Re: some thoughts

[Arafat Medini <lumina at silverpen dot de>]

> > A list of linux vendors:
> > 
> > http://www.linux-plus.com/ egypt
> > http://www.linux.com.tn/ tunisia
> > http://www.linux-sa.com/ saudi arabia
> > http://www.linux.com.kw/en/ Kuwait
> > http://www.masterlinux.net/about.htm egypt
> > 
> > Those are the only 5 linux vendors in the Arab world, very few indeed.
> 
> I'm thinking we should try to contact the above companies and see
> what their clients' experiences have been in hopes of getting a
> more realistic picture of what real-world issues are have yet not
> faced.  Once (and if) we get that info, we would have accomplished
> two things,
> 
>  1. Gotten the vendors to know about our existence and our
>     willingness to work together
>  2. Gotten to know more of what the business world out there
>     is experiencing with regard to Arabization of Linux.  What
>     applications, issues are yet to be resolved, etc.
> 
> Worth doing ? Thoughts ?

Everything is worth doing I suppose.
It would be very interesting to know how much is left for the
arabic language in the arabic linux businesses, it would be
also interesting to know about the opinion of the customers
of those businesses.
> 
> > I would agree with you here, after looking through the net, I found that
> > the Arabic community is very narrow I never thought the community is so
> > small in the Arabic world... that totally changed my view of Linux in
> > the Arab world...
> 
> So to take this (and other) facts and convert them to action, what
> should we do ?  As noted, I am very keen on universities and do
> think that we need to target the students, first and foremost, and
> their teachers.  I continue to dream about a day where CS professors
> start assigning students assignments that deal with linux's inter-
> working (as it is a great teaching tool).

I am not so excited abut universities but I will support everything that
comes out.
Students ok teachers mmm, still the problem is simply the organizational
stuff. Who is willing to do this?
How is simple: mailing lists, students themselves, cloning of events...

> OK, so applying the "itch factor" (TM) on all of this, how do we get
> the various silent developers out there (that are making money off
> of this efforts and open source in general) to contribute ?  The
> only "itch" (lure) I can think of is money, or anyone have any
> suggestions ?

Yep we MUST do a bounty system a la gnome, this is a MUST.
Other things would include, some gifts like we paing a one year
subscription to a mag. 
Or the ppl from abroad sending some gifts to the hackers, for eg.
one wants german things I am sure I can send him something!
This sounds silly BUT it is something.

> > The first thing that was really shocking/funny is that there
> > isn't ANY communication btw the LUGs.
> 
> News will be coming forth soon ISA about the SUPER-LUG idea (among
> other things) that is finally cementing itself.  So, at a minimum,
> we should expect better collaboration between the various entities
> (or so we hope).

Super LUG, yesterday I left with a very mixed taste, no western arabic LUGs?
hmmm... How much cooparation will be in there if you excule from the
beginning other LUGs? I mean we are so weak and begin to exclude and
choose...
I also thought we will have some ppl from other LUGs working on the
super LUG I hope this will be possible.

> > universities: if this was successful so why don't all of you who
> > live in the Arabic countries try something like that ?
> > In tunisia there are "dar ashabab" is there something like that in other
> > Arabic countries? If yes why only universities? go to computer clubs,
> > dour ashabab, etc... and make this only one weekend in a month it so
> > much fun...
> 
> I think this is the best avenue to pursue - this should come from the
> students to the students (again, the jordan and egyptian experiences,
> from what I heard, worked well).  How can we continue on this and have
> it mushroom to all countries ?

Simply ppl have to make such events, but who will do them?

> > >"I hardly ever need to use Arabic on my computer"
> > 
> > He's simply a dumb looser. That's from the hacker standpoint. He's a
> > very narrow minded person doesn't even know why he's hacking on a pc.
> 
> The point is (without needing to call anyone any names as that is
> counter productive and leads us nowhere), there are people out there
> with this attitude.  Applying the "itch factor", how can we get them
> involved ?  Suggestions/ideas ?

He is still a dumb looser regardless of me being politically correct or not.
sug: money?

> > I have a very nifty idea: let us force the lazy members to do some work.
> > where is Anmar? Where is Azawawi? where is Elqibbany? Where is Twaijiry?
> 
> Beyond instilling a sense of urgency and a well-placed need for their
> work and time, we can't do much more.  We try to be clear about what
> is needed, facilitate that which is required to get the work done and
> then relay on people's commitment, conscious and drive to get the rest
> done.  One thing I have most certainly noticed is that we tend NOT to
> schedule and/or plan things which must change (grab any project and
> try to focast its next release and/or its next objective - see what I
> mean?).  Having a pre-ordained goal and a schedule is a must for a
> developer/contributor to pace him/her-self to get the job done.

Shedule IS one of the best methods to get things working I am forcing myself
to a shedule.
Arabeyes history is a history of ppl coming and going, from november
2001 till today this core problem persists,we did some work but the
reality is that arabeyes suffors from this big problem from its start,
it is a CORE arabeyes problem. Making things tighter, more professional
will help the project a lot (aka QAC).

Arafat