Ask About Life, Blogging and Linux in the Middle East 286
Isam Bayazidi is about as far from the current U.S. media stereotype of an Arab as you can get. He's worked on the Arabeyes (Unix/Linux in Arabic) project, helped start the Arabic Wikipedia, co-founded the Jordan LUG, is a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), works as a senior software developer for Maktoob, an online community that boasts more than four million members, and created Jordan Planet, a blogging community whose members have many different religious and political viewpoints. Isam is also a long-time Slashdot reader, so he's the perfect person to ask what's going on in the Arab (cyber)world today. One question per post please. Isam will answer 12 of the highest-moderated questions. We'll run his answers verbatim as soon as he gets them back to us.
Which is more important to develop... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Which is more important to develop... (Score:2)
That's odd... from what I've seen, America lacks mass transportation systems, forcing the public onto the roads in private cars due to lack of suitable alternatives (underground railways, trams, etc), particularly in the cities.
Re:Which is more important to develop... (Score:2)
As salaamu 'alaikum. Given that you and your friends are now revelling in the great gift of freedom and democracy that our country has bestowed on the entire middle east (harb), and you can be assured that the natural resources of the middle east will be cared for (emin il bezooneh lahmeh), do you see IT as providing a means to extend the economies of middle eastern nations past that day in the far-off future (al khamees) when those resources run out (yaha)? Granted, not
Arab and Israeli communities (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Arab and Israeli communities (Score:2)
Re:Arab and Israeli communities (Score:2)
I definately could see people choosing not to use a project that was primarily developed in Israel or an arab country for political reasons though. I have no problem with that.
Arabic hacker food (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Arabic hacker food (Score:2)
I also saw a Domino's. I know there's a Pizza Inn.
So if they want pizza, they can get the worst of American pie!
I, for one, enjoy good shawarma [wikipedia.org] while hacking sometimes.
Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:2)
Re:Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:2)
Sumerians were writing [wikipedia.org] cuneiform 6000 years ago, while Chinese were writing perhaps only as long ago as 3500 years.
Hebrews used their "alephbet" as numerals interchangeable with letters for symbolic manipulation at least a thousand years before the first Hindu or Arab.
Including the astronomy I mentioned makes 4 technologies, not 3. That makes you even more wrong that I was right. Congratulations!
Re:Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:2)
The Pentium M isn't an original technology - it's an update by Intel's Israeli lab to Intel's American technology. Firewall advancements are similar evolutions. Those advances are like the "Arab versions" I mentioned in my original post.
Crypto, like RSA, was an original Israeli innovation. I'd like to see some documentation of Israelis inventing "instant messaging".
To be really specific, it seems like Israel happens to be the only
Re:Straight Outta Casablanca (Score:2)
RTL is a valid original innovation, though I'm just not certain that Iraelis didn't just evolve to maturity technology invented elsewhere, like X - also at MIT.
If you're looking for real Israeli innovation, the best sector is DSP. Brought to maturity by Israeli air defense in the 1980s, DSP SW has remained a specialty a
Arabic? (Score:2)
Do you have some cool Arabic keyboard? Is it dvorak?
Re:Arabic? (Score:2)
The number of letters is not an issue, since there are no capital letters in Arabic. Plus, there's only 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, plus a few odd symbols.
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/keyb.htm [zeitun-eg.org] gives a good example of a common layout.
Re:Arabic? (Score:3, Funny)
Q: How does an English person iron his clothes?
A: From left to right!
*ducks*
Re:Arabic? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Arabic? (Score:2)
Do most people in Jordan own a PC with an ISP? (Score:2)
Re:Do most people in Jordan own a PC with an ISP? (Score:2)
Less than 10% of the population was on the internet in 2003. POTS service was available to just over 10%, I suspect broadband isn't really popular over there.
Re:Do most people in Jordan own a PC with an ISP? (Score:2)
I don't know if you're living in the Middle East.. (Score:5, Interesting)
After living in Egypt for a year, the biggest frustration I can recall with computers is how unreliable the power was. Due to the spikes and surges, the school I taught at would normally go through about 5 power supplies a month (for a building with about 200 computers). Any serious business who wants to protect their computer from an unwanted surge has at minimum a voltage regulator, and at maximum a UPS. Our school paid a company in Europe to host their website, as most Egyptian businesses did.
Is there any power infrastructure advancements that are being made to better support the growing rise of computer use in the middle east?
Re:I don't know if you're living in the Middle Eas (Score:2)
Re:I don't know if you're living in the Middle Eas (Score:2)
No wonder you had so many problems. These things will not help you during a spike. What you need are high-Joule surge protectors + your UPS. "Voltage Regulators" will not help in times of a spike (or a brownout) but a high Joule surge protector will.
Re:I don't know if you're living in the Middle Eas (Score:2)
What solutions exist over there to deal with the large amounts of sand that can, and do end up in the systems? Obviously server rooms have intense filtration systems, but what about home computer use or laptops?
Obvious... (Score:3, Funny)
They'd like to move to nuclear power, but have hit some snags.
Cartoons and website defacement (Score:3, Interesting)
So, what's your opinion on the arabic kids who are defacing websites [yahoo.com] in protest to the Mohammed cartoons?
Re:Cartoons and website defacement (Score:2)
Perhaps. But it might be nice to see an intelligent person from that part of the world denounce the defacement.
Or even more interesting - defend it. I have no idea where this fellow stands. I'm genuinely curious to see what an educated hacker from the region would say about it.
Impact on lifestyles (Score:2)
I know that here, many people are spending an inordinate amount of time on the computer, to the point where it has negatively impacted their time spent with people in social settings (iow - people are becoming less social). Blogging is yet another time sink, on top of the web, email, etc.
Do you foresee the same negative long-term effects in the middle east as we've experienced?
Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:5, Interesting)
1)As an Arab in today's world, how do you deal with those in the Western world who further the stereotype of "Arabs As Radicals"?
2) In addition how do you, as a forward-thinking Arab, address the issue of those in the Middle Eastern world that would seek to further the radical elements of Islam for thier own purposes, regardless of the consequences or the stereotypes this may create in the West? In other words, how does one function as a concientious objector in Middle Eastern Society?
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
-Rick
A note on stereotypes. (Score:2)
Let me explain, I am from Mexico, and I have lived here (UK) for almost 2 years. It has been very interesting and I have had contact with a lot of different kind of people (different contries and races).
I do not know if the stereotype of "arab as radical" is true but, all the mid
Re:A note on stereotypes. (Score:2)
Re:A note on stereotypes. (Score:2)
I (as a Mexican presumabley)
You meant "Central American," no doubt
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
It's Westeners who are furthering the radicals stereotype?!
Maybe you should take off you rose colored glasses and look at the thousands of people that have been violently protesting cartoons to the point where lives have been lost and building burned... or the countless suicide bombings in that region that are cheered and looked at proudly by a large percentage of the population..
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
THOSE in the Western world. As in SOME people, NOT ALL.
Your second comment regarding the cartoon related violence is what prompted the follow-up question. How does one function as a concientious objector to this type of violence when it takes place inside one's own culture, or as part of a subculture to your own culture?
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
Yes, absolutely. Check out Ann Coulter's recent comments for an example. Ann Coulter, unfortunately, speaks for many, and is (again unfortunately) not roundly condemned as a lunatic by the right in the US.
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:3, Insightful)
One word... judaism.
Plus, let's not forget those buddhist(?) statues that were destroyed in Afghanistan under Allah's name.
Muslims can bullshit the rest of the world all they want about how their religion is peaceful, but actions speak louder than words. Currently, all of the world's major conflicts involve muslim combatants on at least one. Even in Iraq, right now, the rising conflict is between muslims of slightly different islamic variation
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
How do you (do you?) fight stereotypes of all Westerners as depraved, immoral, Iraqi-woman-raping Crusaders? How common is the image of Westerners, especially Americans, as hell bent on conquering the Dar al-Islam, and what can be done to mitigate it?
Re:Stereotypes and those who would further them... (Score:2)
I don't see how anybody can do anything about this. This has been a weird month hasn't it?
How come all those right wing commentators went on and on about how dear freedom of speech was during the cartoon controversy and said nothing about a guy being jailed in Austria for a speech he made 17 years ago?
How come those same commentators have said precious little about the prisoners i
Islamic backlash (Score:2)
Stereotypes (Score:3, Interesting)
The article itself, in this case, is very leading regarding an opinion of treatment of Arabs by the US media.
My question is, what do you feel that the stereotypes reinforced by major media outlets are? Certainly they reported that there were Arabic hijackers on 9/11, that Al Quaida has attacked the US many times, and has reported acts such as beheadings and suicide bombings. Unfortunately, the fact is that these events all happened.
Do you believe that there is an undercurrent of racism and bigotry in the media's portrayal or Arabs? Do you believe that the image of the Arab has been charicatured by the US?
As a follow-up. How do you feel that recent world events, such as the riots in Paris, riots over Danish comics, and even the actions of terrorist organizations or Arabic origin have influenced this view, by relation to media portrayal.
Do you see this adversely affecting your career, or have major business outlets mostly overlooked this?
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
He does not live in the US. He's not exposed to the US media. How can someone judge media bias/undercurrent if he's not immersed in it?
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
I for instance, lived in a community comprising mostly the international students at a major university last year. I could get a fairly good notion of what other countries said about the US from what the students would say.
When people were discussing France and Germany at the start of the war in Iraq, I had a fairly good idea of what those countries had to say about us. I then met a number of French and German stu
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
I think those are pretty minor compared to the complete destruction of an entire city like Fallujia from US bombardment don't you? I mean we bombed a city twice. First time caused soccer fields outside the city to be turned into mass graves, the second time BBC reported tha
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
I'm asking how he feels Arabs are portrayed by the media, and what influence he feels the media have on Arabic image.
There's no lack of perspective. It's a straight question. How does he feel this is affecting world image?
We already know that the war in Iraq is bad for US image, and you're making commentary on US image. If you want to argue that two wrongs make a right, or that US image is directly tied to Arab image, well, the soapbox is yours to stand on
Re:Stereotypes (Score:2)
Do the news media reserve the term "radical," for those participants in organizations that could be termed "radical?"
If they're running down to the local mosque and calling every cleric a radical, that's one certainly bigotry. If you're talking about Abu Hamza al-Masri, you're probably not out of line calling him a radical.
Dilbert (Score:3, Interesting)
window on the world... (Score:2)
Re:window on the world... (Score:2)
I find it almost embarrassing reading what people are posting here.
Re:window on the world... (Score:2)
Credible Sources for Arab Bloggers (Score:5, Interesting)
Exportation of Technology (Score:3, Interesting)
Are their any technologies that the government of Jordan specifically mandates not be exported outside of its borders?
OR
How common is it that encryption technology that the U.S. Government asks not be used overseas is actually implemented "against their will"?
Red Hat Certified Engineer (Score:2)
For a while I was starting to believe in some certifications again, but then I ran into an CISSP who needed to be told what magic things a firewall does to that new-fangled technology called TCP.
Serious Question (Score:2)
Yes fellow SlashdotWeenies, I know that when executed/compiled these 'words' are symbolized and purely arbitrary - but, a
Re:Serious Question (Score:2)
Answer: Sometimes (Score:3, Interesting)
It's quite the opposite, in fact, there have been many attempts to create an 'Arabic programming language' that used Arabic keywords and identifiers, but none of them became popular even if the language itself was good.
The problem, IMO, is with learning, not developing.
Some of my students are not very good English speakers. They have no problem with basic programming constructs like f
My Question (Score:2)
Arabic-translated open source software (Score:2)
How does this support compare with that under Windows?
may her hooves be blessed (Score:2)
What are some of the main miscnceptions (Score:2)
Mo'toons (Score:5, Interesting)
I accept the cartoons are blasphemy and deeply offensive. Yet I hear no acknowledgment that freedom-of-expression is religiously venerated in the West. Worse, official (pandering?) reaction (sanctions) holds large unrelated groups responsible rather than the tiny right-wing newspaper that did the wrong. The many must pay for the misdeeds of the few. This implies responsibility for their own extremists!
I know media everywhere is seriously distorted. In the West, fear sells ink, photons and electrons. I wanted to understand the feeling on the ground. What are the people feeling?
A small factual correction (Score:2)
Actually, Jyllands-posten is the largest danish newspaper, though with several others coming close. The newspaper is generally not considered extreme, but some of it's journalists are quite right-wing (obviously, including Flemming Rose), since it is the most right-wing newspaper in Denmark (excluding fringe-newspapers).
In danish journalistic tradition, most newspapers employ journalists without too much regard to their political stance. There are also journalists at Jyllands-
Re:A small factual correction (Score:2)
Re:Mo'toons (Score:2)
Re:Mo'toons (Score:2)
Two sides... (Score:2)
Arabic Podcasting (Score:2)
democracy and MidEast (Arab) culture (Score:2)
(Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist.)
Serious question: from your point of view, what do you think it would take for MidEast nations to embrace democracy, in one form or another, rather than the monarchal and dictatorial systems which are currently popular? For instance, your home nation of Jordan is a monarchy, though a relatively benign one. Do you see any impetus for that to change? If not, why not? As a correllary, do you think it's important that MidEast nations
Remove religion from the equation and (Score:2)
How can I get a pen-pal in Iraq? (Score:2)
I can correspond in Esperanto and/or English. I'm sorry, but I don't know their native language.
Do ordinary people in Iraq have access to the Internet? If not, is there some way of finding someone in Iraq who would like to correspond by mail with a "USonian" who is genuinely interested in their viewpoint?
I can't help but think that if we only had more interpersonal relationships between the US and Iraq
Re:How can I get a pen-pal in Iraq? (Score:2)
I'm looking for real people to correspond with.
That's the whole point of Esperanto, really... putting ordinary people in touch with other ordinary people, not just hooking them into an independant media outlet.
Censorship (Score:2)
Arabic on screen (Score:2)
Down to earth... how does it feel? (Score:4, Interesting)
My questions are (really it is the same LONG question:)
Now that online communities and computer volunteering (especially OSS) is growing on the highest rate in the western part of the glob, how do you see participation and understanding of such participation in Jordan in specific, and the middle east in general?
Do you see the Arab population is going toward a more active role, or maintaining a technology consumer role as it used to be in the old days? Do you feel that you are a loner in what you do and contribute? Or do you get a whole lot of "Hey man that is soo cool, how would I start contributing like you do?"
Last but not least, from your day-in-day-out interaction with the local-online-communities, when do you see us (Arabs) technologically maturing to a level where we can be a major contributing force in the OSS global community... is it happening now?
May be one of those days we'll meet... after all Jordan is a small place
Educational System - Questioning vs. Memorization? (Score:2)
In many other countries, I have heard that the memorization or rote-learning methodology is strongly emphasized. I understand that this results in a large deference to the scholarship of others and less interest in, or tolerance of, a student's rejection of conventional thinking.
Do you
How do you cope with the hate on slashdot? (Score:2)
I'm sure you are intelligent enough to know that at least half of these are trolls posted by people with no real opinions of their own, but what about the rest?
My own solution involves alcohol, but that may not be an option for you
Mods: This is an honest question, and I haven't said anything bad about Zionism or Ayn Rand (this time around anyway) s
When are cartoons of Mohamed blasphemy? (Score:2)
Do you agree?
WHY JUST ARABS?!! (Score:2)
Why everybody is commenting on arabs!
Iranians also live there, we have linux user groups (e.g. LUGIR [lugir.org]) and we DO have our own linux distros (e.g. Parsix [parsix.org]) and linux-related forums (e.g. Technotux [technotux.org]) and our government has declared linux as the national operating system which MUST gradually replace windows in all governmental organizations.
I'm really sick n tired of people thinking middle east is were just arabs live or even worse mistaking us -Iranians- with arabs or our country -I
Re:WHY JUST ARABS?!! (Score:2)
If I didn't see a documentary about Iran on The History Channel I wouldn't have made the distinction either. It's the first time I realized that Iran = Persia and has remained unchanged for so long. Who knows, maybe I'm *still* wrong. If so, corrections are welcome.
Politics (Score:2)
Re:question (Score:2)
It does not take much to check the ar link. Here you go [wikipedia.org]. No pics included, however, except the cover of an Egyptian newspaper [wikipedia.org] that published them.
However this is how it is right now, I would expect a few flame wars to have been waged about this.
Re:question (Score:2)
Wow--they use Arabic numerals, too.
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
The only Arabic country where women aren't allowed to drive is Saudi Arabia, and currently there is a big movement to abolish this unnecessary restriction. Most other Arabic countries are very open. I have seen topless women (Russians mostly) sunbathing on Dubai's beaches. But, other cities in the UAE are much more conservative, although not as closed-minded as the Saudis.
You can't really generalize one stereotype over all Arabs. It's like saying that all Americ
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Let's not forget that until recently, Afghanistan was being run by the (mostly foreigner-managed) Taliban, who would pubicly murder women for working at all, never mind how they commuted. Women who went uncovered by a burka, or who dared to teach their daughters to rea
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Afghanistan is NOT an Arabic country.
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Exactly. But it was mostly Arabs that were funding, and to a large extent running, the Taliban. They were a very out-of-town crowd, to be sure. And to the extent that they've moved south a bit into Pakistan, they're still an influence, and still very Arab.
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Just like with most countries, Afghanistan is not unanimous in its political views. There are very conservative people in Afghanistan who loved the Taliban. There were just as many, it not more, who despised them. And there were plenty of "moderates" who agreed with them on some issues bu
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
That is not true. While some of the funding came from wealthy Arabs like Osama Bin Laden, most of the Taliban's funding came from Russia, Iran and Pakistan, all three of which are NOT Arabic countries.
They were a very out-of-town crowd, to be sure. And to the extent that they've moved south a bit into Pakistan, they're still an influence, and still very Arab.
I'm not sure I follow. Who are "they"? If you mean the Ta
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
The number of bodies found in mass graves in Iraq from Saddam's reign after the first Gulf War (about ten thousand - yes, Blair retracted his "400,000" claim, I can get you an article if you'd like) till when we invaded is dwarfed by the number that have died since the invasion (150k as of almost a year ago). Saddam's old prisons are not only full, but greatly expanded (and there are newly build facil
Re:Are women in Arab IT allowed to drive to work? (Score:2)
I'm not sure about which of the two countries this is supposed to be saying something.
Re:CLI in arabic? (Score:2)
Re:CLI in arabic? (Score:2)
Yes, and it pains me :( (Score:2)
MSN messenger is dominant ( though many people use yahoo! and ICQ).
Very few people have heard of Corel Office or Lotus Smartsuite. worse, very few developers have heard of Delphi ( shame!). And when I tell somebody that Delphi is easier to use than, say, Visual C++ 6, They look at me with surprised faces and say "What? Everyone knows Microsoft are the masters of easy to use produ
Re:MS Dominance (Arabic Edition) (Score:2)
Re:Editor for LaTeX with nice Arabic language supp (Score:2)