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المحاضر أ. د. حسن السيد مركز تقنية المعلومات مستشار للجامعة الافتراضية السورية دمشق – فاكس 4462103 هاتف 4457731 Email: h

المحاضر أ. د. حسن السيد مركز تقنية المعلومات مستشار للجامعة الافتراضية السورية دمشق – فاكس 4462103 هاتف 4457731 Email: hsgroupitc@hotmail.com. PIECING OUT FOSS ACTIVITIES in the Arab World.

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المحاضر أ. د. حسن السيد مركز تقنية المعلومات مستشار للجامعة الافتراضية السورية دمشق – فاكس 4462103 هاتف 4457731 Email: h

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  1. المحاضر أ. د. حسن السيد مركز تقنية المعلومات مستشار للجامعة الافتراضية السورية دمشق – فاكس 4462103 هاتف 4457731 Email: hsgroupitc@hotmail.com

  2. PIECING OUT FOSS ACTIVITIES in the Arab World There have been genuine and serious but scattered FOSS Activities in the Arab World; e.g. Almost All the 21 Arab Countries have at least some kind of LINUX group. Google lists about 20 million entries under “Arab Open Source Software”

  3. Taking only five millionth of the entries as NOT RELATED (major) ones, result in about 100 independent activities scattered around the Arab World. Some of those may have developed very significant FOSS Applications which many of us do not know about.

  4. COOPERATION is a MUSTfor Gearing up MOMENTUMfor FOSS I claim therefore that there is an urgent need for an integrated FOSS SUPPORT STRATEGY for the region as a whole, and a need for coordinating and streamlining various Arab Foss Activities. ISN’T THAT THE HEART OF FOSS PHILOSOPHY ? ??

  5. ALECSO PIONEERING CONTRIBUTIONS The Arab League Educational, Cultural & Scientific Organization (ALECSO) has already taken steps towards Identifying, Coordinating and Supporting FOSS Activities in the Arab World. THEY have carried out a number of very important FOSS Activities:

  6. 1-ALECSO has conducted an elaborate survey to IDENTIFY organizations, firms & individuals who are/ have been or willing to be actively involved in FOSS Activities in The ARAB world. The Survey consisted of: - Introduction to FOSS Concepts - PART I: Companies/Institutes/Organizations Survey (25 questions) - PART II: Developers’ Survey ( 19 questions)

  7. A Pan-Arab FOSS meeting was held at ALECSO’s headquarters (Dec.2005) in cooperation with UNESCO Cairo Office. The meeting included formal representatives of 11 Arab Countries, ESCWA, private Arab companies and individuals working in the field. In addition reports about the state of FOSS activities in various Arab countries, the 3-day meeting covered the following topics:

  8. Overview of FOSS; initiation and Activities • Open Source Electronic Designs • FOSS and the Arabic Language • FOSS in support of E & Distance Learning • Building up a Guide for FOSS activities in the Arab World • Creating a reference website for the FOSS activities in the Arab World.

  9. 2-ALECSO is carrying out a Landmark FOSS Project for serving the Arabic Language and Culture. The Project is carried out in 2 phases (2007/2008 Financial Cycles : 2006 & 2007-8) a) A Computer-assisted Derivation & Inflection System for the Arabic Language. It is almost complete (by a group of Linguistics & IT experts).

  10. A Progress-Assessment meeting was held in Damascus (3 - 4/12/2006). b) A robust reference high caliber Arabic Digital (prototype) Dictionary (similar to Dictionaries like OXFORD, WEBSTER and LAROUSSE). Apart from its comprehensiveness, the dictionary will tremendously help Machine-Assisted translation, Arabic Learning and Teaching and Arabic Language integrity.

  11. For more Information: Visit: http://www.alecso.org.tn OR Contact Dr. Amin Kalak at: A_kalak@yahoo.com or alecso-science@email.ati.tn

  12. مشروع استراتيجية عربية لنشراستعمال البرمجيات الحرة ودعم تطويرها A REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR PROMOTING THE USE AND DEVELOPMENT OF FOSS

  13. 3 major ojectives: 1. Raise awareness about FOSS 2. Identify FOSS packages equivalent to commonly-used proprietary software packages and implement them wherever possible (at attractive fees), by very well-trained staff.3. Promote the development of FOSS Applications and breed related expertise and human resources.

  14. COMMON SENSE RULES FOR CARRYING OUT THE CHALLENGE 1-Even the very best software may not fit the specific needs of some users.. 2- It is foolish to claim that all FOSS packages are better than the equivalent proprietary software. 3 - However, FOSS packages equivalent to commonly-used proprietary software, have proven to be at least as good as or better than their proprietary competitors.

  15. Raising awareness requires: a) Media tools (websites, journals, newsletters, lectures, TV-Tutorials) b) Educators (trained, knowledgeable & well versed advocates) to preach Open Source c) Educational Materials

  16. The promotional FOSS software bundle of commonly used software may include: • The operating system GNU/Linux, • The Apache web server, • The Mozilla Firefox web browser, and the OpenOffice.org office suite. • These programs have proven (for the past 5 years or so) to be superior to their proprietary counterparts (mainly the widely used Microsoft products).

  17. a) For Educational Material we need: A TEAM for compiling an electronic repository for every bit of information, website, link, journal, newsletter, special interest group, books which deal with FOSS. ii. A TEAM for extracting and translating whatever necessary & possible of the collected material (for the mono-lingual Arabic user)

  18. BREEDING EXPERTISE AND HUMAN RESOURCES • Introduce the Concept at an early level of IT Education (Middle/High Schools). • Institute FOSS Courses at IT Colleges and Programs. • Sponsor FOSS Development Activities in Research Centers. • Encourage/Sponsor the Formation of FOSS Societies, Groups and Application-Specific User Groups. • Institute National (& Regional Awards) for FOSS Innovations. • Identify & Develop FOSS Applications to serve the needs of local Communities.

  19. Executing The strategy needs: • MONEY (the Driving Energy) to carry out the 3 Tasks mentioned above. - A PATRON (Management); i.e. devoted believers in FOSS & their cause to implement, manage and maintain the momentum of the process.

  20. FINANCIAL SUPPORT Financing may come from: 1. 0.5 – 1 % of the budget of Arab Communication Establishments & Companies to be allocated annually to the Plan. 2. Donations, Scientific & Cultural Endowments 3. Contributions and Support from the Private Sector

  21. 4. Regional & International Aid 5. Sales & Support Services of FOSS

  22. The BIG Battle It’s not a secret that GIANT proprietary Software companies have been viciously generous to some Arab Countries in return for making the countries drop any and every FOSS activity from their development plans. It is very essential to educate decision-makers about the critical importance of resisting those malicious temptations.

  23. THE PATRON (Management) A Regional BODY (Consortium-like W3C/Organization/Council/Association/ Committee) which will have direct Channels to Top Executives in Arab Countries. The BODY should include active representations from all Civil Groups and individuals showing interest or working in the field of FOSS.

  24. Must-Read references WheelerD-WhyOSS.stw (ww.dwheeler.com)RishabGhoshPapers.stw (ww.infonomics.nl/FLOSS) whitepaper_Kefah_arabicfinal/ arabic_gpl.pdf/kutayyeb-alhurriya.pdf from:www.linux-maroc.org Selected Websites www.fsf.org/www.gnu.org www.warshah.org /www.aietf.org /www.arabeyes.org www.linuxsyria.org/www.linuxegypt.org/ www.linuxsaudia.org/ www.handasa-arabia.org

  25. THANK YOUشكرا لإصغائكم

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