I just read a very interesting article about how “ready” is MS-Windows for the desktop. I know that sound crazy, as for most of you, Windows is Desktop (sadly). Now I find his approach funny, although he did not give any false statement in his article. He forgot the most major factor in advantage of Windows “Everyone uses it” .. well not everyone, I don’t, but most people do.
Back in Amman, we have 2 GSM mobile networks, FastLink and MobileCom. Now it is wildly known between Jordanians that Fastlink sucks, the quality and availability of their services is very low compared with MobileCom. But still, Fastlink have at least 10 times more subscribers than MobileCom, why is that ? FastLink was there first, and MobileCom came 5 years after FastLink, so when new members wanted to get mobile lines these days, they are most likely to choose Fastlink because “Everyone Uses Fastlink”. For me, as I am a rebel, and do not like the “everyone uses xyz” reason, I had MobileCom phone, and convinced my family to all get Mobilecom :) Just because MobileCom is better, as Linux is better.
OSS & Linux
Recently I get involved again in Arabeyes in the KDE Translation project. So far I didn’t do much more than syncing files between the Arabeyes CVS and KDE CVS. I tried to open some files, and look into the translation in it. To be frank I was very unhappy. It is not KDE only, but as well other translation projects. And part of what I was unhappy about is strings I translated 2 years ago. Now, I know that the translators are doing their best, but the whole process and Quality checking and assurance is not working. So, all the time and effort spent into translating programs and user interfaces in Linux may be a waste of everyones time without proper QA. Read more…
OSS & Linux
Now, although the concept had been around for a while, but I did not see it really spreading as it had for the past year. At some point, blogs were for fun, now, they are a resource, and sometimes referred to for information and news. One of the interesting blogs is GoogleBlog that sometime contains interesting news about Google. Other interesting blogs that I visit often is about IT and e-Gov in the middle east. I find some interesting news there most of the time.
Now, why do I blog in the first place ? well, I started because I wanted to keep family and friends updated on what is happening with me, and what is in my mind. But the purpose changed I think to be a way of expressing myself freely. I think this is why most bloggers blog.
An interesting new site is Arabeyes Planet which contains posts from Arabeyes members in their personal blogs.
OSS & Linux
I admit that I hadn’t been a real loyal user of any Linux Distro. I had been loyal to Linux in general. I had been using Linux for 7 years now I think.. and the distros that I used for more than 6 months include (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, Corel, Fedora, Slack, I-can’t-remember-if-there-is-more ). Of course because I always have /home in a separate partition (in fact in a separate drive) changing distros was like changing underwear, do it was mostly transparent for a GUI user. Read more…
OSS & Linux
I was glad to hear that Moe moved his blog from b2 to WordPress. I hoped that he will use b2evolution so that he will tell me about his experience :)
Wordpess main advantage I think is that it have incredibly clean and readable code, allowing you to make changes without much hastle. The other thing is the community, which is great. Things that I did not like is that it is too simple .. some love it because it is too simple, but I guess I am more sophisticated than you Kuru :P
OSS & Linux
I was in a discussion with Kuru of Arabeyes. It started with a question about RHCE, and ended up as a discussion about certifications in general, and if they mean anything. Kuru believes that they are meaningless, and prove nothing. In the other hand, I believe that they prove a minimal level of skills and knowledge.
Taking RHCE or LPI for as an example, obtaining one of those certifications proves you a certain level of knowledge and skills in the fields that those certification cover. Many people get certified as a prove of skills for their employers, or to be prepared to get engaged in new roles. But others get certified as a self-assurance, and a self prove of ability.
Not everyone need to be certified in my opinion, but being certified sure means something. If not for your work and employer, at least for yourself. It is a challenge that you were able to overcome and Konquere :)
OSS & Linux
Yes, there is another move ahead of me. In 2 days I will be moving to the permanent residence. Right now, I am into writing down what I need, to make sure that I get it. For the past few days, I had been staying late at work mostly. Working most of the time, and watching a movie in at least one instance. As there are not any movie theaters in here, P2P comes to save. Movies come really late on the DVDs, and mostly because or the remastering, it loses it’s sound and picture superiority.
I discovered that more people are reading what I write here that I expected. I guess I should start be more careful about what I write :) And I will try to create more Sections and Categories, and write more valuable things. I really admire Serdal’s Site. His thoughts are really organized, and of value. I added a Linux Category to the site, and will work on writing more into it, and soon, more categories will show, making my site more organized.
About Me, OSS & Linux
Being new in the business field of Linux services and products, I can’t pretend that I am a know-it-all person. But in such a short time it started to be very obvious that Linux does have a very good future in the middle east, and in Saudi Arabia in particular. Reasons are already known to those who know about Linux and its benefits. But most importantly, it is the Cost and the Reliability that attract people to solutions with Linux.
Nevertheless, there are some major challenges, mostly, the lack of local and even imported expertise in that field. People are afraid of what they don’t know, and don’t know how to use, and this is where training and awareness comes to the picture. It may seem that I am promoting the company that I work with, being a Red Hat Certified Training Partner, but the fact is that awareness and training is needed for any new technology.
OSS & Linux
Well, to be frank, the bags are bot packed yet… I got the international driving permit, they didn’t know what they are doing when they gave me that, I am danger on the road :)
Fedora Core 2 should be out by now, although I do not use it at my home PC, I worked on it for more than 45 days at my last work. I can’t deny that I liked it, but will I find it too close to my taste. So I will stay with Debian.
I am still feeling full after the Italian diner last night with Wazzan and Tareq. I really should be easy on myself, and have better control.
About Me, OSS & Linux