral position that both 'sides' are
happy with. I could also remember two or three cases of such wars that
happened on our very lists...

One other issue is, of course, the small number of translators. Some
teams are only made of one person, but they do a wonderful job
nevertheless. In Arabeyes, we certainly have/had more than one
translator, but the number of dedicated persons is very small... Maybe
QAC will be solve a _part_ of the problem? By avoiding that a new
translator is faced with multiple choices of translating a word for
ex. Well, I said 'maybe'...

- One of the Debian future locales will be a Tamazight one. I told
Christian that this, IMHO, is a bit too early. The language is in a
phase of 'standardization' and thus everything is done now will
probably have to be reviewed thoroughly in the mid-term. But I, for
one, would be very happy to see a computer interface in
Tamazight. Something which, AFAIK, does not exist yet.

Other African languages are also targeted. But I think translators are
lacking here too.

- We talked briefly about the 'becoming-a-DD' process. I learned that
I could have brought there my PGP key to get it signed by a DD (of
course I did not have it, talk about Murphy's law ;) But I doubt I
will apply to be a Debian Developer during this year, so I'll try to
remember to bring it next year.

- I could not help myself talking about Bayani! Christian told me that
it would be a good idea to have it packaged in Debian, after finding a
sponsor(?). Of course, but as soon as I have a releasable version :-)
_Maybe_ at the end of this month.

Of course, it was nice to see (a part of?) the Debian French community
in action. I could not help myself dreaming about the day when _we_
could all meet at a conf or an expo or...

Salam,

-- 
Youcef R. Rahal