Ask About the Iraqi LUG

Yes, there is a Linux Users Group in Iraq. When it was first mentioned on Slashdot it only had two members. It's grown a little since then, as has The Iraqi Linux Group Portal. Adam Davidson, an American reporter in Baghdad who helped start the group, has agreed to answer your questions about Linux in Iraq. Please post only one question per comment. We'll email Adam 10 of the highest-moderated questions, and post his answers verbatim (except for HTML formatting) when he gets them back to us.

Comments

Which distro?

[bc90021]

Which distribution of Linux do most Iraqis use? RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, Slackware, or other?

Re:Which distro?

[vesamies]

I think it's RedHat because that's what the most popular Ayatollah uses (www.sistani.org)

Re:Which distro?

[hasanen]

i am iraqi linux member ,currently i am prefer using mandrake.

Re:Which distro?

[Bombcar]

That's a really high slashdot UID, I hope you notice.

Also, the only story he's ever posted on is the Iraqi Linux one.

Slashdot has not got to the 7 digit UIDs yet. See UID 1 Million

Re:Which distro?

[Rusty Bedsprings]

Is Junis a member of your club?

Wow!

[polyp2000]

One has to ask, would this have been allowed under Saddam Hussain?

Re:Wow!

[Frymaster]

One has to ask, would this have been allowed under Saddam Hussain?

well, according to the linux users journal, it sounds like it was. the article is here - you could have found it easily by reading the article.

additionally, it should be noticed that saudi arabia - a country that has consistently been in the top three worst regimes as far as human rights violations are concerned - has a lug as well.

Re:Wow!

[newiraq]

Dispite the fact that everything was forbidden under Saddam's regime, this wasn't the case. The problem is people did not know about it because they were forbidden from connecting to the outside world and learn about technology or whatever! For sure you couldn't start a group without pasting the Baath party flyers all over the place firt, or at least you should be a member at the Baath party! even if there is no relation at all!

Re:Wow!

[esaloch]

Well, considering that Saddam's reasoning for kicking out the oil companies in Iraq was more of an anti-capitalist thing I think he would have been more likely to ban MS Windows.

Re:Wow!

[aled]

Why do you think otherwise?

Re:Wow!

[Milton Waddams]

so an OS has nothing to do with morality.

Re:Wow!

[Milton Waddams]

that was kinda my point. people think that just because they use something like linux, that their moral judgement is somehow better than someone that uses windows. people usually don't have much say in what their elected leaders do, that's even if their leaders were elected in the first place

Re:Wow!

[javiercero]

Actually it was, but don't let the actual facts get in the way.

Re:Wow!

[CableModemSniper]

I'm gonna be a loser now and ask why this hasn't been modded up to the sky?

Re:Wow!

[Xabraxas]

I don't see how that was implied ANYWHERE.

Age group?

[Leffe]

What is the age group(s) of Linux users in Iraq?

OK, I don't even know what it's in Sweden, but it would be interesting, right?

Re:Age group?

[Krapangor]

The age group of Linux users in Sweden is 9-87. The median is around 23. However, we have a surprising large cluster around the 80ies.

Re:Age group?

[nelsonal]

I would assume this is because unlike those under say 45 (too pick a number out of the air, the average people over that age do not have a ton of computer experience, and those that do probably started on a Unix like system. So you probably have two groups retireees who have used Unix their whole computing lives, and would give us whippersnappers a lesson in vi (or Emacs) or retireees who didn't want to expend any more of their pension on a computer to read email surf the net, and who ever runs their system can fix things remotely and lock them down so much better than an older hardware windows box. For a new, budget constrained user who doesn't need Wal-Mart (or your local hypermart) software compatability a Linux machine is a pretty attractive deal, I'm wishing I'd done it for my grandmother.

Re:Age group?

[nabil_IQ]

I'm not IN Iraq, but I'm a member of the Iraqi Linux Group, and I'm 27.

hopfully will go there sometime soon :-)

Re:Age group?

[hasanen]

me (hasanen) is 21 , and my friend Ashraf is 22 , others r betwean 20 and 26.

Computer density in Iraq

[MajorDick]

What is the density per capita of PC type computers in Iraq ? I mean how many people even own computers ? What is the average computer available for use in Iraq ?

Re:Computer density in Iraq

[Pentagram]

If it's anything like Afghanistan, they've all been keeping C64s hidden under their chicken coops in preparation for their glorius liberation.

Whats Iraq really like?

[bluGill]

We all know that the news only plays the parts that sell (normally the worst parts) of reality, which leaves everyone with a twisted idea of what it is like. So if I was born and raised in Iraq, what would my life really be like?

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[chrisatslashdot]

I had been watching the network news stories on Iraq since the war began. Then one day last week I turn on MTV and there is a reporter doing 2 minute piece interviewing young Iraqis in the music stores and arcdes. I learned more about Iraqi life in 2 minutes on MTV than countless hours on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[hetta]

We all know that the news only plays the parts that sell (normally the worst parts) of reality, which leaves everyone with a twisted idea of what it is like. So if I was born and raised in Iraq, what would my life really be like?

Especially if I were a woman?

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[hasanen]

simply , u can make your way of life as u like , just like how u can cutomize linux kernel.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[be-fan]

Religion wasn't as big a problem as politics. Iraq under Saddam was largely secular. As long as you kept a low profile politically, we were likely to be okay. The new Iraq will most likely be a lot more religiously conservative (if the "will of the people" is obeyed, anyway) though more free politically.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[Anonymous Coward]

> As long as you kept a low profile politically, we were likely to be okay.

In Arab terms, this is progressive and liberal! What if you're a woman? Can you go outdoors? Alone? Drive? Work? Please, apologize on their behalf again. I love it when people try and deny that a society is living in the stone age when they evidently are.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[AuMatar]

At first, at least. Any society thats religiously conservative tends to go twoards politically conservative as the religion stuffs their views down everyone's throats.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[newiraq]

I can't tell you exactly how your life would be if you were born and raised in Iraq since I don't know you!!! how your life would be is dependant on how your parents raise you although you might be influenced by the env. .. nothing is standard. Your question is with no limits! I live in Iraq! and till this point I can't figure the general trend of the political events, if this is what you're asking. But I know that Iraq needs some major tweeking on all aspects.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[newiraq]

Arab world is not at all in relation to the stone age ... women can do whatever they want .. work .. drive .. protest or demonstrate as well .. and do all of this alone! My Mom drives and goes to work .. alone! From where did you get this idea that women rights are stolen???! But of course when there is gun fire .. you wont let your kids nor wife leave home, would you?!

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[bluGill]

If I was a typical Iraqii what would my life be like. Obviously it would be very different from what it is now. Even if you took my parents directly from the US the day I was born, they would have raised me different.

Remember, what is common place to someone born and living there is strange and interesting to those who have never been there. I'd be interested in replys (though they would be off topic) from those living in Russia, Thiland, France, Brazil and so on.

Re:Whats Iraq really like?

[iKing]

> As long as you kept a low profile politically, we were likely to be okay. In Arab terms, this is progressive and liberal! What if you're a woman? Can you go outdoors? Alone? Drive? Work? Please, apologize on their behalf again. I love it when people try and deny that a society is living in the stone age when they evidently are.

I'm having a hard time understanding why this is insightful, did the poster even read the comment? let's recap....

• "As long as you kept a low profile politically, we were likely to be okay."
  This is under the OLD secular Sadaam regime where political disloyalty was punished severely, which i think we can all agree was not progressive or liberal. I don't think the poster was exalting the old Sadaam regime, but was simply detailing how it was to live under Sadaam.

But on the other hand...

• "The new Iraq will most likely be a lot more religiously conservative...though more free politically."
  Which i think we can all agree is progressive in Iraq.

There's alot of technical know-how on slashdot but also alot of political and religious intolerance....you would think we were in a chat with the Young Repubicans Club.

Encryption

[onyxruby]

For years strict encryption rules were an issue for Iraq. Has the US now stopped it's encryption restrictions for Iraq or do you simply get your crypto from elsewhere?

Re:Encryption

[Leffe]

NOTE: You are not allowed by American law to download this encryption module if you live in a terrorist country!

User: Damn it! I really wanted it, but now that I see that message, I just can't download it :(

(Yeah, I know that the one sharing it is committing the heinous crime...)

Re:Encryption

[Kenja]

I once talked to an army Colonel who had built a suitecase sized computer for Sadam in the mid 80's. Just remember, before things went all crazy Sadam was our puppet.

Re:Encryption

[Delirium Tremens]

Actually, Sun Microsystems for example makes sure that your IP belongs to a well-known and trusted subnet before it allows you to download code that may infringe on export rules.
If they are not 100% sure of where your IP is geographically located, they will not allow you to download the code. It happens to me once on a T3 line in Belgium. I was running behind a bunch of proxies, which I guess somehow prevented Sun to know for sure that I was a trusted user in an Allied country. I had to use a slow dial up account with some Belgian ISP to finally be allowed to download the crypto code.

Re:Encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this help? Iraq Sanctions

Re:Encryption

[I8TheWorm]

Not trying to be a troll at all, but with Linux, does it matter? It's not produced (in many cases anyway) by a US company which is bound to US law. Are there any other reasons, i.e. international law, that would restrict the use of stronger encryption than the US allows in Iraq?

One of the finer points to be made regading use of Linux is none of it (again, unless you use a distro from a US company) is bound by US law, and least that's how I percieve it.

Re:Encryption

[Frymaster]

before things went all crazy Sadam was our puppet.

what do you mean "before"? when hussein was gassing kurds, he was our pal. when he was committing war crimes against the iraqis he was on our side.

Re:Encryption

[pla]

Actually, Sun Microsystems for example makes sure that your IP belongs to a well-known and trusted subnet before it allows you to download code that may infringe on export rules.

Which accomplishes... Nothing?

"Hi, Mom&Pop's Hometown ISP? I'd like to sign up with you. Yup, great, can I pay for a year in advance via direct deposit? Good. Okay, yeah, I'll need a shell account, does that present a problem? No? You'll have it active in fifteen minutes? Great. Thanks, bye".

Poof, any amount of attempted IP-to-geography mapping completely defeated. Saddam47@momnpop.com now appears to come from Sandusky, Ohio, not Tikrit, Iraq.

And that even goes so far as to assume someone has to pay for such obfuscation of their physical location... Personally, although I live in the US and don't need to circumvent export rules to do anything, I have a number of accounts in various places to get around strange policies I've encountered (such as "only from a .edu", or "only from South Dakota"). And not a single one of them have I ever needed to pay for (nor steal them, which a "real" criminal probably would not hesitate to do).

Re:Encryption

[Kleedrac2]

Actually the US has quite ... ummm ... stringent rules about crypto. For more information I'd suggest reading this article posted by the OpenBSD team. The OpenBSD team is from Canada thusly why they've done so much research on the issue.

Re:Encryption

[the_mad_poster]

"All crazy" in U.S. terms means "he screwed with our personal convenience" e.g., he invaded Kuwait which messed with our power-slurping habits. Nobody in any administration in recent memory gave or gives a crap about human rights. We're still "buddies" with China, after all, even though the country's run by nasty little brutes. Ditto India and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and....

Execute a few thousand of your countrymen? No problem. Fuck with my SUV? You're dead.

Re:Encryption

[I8TheWorm]

Doh! Blocked by WebSphere. I'll check it out when I get home... and thank you for the link. You ought to be modded informative(+1).

Re:Encryption

[jasonditz]

Ask that question again when the bombs are falling on Finland :)

Re:Encryption

[cheezedawg]

In retrospect, our alliance with Saddam in the 80's was bad- hindsight is always 20-20. But if you look at the situation we were in, it is understandable why we looked to work with Saddam. The Iranian revolution changed the dynamic of the region. Suddenly we had a radical Islamic theocracy that was openly anti-American and had taken hundreds of US citizens hostage. Iran quickly became enemy #1.

So we look next door. Instead of a radical Islamic government, we see a secular leader, and we falsly assume that this means Iraq will not be subject to the same volitility as Iran. We also see a leader that is against the new Islamic government in Iran (our new enemy). We obviously underestimated Saddam.

Its not like we sat back and did nothing about his war crimes. We sent Rumsfeld to Iraq in the early 80's to urge Saddam not to use chemical weapons. We voted for almost a half a dozen UN resolutions condemning Iraq for it's chemical weapons use. And the chemical weapons he was using were not American anyway. Finally it became painfully obvious that we could not trust Saddam, so we started working to disarm him.

Hopefully we can learn from mistakes like this.

Re:Encryption

[Ba3r]

I agree; the question that i want to ask is 'why are there export restrictions on public technologies?'

Perhaps alot of these restrictions are motivated by marginally informed politicians lobbied by companies who see the potential to harm their overseas competitors via nonsensical legislation.

Re:Encryption

[CantGetAUserName]

While I do hope that lessons will be learned, the fact that in afghanistan we are working with the ex-taleban warlords seems to indicate that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' still appears to be the way things work

Re:Encryption

[I8TheWorm]

From the Department of Redundancy Department... marginally informed politicians

All kidding aside, I agree with you. It embarasses me that politicians from my country seem to think the laws they pass, however good or ridiculous, should apply to the rest of the world. What happens if a local in one of their marked countries comes up with their own 1024 bit encryption? Oh, wait, I know... we send in the troops and apologize on the back end....

Re:Encryption

[Frymaster]

But if you look at the situation we were in, it is understandable why we looked to work with Saddam. The Iranian revolution changed the dynamic of the region.

and why, praytell, was there a revolution in iran and a new anti-us regime? perhaps because the united states orchestrated the overthrow of mossadegh - the democratically elected leader of iran - and replaced him with the shah, a brutal dictator and u.s. puppet.

note to us administratoin: stop making beds if you don't want to lie down in them.

Re:Encryption

[be-fan]

The problem here is that two US principles are in conflict. The US wants freedom, and at the same time, it wants the rule of the people. The two are, in many parts of the world, mutually exclusive. Just as we have communities in the US where the majority votes to restrict their own freedom (morality laws), we have countries like Iran where the people *choose* to instate a non-free theocracy.

Re:Encryption

[senatorpjt]

When have we ever been "buddies" with China?

Do you own any sort of manufactured product? Look at where it's made.

Re:Encryption

[Ba3r]

Yeah, I understand your sentiment, but does being a politician imply being only superficially fluent in a certain aspect of society? Most politicians of note have firm grasps on economics and 'hard' technology (i.e. auto, energy, agriculture). We are in a time of massive societal change, and those who are laying out policies governing this 'new' society are just as ignorant and manipulable as those who attempted to layout policies at the dawn of mass media (most politicians still don't understand the power of mass media). My pessimistic side thinks we won't see internet aware politicians for at least ten years, when people who grew up in a world of instant information, and the viral spread of ideas and information. For now we will just have to deal with that set of politicians who, because they use email and know that a website can be used to centralize a very large audience, think they understand what it is to have a net presence.

Re:Encryption

[I8TheWorm]

You make very strong points, but I do see it a little differently.

If one is a lawmaker, he/she owes it to their constituency to tirelessly research the issues and come to a full understanding on them before he/she writes legislation or votes on it. If he/she doesn't understand it, then maybe he/she should abstain from voting on it, less he/she take the wrong side due to their ignorance on the issue.

It's just my opinion (of course), but it seems politicians love to jump on the bandwagon of issues because they're the topic-du-jour and it will get them press, regardless of wether they know anything about the issues lined out in the bill or not.

Re:Encryption

[k12linux]

Like the earlier worms, Bagle does not affect Macs or computers running the Linux and Unix operating systems. - WA Post

Nice sig. When I send alerts to my users (primarily for their own benefit for their home PCs) I almost always include something like: "If you are using a Mac or Linux at home instead of Windows, you are at no risk from this virus."

Re:Encryption

[hherb]

Reality check: the US are the only country having such ridiculous cryptography export regulations. Much of cryptographic research goes on in Europe and other countries (Where do you think the Rijndael algorithm came from ? Or the GnuPG suite?), and these countries actually practice freedom instead of just preaching it. Hence, regardless of what US regulations pretend to do, you could always get top notch cryptographic software anywhere in the world. Including Iraq. The US might as well have attempted to regulate which country is allowed to get a share of sun shine.

How can people outside Iraq help?

[bc90021]

How can we in the global community help the Iraqi LUG? Are there resources available for computer donation, etc.?

Linux and "Netscape" lead the statistics...

[tcopeland]

...right here. Netscape == Mozilla, and such, I bet.

Have to remember to check that page a day or two from now... there'll be a new "busiest hour", probably.

Re:Linux and "Netscape" lead the statistics...

[tcopeland]

Heh. Note the usual exponential decay in activity. Fickleness, thy name is Slashdot.

In the long run...

[inode_buddha]

how do you think Iraq will merge very old and very new cultures in a beneficial way?

What will the Iraqi government use?

[rueger]

I'm presuming that any government computer infrastructure has been destroyed, and that they will be more or less starting from scratch.

Am I correct in assuming that Microsoft is in there big time locking down contracts to rebuild government computing sytems?

Re:What will the Iraqi government use?

[BigBadBri]

I was going to ask the Microsoft question - I know that they have been reported as sponsoring meetings at which the rebuilding of Iraq is being discussed.

I also fear that given the past history of Chalabi and his ilk it is likely that under the table payments will be crucial in getting any contracts from the appointed provisional authority - Chalabi faces a twenty stretch if the Jordanians ever get their hands on him, following his looting of the Petra Bank. Obviously a fit person for the US to select to serve on the provisional authority, I don't think.

Problem is, with those awarding contracts expecting presents in their hot little Swiss bank accounts, Open Source solutions are likely to be way down the list, however much they may save.

It looks to me like the real looting is yet to start - all that oil money is too tempting for Microsoft, or any for-profit enterprise that can milk the country without having to actually risk its own staff, to ignore.

Re:What will the Iraqi government use?

[Axoiv]

Isn't it terrible?
How can the people at Microsoft live with themselves?
Taking opportunities like this to squeez out every last piece of wealth they have in Irak.
Fool them, lock them in, pump out the money.
But hey, I guess that's what happens when you appoint criminals to big contracts.

Iraqi geek girls

[tuxette]

Are there any female Linux users/Linux Users Group members in Iraq? If so, how many? How old are they?

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an entire dating site devoted to single female Iraqi geeks.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[TheSync]

When I was chatting with the Baghdad Internet Cafe, there was at least one woman present at the Cafe who was a "student in computer college."

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[metlin]

And more importantly, are they single ;-)

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[SlashDread]

This is NOT (only) funny. This should be modded insightfull folks, or perhaps this sub-questions should be added, "If no girls, how do YOU feel about that?"

"/Dread"

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[tuxette]

OK. That's good to hear.

I've been told by many reliable sources, including Iraqi expats, that Iraqi women were very emancipated by Arab standards (and even some Western standards) before this whole Saddam mess. Most of the older female Iraqi expats I know are either medical doctors or engineers (educated in Iraq), and the impression I got from them was that it was not all that uncommon for women to choose these kinds of careers. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the girls and women of Iraq now, and what kind of careers the girls and young women end up choosing.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[tuxette]

Well, I never intended for my question to be funny, especially considering I'm female myself.

Being a female or not, I feel it is a legitimate question, especially considering Iraq's previous history of being a model for women's liberation in the Arab world. Many women became scientists/engineers pre-Saddam. My interest is to chart any changes during the Saddam regime, and also investigate the role of women and women and technology for Iraqi women now that they have "freedom."

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[Bromrrrrr]

Well I'm no expert and I've never been to Iraq, but I always gathered that Iraq under Sadam was pretty secular. A brutal dictatorship, but not especially more so for women.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[TheSync]

You also have to keep in mind that Baghdad and Basrah are as different as Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. There are plenty of very "emancipated" women in Baghdad, but fewer out in the country.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[gfxguy]

Except when they'd make the men fight by threatening the women and children. Other than that it was probably pretty equal.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[Bromrrrrr]

Yes you're right ofcourse, I never said Sadam was a nice guy. My point was just that my understanding is he wasn't particularly interested in suppressing women, not that his regime was very enlightened.

I'm sure that if he'd needed women rather than men for his army he wouldn't have hesitate to use the same tactic in reverse.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[Triumph The Insult C]

probably because saddam wasn't terribly religious until he realized he could benefit by flipping the 'jihad' card?

the provisional authority is pretty much working off of sharia(sp?) law now. hopefully the women there can get organized and be sure to be heard in the future.

iraq was, for some time, the intellectual capital of the world. there are a lot of smart people there. unfortunately, there are a lot of stupid (religious fundamentalists) people too.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[UserGoogol]

It looks like Baghdadic's caps lock broke while he was chatting. It must be hard living in Iraq.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[be-fan]

That's true in a number of Islamic countries. 60% of university entrants in Iran, for example, are women. Three Islamic countries have elected women prime ministers, while the US has seen zero women presidents.

The biggest problem is in the country-side, where people are a lot more backwards. Even in the US, there are communities that believe that "a women's place is in the home, etc" and fifty years ago, there were womens' magazines giving advice like "always let your husband speak first at dinner, what he has to say is more important than what you have to say." If you consider the relatively worse situation of countries like Iraq and Iran (couple of decades behind, culturally, and many more people in the lower-class) its easy to put into perspective the relative position of women.

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[kerb]

if im not mistaken, girls are a 2nd class citizen and most of them are illiterate. i guess to they need to learn the ABCs first or equivalent before taking on heavier stuff like hacking kernels :)

Re:Iraqi geek girls

[tiger99]

I think you should apologise for that disgraceful post. My information, from someone who visits Iraq, is that it is not so. Unlike Afghanistan where women have been seriously oppressed for a long time, Iraq was essentially a secular society. They have women doctors, and had a biological warfare expert IIRC. My friend used to know three Kurdish women, definitely an oppressed minority, yet all with degrees.

The fact is that everyone except the former ruling scumbag class has been oppressed, but I see illiteracy on Slashdot every day, as there is everywhere.

It will get worse if Shia Muslims become the new ruling class, then women will be oppressed.

Can we help you in some way?

[herrvinny]

Can we help you in some way? Old computers, networking equipment, webspace, etc?

How can we help?

[agentZ]

I would like to help the proliferation of Free software, as part of a larger effort to provide opportunities to connect, to the people of Iraq. How can we help? Would my old computer hardware help? How can I get it to you? What about my linux skills? I teach computer science/forensics at the university level and would be happy to offer training over the web.

Re:How can we help?

[basil montreal]

About donations to Iraq, would they generate a tax break the same way a charity would? Alot of companies and schools will donate their old gear to charities but often it's because of the tax credit.

Domestic vs. Foreign Talent

[Evil Schmoo]

Is the recent growth in your user group due to an influx of homegrown Iraqi talent, or are there more foreign users (ie, contractors) coming incountry?

War coverage

[koh]

I'm eager to ask, does he think that an increased presence of Linux in Iraqi homes during the last war would have had some impact in the way information was delivered to the outside world ?
Would it have improved the way the major news channels "translated" the events ?

The numbers.

[Mr2cents]

Well, on question should go for the numbers: do a lot of people have computers in Iraq? Is linux well-known there? How is it welcomed compared to the competition? IIRC the internet was outlawed under Sadam, so is it becoming available rapidly?

Of course we all know the fastest way to get network is to get a bunch of linux-geeks together.. Is the next linux beer.. erm.. thee hike going to be in Bagdad?

Re:The numbers.

[proj_2501]

many arabs partake of the Hookah instead of alcohol.

mmmmm hookahs. not expensive, not illegal, looks damn cool, tastes damn good :)

Re:The numbers.

[Anonymous Coward]

The internet wasn't outlawed, it was just heavily monitored. One of the Iraqi bloggers (I think Zeyad) wrote about it, but I can't find it now, unfortunately. If anybody else can find the reference I'd be much obliged.

Re:The numbers.

[proj_2501]

a hookah is NOT the same thing as a bong! you can't even smoke weed out of a hookah. well, you can but you don't get high!

Re:The numbers.

[hasanen]

yes , many iraqis have computers at home , and many of them has more than one computer at home. no , most of them don't know about linux or anything other than windows , they think that windows is a part of the computer itself.

Mullah density in Iraq

[bstadil]

What is the attitude of the Clerics toward technology?

Any undertanding at all or just considered foreign and evil?

Re:Mullah density in Iraq

[Arturus]

Well, since the Grand Ayatollah Sistani has his own website, I suspect that technology isn't viewed as being evil. The website's design is a bit evil (crazy browser resizing, whacked scrolling applets, etc.), but hey, good for him for having a website, and bonus points for having several language translations, including English.

Legislative issues

[temojen]

Given Iraq's clean-slate status:

How can the international community promote the freedom to use information technology for fair and lawful purposes (ie no DRM, free use of strong cryptography)?

Re:Legislative issues

[taj]

If I'm not mistaken the former head of the RIAA is 'helping' Iraq with its new constitution.

Re:Legislative issues

[sloptaco]

By the tone of this post, I'd day say you're an "US vz. THEM" guy. I almost hope you're trolling, but if not:

It's not wise to put strong encryption capabilities in the hands of any Islamic nation.

Ok ... (awkward silence ensues). Let's also be sure not to trust countries who pass laws that allow the government to detain individuals for no reason based on their ethnicity and general paranoia. Let's also take cryptography away from those countries whose leader's mislead the general public about WMD, to partake in an inhumane war. Oh yeah, don't forget those countries who are afraid of an international tribunal, because all of its military officials have broken the Geneva Accords 10x over...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/slee per/

Re:Legislative issues

[sloptaco]

being Islamic is strongly correlated with suicide attacks on civilians.

I didn't realize you were an expert on Islamic affairs. Have you cared to ever research the approximate percentage of Islamic population that engages in suicide bombing? Now, I don't wish to assign any virtue to suicide bombing - the act is horrid and detestable as is any any act that involves willfully taking another human life - but lets look at the picture from both sides. Is firing a missile into a vehicle on a crowded street (knowing there is a high possibility that innocent people will be killed maimed) not an act of terrorism. According to our media's rhetoric, these are acts of 'security.' This is the same as calling 'cow flesh' 'meat.' We are easily misled be euphisms used by our leaders and the sycophant media.

There's a limited ammount of time available, priorities have to be made. Do you suggest that we ignore racial or religious indicators when screening people?

You know, I've being watching the evening news lately and noticed a large percentage of the crime stories involve people of African decent. Maybe our police should target suspicious African Americans because of some statistic. Okay, seriously, in answer to your question: absolutely no! This would be a violation of something I consider quite sacred: civil liberties and the sphere of human rights. I would prefer not to live in a police. What you do not realize is that we are repeating past mistakes. 20 years from now, the Patriot Act will be a dark stain on American History - it already is for those of us who are awake.

The important thing to remember is that these indicators are not absolute.

Exactly!! So what the hell is your argument?

There are many more innocent people wearing Turbans than terrorists.

LOL!! I don't even think you've thoroughly studied you stereotypes!! I guess all people of the Islamic faith wear turbans... Oh boy! Why do I even bother.

Re:Legislative issues

[garyok]

It's not wise to put strong encryption capabilities in the hands of any Islamic nation.

What? Because the dumb towelheads can't write crypto programs themselves? They can't understand our funny western mathematical squiggles? They can't count if it doesn't look like camels?

Can I have a toke of whatever you're having, please?

The only reason there wasn't strong encryption in place is because Saddam and his goonsquad would torture you if they couldn't read your email. Not because there's no Iraqis capable of programming.

The computer users in Iraq will be perfectly capable of implementing their own encryption systems if they want to - with any strength keys they care to use. Just like anyone in the world is if they're not lazy, can crack open a few books, and have access to a processor.

Re:Legislative issues

[be-fan]

When a major religion teaches people that they can get ahead in the afterlife by killing others I tend to be wary.
---
It doesn't. Martyrdom in the Quran has nothing to do with killing others, but being unjustly killed yourself. It'd by like Jesus being called a martyr because he died during a murderous rampage through the streets of Rome!

being Islamic is strongly correlated with suicide attacks on civilians.
---
Being Christian is strongly correlated with murdering people. After all, the murder rates in the predominantly Christian United States are much higher than the murder rates in the oficially athiest China. And there are a whole lot more Christian murderers than Mulsim suicide bombers!

Do you suggest that we ignore racial or religious indicators when screening people?
---
Yes. Unless you can prove that there is a *statistically significant* correlation between suicide bombers and being Muslim, then there is no basis for screening them. You've got a handful of Mulsim terrorists (relatively) and a handful of Christian terrorists (IRA, among others). Take all those factors into account, and I'd say that you'd have a hard time coming up with a mathematically significant correlation.

There are many more innocent people wearing Turbans than terrorists.
---
Mulsims don't necessarily wear turbans. Arabs do.

Re:Legislative issues

[WNight]

It doesn't. Martyrdom in the Quran has nothing to do with killing others [...]

But the problem is that modern Islam is not the Quran, that's like saying that all Christians adhere to the word of the bible. Many reports from people who should know indicate that suicide bombers are being taught that their actions guarantee entrance to the afterlife despite any sins.

Being Christian is strongly correlated with murdering people. After all, the murder rates in the predominantly Christian United States are much higher than the murder rates in the oficially athiest China. And there are a whole lot more Christian murderers than Mulsim suicide bombers!

But being Christian isn't strongly correlated with murder (in the USA at least, to use your example). The Christian population of the USA, to my knowledge, is no more likely to murder someone, per capita, than anyone else. But, being a American Christian is strongly correlated to being from the USA which may indicate more of a tendency to murder than a non-USAian.

Besides, the issue of suicide in these attacks is an important one. Few "western" people want to die in their attacks, this is a recent (to us westerners) development and our security procedures have a hard time stopping this. Witness our policies that bags must be accompanied on a flight - this doesn't hinder a suicide bomber in the slightest yet does stop many homegrown terrorists.

Yes. Unless you can prove that there is a *statistically significant* correlation between suicide bombers and being Muslim, then there is no basis for screening them. You've got a handful of Mulsim terrorists (relatively) and a handful of Christian terrorists (IRA, among others).

If I were in England during a rash of IRA bombings I'd expect to be questioned, I am Irish (from a Catholic family) and would likely be travelling between England and Ireland. What I would find unfair would be if they found me guilty instead of just checking my luggage a bit more carefully.

Mulsims don't necessarily wear turbans. Arabs do.

I know, I was being flip. Like referring to a Scot and implying that they all wore Kilts, ignore the fact that many don't and many of the Irish do...

Re:Legislative issues

[be-fan]

Many reports from people who should know indicate that suicide bombers are being taught that their actions guarantee entrance to the afterlife despite any sins.
---
Shouldn't we distinguish what the religion teaches from what certain fringe groups pretend the religion teaches? When KKK people use religion to condone bombing an abortion clinic, do we call it an act of Christian terrorism? Does the fact that many people use patriotism to justify violence mean that teaching patriotism is akin to teaching violence?

The Christian population of the USA, to my knowledge, is no more likely to murder someone, per capita, than anyone else.
---
The Muslim population of the USA is no more likely to commit terrorist actions than the Christian population. For every Muslim terrorist we've seen living in the US, we've seen a Christian terrorist sniping people or blowing up buildings.

But, being a American Christian is strongly correlated to being from the USA which may indicate more of a tendency to murder than a non-USAian.
---
Would it be justified, then, for France to keep close tabs on visiting Americans? After all, they are about eight times more likely to kill someone during their stay than the average frenchman!

If I were in England during a rash of IRA bombings I'd expect to be questioned, I am Irish (from a Catholic family) and would likely be travelling between England and Ireland.
---
Then your expectations obviously aren't high enough.

Re:Legislative issues

[sloptaco]

Gotcha, so I need to write a graduate-level thesis on comparative middle-eastern religions in order to use a quick example?

No, I'm not trying to be priggish. Chances are you may even be more versed on the historical details of the issues than I am. You write articulately, so I know you're educated to some degree. However, linking muslims with the term 'turban' is such a hashed out stereotype - it was just a rather low-brow comment and I had to laugh.

The black example is particularly bad because there are many racists who hate blacks and will take any chance to hurt them, and because the skin color isn't the correlating factor, it's usually poverty which correlates to violent crime. If the poor are largely black in your town this may mean that blacks (in situations likely to involve violent crime) would attract more attention.

No, the black example is very appropriate to the current situation, because it boils down to stereotypes and what the media is telling people to think. There are also many non-Muslim Americans who hold many strong stereotypes against Islam because of one widely obscure line out of the Koran and media potrayal of the followers of the religion. Remember, we have to make the distinction between an extremist and a follower. Osama Bin Laden is an extremist who acts in the name of Allah (in his own words) while Timothy McVayan - another terrorist, mind you, acts in the name of Jesus Christ (in his own words).

Nice rant about Israel too, though you must be a bit obsessed to try to bring it into unrelated conversations.

Okay, so Israel's policy towards Palistine is unrelated to the issue of Islam being widely connected with terrorism? Have you ever watched TLC's connections? If you have, I'm sure you had difficult time following the historical narrative. The military of Israel is in some parts a terrorist organization, just as is Hamas. I see both sides (on a military level) as dogs engaging in gross violations of the natural sphere of human rights. Yes, Sharon is an evil man, just as are the Hamas military leaders. Most people are afraid to look on both sides of an issue. It outright baffles me!

Re:Legislative issues

[easter1916]

If I were in England during a rash of IRA bombings I'd expect to be questioned, I am Irish (from a Catholic family) and would likely be travelling between England and Ireland. What I would find unfair would be if they found me guilty instead of just checking my luggage a bit more carefully.

Or check your arse a bit more carefully. I'm Irish too boy, from Co Cork, and I endured two stripsearches with the old "finger up the arse" treatment at Heathrow during the late 80s as I travelled between Ireland and mainland Europe on business. The end result, for me, was an abiding hatred of both Heathrow Airport and of racial or "national" profiling.

Re:Legislative issues

[easter1916]

Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, and the thirteen gone but not forgotten (Bloody Sunday civil rights marchers). I'm sure there were more than those three examples... now what was your point again? I understand and support the desire for reconciliation and of putting the Troubles behind us, but atrocities, extra-legal killings, show trials and kangaroo courts existed on the British side, too. Let's not forget that.

Re:Legislative issues

[WNight]

Would it be justified, then, for France to keep close tabs on visiting Americans? After all, they are about eight times more likely to kill someone during their stay than the average frenchman!

If indeed this is the case, then yes. I think paying extra attention to high-risk groups is allowable, even when I'm a member of those groups. I wouldn't specifically like being searched, but I'd understand it and it'd make as much sense as any current airport security measure.

Shouldn't we distinguish what the religion teaches from what certain fringe groups pretend the religion teaches? When KKK people use religion to condone bombing an abortion clinic, do we call it an act of Christian terrorism?

The belief that martyrdom in service of the religion will guarantee entrance to heaven is a fairly common belief, as is (in some areas) the belief that killing westerners, US citizens in particular, qualifies.

And yes, if I was an Abortion-Clinic guard I'd watch religious people closely.

Distinguishing between "member of a class containing bad people" and "bad people" is where I say you should watch them in suspicious circumstances, not arrest them on presumption of guilt.

Does the fact that many people use patriotism to justify violence mean that teaching patriotism is akin to teaching violence?

And if I saw a flag-waving love-it-or-leave-it type leaving an area after a bomb went off at an anti-war rally I would be suspicious.

Re:Legislative issues

[WNight]

There are also many non-Muslim Americans who hold many strong stereotypes against Islam because of one widely obscure line out of the Koran and media potrayal of the followers of the religion.

But the statement that Islam is a peaceful religion isn't true. Buddhism maybe, for all that it can be called a religion, but not Islam. (And not Christianity either, old-testament at least, and many Christians have what seems (to an outsider like me) an odd focus on that book despite the later supposedly overriding books. I'm not trying to say one is better than the other.) It may be one obscure line, but in the same way you can't judge modern Christians (for better or worse) by the words of Jesus, you can't judge Muslims by the number of lines in the Quran that supposedly support violent actions.

It's all about how the religion is presented and what the modern followers are doing with it.

In the rich and content West, few Muslims are going to be willing to throw their lives away. In poor countries many will, and they've got many predators willing to use religion to help them do it while killing as many infidels as possible. Is it Islam at fault? Not as such no, but yes, in a way it - as a social phenomenon - is.

No, the black example is very appropriate to the current situation, because it boils down to stereotypes and what the media is telling people to think.

That's a common feeling among people on both sides of the political debate - that the (liberal|conservative) media is feeding the people a line of bullshit. While all news is biased, and some more than others, I've actually seen much more tolerance of Muslims preached on TV than "Kill the towel-heads", or even a subtle form. On 9-11 I remember hearing reporters going out of their way to say "extremist" after "suspected Islamic", to tell people that Islam is a religion of peace much related to Christianity (though that can be a funny statement if examined), etc.

I've seen this is a group of people close to me. As I said (I think), I'm Irish. We've debated the IRA and the English, etc, around the dinner table before. I'm not the stereotypical rich white guy who wants the police to bust anyone from the lower classes. I'm one of the lower classes who would get searched, but I still think it can be right in some circumstance.

In times of inter-racial violence I think it would have been perfectly valid to stop cars full of white guys who were suspiciously cruising through American ghettos, perhaps to beat up a black guy on the way home late one night. It'd also make sense to investigate a car full of Black Panthers of Nation of Islam (especially the old-school version) cruising around a white area late one night.

I've been stopped by police for matching profiles before and while annoying, in all but one case they told me a met a profile (young kid at night, resembled a known thief, whatever) and checked out my reason for being around at night. Five minutes, possible theft or rape investigated, and nobody hurt.

I have experienced an over-zealous cop once when young who was convinced I was guilty and set out trying to prove it while I was spread out next to the cruiser, but I see this as a problem with the police, not with examining people who match a profile.

Though, as a scientist at heart, I maintain that profiles need to be examined for bias and hate-motivated stereotypes. Any tool can be useful, but only if you understand the consequences.

Okay, so Israel's policy towards Palistine is unrelated to the issue of Islam being widely connected with terrorism? Have you ever watched TLC's connections? If you have, I'm sure you had difficult time following the historical narrative. The military of Israel is in some parts a terrorist organization, just as is Hamas. I see both sides (on a military level) as dogs engaging in gross violations of the natural sphere of human rights. Yes, Sharon is an evil man, just as are the Hamas military leaders. Most people are afraid to look on

Re:Legislative issues

[WNight]

Or check your arse a bit more carefully. I'm Irish too boy, from Co Cork, and I endured two stripsearches with the old "finger up the arse" treatment at Heathrow during the late 80s as I travelled between Ireland and mainland Europe on business. The end result, for me, was an abiding hatred of both Heathrow Airport and of racial or "national" profiling.

A hatred of airports could be easily developed. I've never seen more incompotent "security" personel or more palcebo security measures than flying after 9/11. They did all the stupid nail clipper confiscation and fascist crap and yet they let the gift shops in the secured area sell nail clippers and worse. Glass plates, collectible forks, many things that could have been turned into an effective knife or shiv in seconds. Not to mention that they allowed many things onto the flight that could have been as effective as box cutters. (CDs hold enough of an edge to cut someone very badly and are easily snapped and sharpened.) They made annoying half-measures to verify if computers were real by making you turn them on, yet they didn't even attempt to check all the hiding spots on them (spare battery compartment). You could have hidden a gun inside the metal-shielded (at least on my old laptop) compartment.

The profiling... well... I grew up in Western Canada, in a fairly white neighborhood, and we were profiled on many other things. When I moved to the city with large East Indian and Chinese populations we got racially profiled a bit, depending on area, and it was no better or worse than any other profiling. (Teen punk, Male out late, Pissed-off-cop-with-chip-on-shoulder, whatever.) Happened less actually because of race. Mixed race groups got off really easily - not a gang profile I guess.

As long as cops respect the idea of innocent until proven guilty, the stops are mere checks. When they're trying to manufacture guilt, as happened to me once when younger, it's bad regardless of why they stop you.

Infrastructure

[Golias]

If one believes western media, Iraq is a nation under constant seige, in which the plumming and electricity is absent for large swaths of the nation, and order is just barely maintained by the massive presense of unwelcome US troops. Also, many in the west believed that Iraq under Saddam was a very backwards and un-developped place (apart from military development), and one was not likely to find many computers at all, let alone connected ones.

So, as somebody who's actually there and actually knows what life is like for a techno-geek in today's Iraq, perhaps you could give us a detailed account about current network infrastructure, how easy or difficult it is to buy computer parts, how much Iraqi people (and Iraqi computer geeks in particular) use Internet technologies to connect to one another (e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, the web, etc.), what cultural attitudes in Iraq concerning the Internet, the global community, and the West, etc.

Most people in the United States (which is where most of the readers of /. come from) know very little about day-to-day life in Iraq. A detailed account would probably be very educational and broadening.

Piracy?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the nature of new Windows deployments in Iraq? Are they now more likely to be legit copies or pirate copies? (this is NEW installations)

If pirated copies of Windows are still the norm, and hardware/power is so unreliable that uptimes are irrelevant, what remaining advantages does Linux have over Windows?

Wouldn't it be better to promote OpenOffice/Mozilla/open file formats, so that the switch to Linux is easier once the infrastructure is more solid, and once piracy is no longer rampant?

technical expertise?

[Horny Smurf]

I was curious as to what level of geekiness you've attained. Do you recompile the kernel? Hack the kernel? Use linux to learn system administration/unix concepts? User-mode? Or spare time hobby?

Mandrake??

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you allowed to use Mandrake, or
are you forced to boycott french products in the new Iraq??

Re:Mandrake??

[Bender Unit 22]

No no no,
Mandrake refuses to install itself in Iraq.

Re:Mandrake??

[hasanen]

actually , the first step in our group toward students were distributing 200 free mandrake move CD , so ppl there will think that Linux=Mandrake !

Re:Mandrake??

[BigBadBri]

I can see it now - just after repartitioning the HDD, a message pops up...

Veuillez d'inserter le CD 'Mandat d'UNO pour l'invasion d'Iraq' - ce CD est necessaire pour faire M. Chirac hereux.

Re:Mandrake??

[BigBadBri]

It's ONU, not UNO.

Note to self - try previewing before making a tit of yourself in public.

What an arse.

Re:Mandrake??

[easter1916]

It was still funny, and anyone reading it who speaks even rudimentary French would have gotten the joke.

You insensitive clod!

[coolmacdude]

Why did the submitter feel it necessary to post the link to the Iraq LUG on the Slashdot homepage? Now they are just going to get a bunch of GNAA trolls signing up to spam them.

State Of Intellectual Capital

[RenegadeTempest]

After living under totalitarian rule, what is the state of the country's computing talent? What disciplines have the strongest computing talent?

Re:State Of Intellectual Capital

[NoOneInParticular]

Or faintly related (at least to the totalitarion rule bit): do you also consider Bill Gates to be the most evil person of the last few decades?

Re:State Of Intellectual Capital

[grammar fascist]

Or faintly related (at least to the totalitarion rule bit): do you also consider Bill Gates to be the most evil person of the last few decades?

Please tell me you were trying to be funny.

How can we help?

[PenguinRadio]

What sort of help / donations are you seeking from the US and the West? Would some old manuals, parts, or anything else we might have laying around be of use to you guys and how would we send it to you (i.e. mailing address?)

Re:To all the people that think liberation is bad.

[Globe199]

please do not access the site, it would be hypocritical of you.

I disagree. Thinking the liberation was wrong does not imply a disregard for the current state of affairs in Iraq.

Whether or not you supported the war, we must deal with the situation as it stands, and Iraq can use all the help it can get. I fully support a free software initiative in Iraq.

Globe199

Programming Experience in Iraq

[ChilyMack]

I'm not entirely educated about the average computer experience in the Middle East. I know that, comparatively, very few people have up-to-date computers with reliable internet access, but how much more uncommon is it for an Iraqi civilian to have experience in programming? In the previous regime, was coding mostly government-sponsored, or else discouraged or at least difficult to pick up? Everything grows slowly and somehow, I suppose. Good luck to you.

Halliburton...

[HaeMaker]

What does Halliburton chrage for a RedHat Linux 9 on CD? $10,000?

Free operating systems vs. Windows?

[asobala]

I'm assuming that most Iraqis don't have a computer, and as such there is not a very large Windows marketshare.

Do you think the lower prices of linux will encourage widespread computer usage in Iraq? Do you think maybe people will use linux more than windows, since it's cheaper and can (maybe) get a foothold in the market faster?

Re:Free operating systems vs. Windows?

[GeniusJones]

I haven't reviewed the links this time around but last time I did, and quickly discovered that windows has a large market share due to widespread piracy.

I guess this will change when Microsoft begin an enforcement effort. As many people have mentioned, Iraqi's have better things to spend money on than feeding US monopolies.

Re:What happens when you type "make

[smack_attack]

iraq# make weapons-mass-destruction
error: uranium.so is corrupt or could not be found
error: anthrax.so has corrupt header (possibly expired)
error: compiling anyways, program may fail to install properly

Chance to return to old glory?

[rossz]

Once upon a time the Middle East was the center of learning the world over. Scholars of all religions and nationalities flocked there to exchange ideas and learn. This tolerance made the Middle East rich both economically and culturally. Then fundamentalist religion reared its ugly head, stifling all types of learning except for the Koran. Is there any chance of overcoming the fundamentalist shackles of intolerance and return the Middle East to its former glory of knowlege and economic vibrants?

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[TheSync]

More precisely, Baghdad itself was the center of global scholarship. From About.Com:

In about 762 A.D., the Abbasid dynasty took over rule of the vast Muslim world and moved the capital to the newly-founded city of Baghdad. Over the next five centuries, the city would become the world's center of education and culture. This period of glory has become known as the "Golden Age" of Islamic civilization, when scholars of the Muslim world made important contributions in both the sciences and humanities: medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, literature, and more. Under Abbasid rule, Baghdad became a city of museums, hospitals, libraries, and mosques.

Most of the famous Muslim scholars from the 9th to 13th centuries had their educational roots in Baghdad. One of the most famous centers of learning was Bayt al-Hikmah (the House of Wisdom), which attracted scholars from all over the world, from many cultures and religions. Here, teachers and students worked together to translate Greek manuscripts, preserving them for all time. They studied the works of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Euclid, and Pythagoras. The House of Wisdom was home to, among others, the most famous mathematician of the time: Al-Khawarizmi, the "father" of algebra (which is named after his book "Kitab al-Jabr").

While Europe festered in the Dark Ages, Baghdad was thus at the heart of a vibrant and diverse civilization. It was known as the world's richest and most intellectual city of the time, and was second in size only to Constantinople.

After 500 years of rule, however, the Abbasid dynasty slowly began to lose its vitality and relevance over the vast Muslim world. The reasons were partly natural (vast flooding and fires), and partly human-made (rivalry between Shia and Sunni Muslims, internal security problems).

The city of Baghdad was finally trashed by the Mongols in 1258 A.D., effectively ending the era of the Abbasids. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers reportedly ran red, with the blood of thousands of scholars (a reported 100,000 of Baghdad's million residents were massacred). Many of the libraries, irrigation canals, and great historical treasures were looted and forever ruined. The city began a long period of decline, and became host to numerous wars and battles that continue to this day.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[rossz]

I was almost positive that Baghdad was the center, but Middle Eastern history is not my area of specialty, so I decided to avoid making a mistake. Thanks for your excellent clarification.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[onyxruby]

Excellent question, I think the answer will be directly proportional to the amount of religion instituted in the new government.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[nelsonal]

One of the main causes for the Renaissance was increased trade brought Europeans in contact with the scholars of the Arabic world who had preserved and improved upon the ideas of the Greeks and Romans (as well as a few of their own).

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[BigBadBri]

I'm not a fan of religion in any walk of life, least of all in government - but just bear in mind that the Baathist regime was avowedly secular, before singing the praises of secularism.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[onyxruby]

No question they were fairly secular. From what I understand Iraq has traditionaly been perhaps the most most restrained middle eastern state when it comes to religion. Unfortunately the Imam's appear to launching a power grab and want to shape Iraq into a religious based society.

I still believe that the amount of religion allowed to permeate their government will be directly inverse to the their chances of becoming a technology center, as they once were in ages past. Funny thing is, from what I understand about Islam, it embraces knowledge and learning. Question is can embrace knowledge and learning when it is capable of delivering a message that doesn't adhere to certain fundamentalists view of Islam? It is truely going to be a great test of the maturity of the Islam religion. Unfortunately such tests can be bloody, witness the use of the first printing press to print the bible - a direct response to just such a situation that once confronted Christianity.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[be-fan]

Hmm. Being freakishly religious hasn't seemed to stop the US from becoming a world power!

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[onyxruby]

Please, whatever you do, don't judge the US by it's current head flunky in charge. Bear in mind the US fell into the world power role. Before WWII we had an absolutely abysmmal military and a public that sincerly believed in isolationalism. Even then most of the public was opposed to getting involved with world affairs like WWII until Pearl Harbor was bombed. If the Soviets had pulled back from the Eastern block countries like they said would after they drove Germans out, the US would have gladly receded back into it's prewar status of isolationalism.

FDR was not particulary religious, and it was on his watch that the US became a world power. Most presidents since WWII have not been overtly religious, Reagan included. Eisenhaeur added "one nation under God" back around 1950 or so in order to distinguish us from the godless commies, and that's probably the last overtly religious act by a president since then.

W is really the first overtly religious president in quite a while. He would of course like nothing more than for the US to become a secular religious state, and has said things to that effect (I recall something about Aethiests not really being Americans).

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[be-fan]

I'm not talking so much about the federal government which, even when it is religious, is moreso in speech than in action. I'm talking about the immense religious influence of the people themselves, especially through state and local governments. I go to school in Georgia (home is in Virginia) and both states have some very odd laws influenced by religion. There are all sorts of sexually-repressed laws, as well as controversy about stuff like putting a monument to the Ten Commandments on the lawn of the Georga Supreme Court. Maybe its different in the rest of the country (I notice it much less in DC), but the influence of religion over government is quite strong at least in the South.

Re:Chance to return to old glory?

[onyxruby]

In this regard, I find myself in fair agreement with you. I'm up here in Minnesota, so we don't suffer the same level you have, but I've spent time in Georgia and South Carolina (2002) and know what your talking about. We do have some blue laws though too, car dealerships and liqour stores can't be open on Sunday for example. Hopefully some of the church state issues before the supremes get sung the right way.

We cant allow that!

[nurb432]

Cant allow terrorists having open-source operating systems and development tools..

Re:My question

[Dlugar]

I think this is a ridiculous sort of question. The same could be said of Americans. "Why don't you help your people to have some food, instead of tinkering with computers?" In any country you pick, you're going to have those who are starving, and those who are affluent.

But if Mahmoud from Iraq is good at "tinkering with computers", chances are he's going to be able to work, and if he's working, then he is, one way or another, "helping his people to have some food". Simple economics.

Dlugar

Internet in Iraq

[Ianoo]

What are your feelings about the Internet in relation to freedom of the press and global democracy?

Does the Internet help opressed peoples in dictatorial regimes to see the rights and freedoms that their governments deny them, and to see around the official views that are put out through party propaganda machines? Is it our responsibility to help people in nations like China circumvent their government's censorship mechanisms (using systems like the ill-fated SafeWeb) and see what's really going on in the world, much as Voice of America and BBC World Service have been doing on the radio for so many years?

How many people have you spoken to in Iraq who used the Internet in some form under Hussein and what did they think of the content? Impressed? Disgusted? Did the Internet have any influence before or during the war, perhaps persuading people not to resist or fight for the regime?

What uses have you found the for Internet in post-dictatorship Iraq? Communications, fostering democratic thinking?

Does Linux (being free and hence requiring no capital investment) represent the ideal way to get people online in Iraq when money is tight and perhaps better used elsewhere?

IT jobs in Iraq

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Out of curiosity, might as well ask someone who's in the field and there: what are the typical IT positions in Iraq? What skills are most sought after?

iLug

[Zordak]

Has Apple yet announced any plans to pursue legal action against the clearly trademark-infringing "iLug" name? How can one make donations to your legal defense?

a better question

[corbettw]

Will Iraq will merge very old and very new cultures in a beneficial way? Being Johnny-on-the-spot, what's your take on Iraq's chances of having a real democracy, and not just a vehicle for some religious nutjob *cough*Sistani*cough* to take over?

Re:a better question

[newiraq]

Al Sistani has not forced people to demonstrate (which is a form of freedom that we haven't witness before!) nor he's working to get his ass on the chair! unlike others.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

[Anonymous Coward]

Will the use of Linux assist in finding the till-now-non-existant weapons of mass destruction previously in Iraq but now supposedly hiding in Syria?

What does Linux give Iraq that Windows does not?

[Anonymous Coward]

What features does Linux offer Iraq that Windows does not? Does it offer any special advantages besides the standard ones for open source? For example, are there better translations or special software used by people in Iraq?

Bush

[Andrewkov]

Do you like Bush?

(George W., I mean, get your head out of the gutter!)

Re:To all the people that think liberation is bad.

[ChilyMack]

Most of us who didn't and don't support the war in Iraq have nothing against a people liberated, and would have in fact enjoyed giving Saddam a good, sharp kick in the bum. But why tell everyone you're spaying a dog so it won't bite your kids if you really want to do the dog a favor? Don't pretend that liberation was anything but a useful and fortunate side effect that the administration fell back on when forced to eat crow. So as to stay on topic: I would much rather have Linux proliferate in Iraq than hate and fear. FUD anywhere should be corrected and soundly walloped.

Re:Terrorism.

[willy134]

Are you teaching Iraqis to make bombs with linux?

Baghdad Internet Cafe

[TheSync]

I organized a chat between the College Perk coffeehouse near the University of Maryland and the Baghdad Internet Cafe. The Cafe has about 50 computers, and during the chat they had six people in the Cafe for an Internet training course.

They reported being able to buy cheap computers ("200 USD FOR P4"), but power was an issue - it goes down a lot - fortunately the Cafe has a generator.

I plan to do another chat with them in February.

It is important to keep in mind that during the mid-70's, Baghdad was practially a "European" city in terms of infrastructure, based on high oil prices and Saddam's desire to create a showplace for the glory of his regime. Things didn't really go downhill structurally there until the war with Iran, then Gulf War I, the sacntions, etc.

Also, a lot of businesses now depend on email for communications to and from Iraq, as the phone lines are often less than dependable.

The Baghadad Internet Cafe opened August 1. It is my feeling that it would not have been possible to have an open public Internet chat like the one we had before operation Iraqi Freedom without some kind of government political official there to monitor things. I'll have to ask next time.

Open Source

[robkore]

Iraqi LUG!?!? Does this mean the "Weapons of Mass Destruction Related Programs" mentioned in the State of the Union Address will be Open Sourced?

He was talking about computer programs, right?

Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[eurostar]

Are the Iraqui's being forced to use Linux in English versions or are you being respectful and using Linux in Persian ?

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[nabil_IQ]

first, it's Arabic not Persian the offical language in Iraq.

and here is an answer for you :)

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[eurostar]

and Kurdish too..

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[nabil_IQ]

True :) ... and there are others as well, all mentioned in the Link I posted.

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[katz]

And the language is "farsi", not Persian ;)

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[eurostar]

unfortunately it is slashdotted, I'll try to read it later !

Re:Could you tell us what language is being used ?

[nabil_IQ]

inot it's not, it's still there :) .. didn't blink once :)

At the college/university level

[no longer myself]

What kind of courses does Iraq's higher educational system have in regards to computers? Do they have many classes regarding Unix/Linux type systems or is the emphasis more on proprietary software such as Microsoft's? In general, what kind of careers goals do the Iraqi computer students have?

Political angles?

[immortal]

Given the current political changes, do you find there are any political or even cutural hurdles? How do they affect your ability to bring Linux to Iraq?

Tell us the truth...

[Anonymous Coward]

...where are the biological and chemical weapons?

G.W.B.

Re:What does Linux give Iraq that Windows does not

[eurostar]

the possibility of generating revenue locally instead of selling their petrol in order to send it back to the US.

"except for HTML formatting"?

[Kinniken]

Yes, I can see that...

Original version:

Question: Which distribution of Linux do most Iraqis use?

Answer: oh, they all use Windows. I think I saw one with Slackware once though.


Slashdot version, with HTML added:

Question: Which distribution of Linux do most Iraqis use?

Answer: oh, they all use Slackware.


What? We edited the question? Of course not! We just added some strategically placed comment tags...

LUGs????

[stuffedmonkey]

We had a few of those at my old college :) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lug

The Answer

[TrollBridge]

No more impact than an increased presence of PCs with ANY operating system.

Not really sure what Linux specifically would have to do with the ability of everyday Iraqis to get information off of the Internet (the same Internet that Linux and Windows connects to).

Re:The Answer

[koh]

Well, for a start, Windows costs much more ;)
Since the first war I sincerely doubt our fellow Iraqi geek can line up the money to buy a licence.

(Yup, some other OSes count as free too but the article was about Linux...)

Re:The Answer

[Slashamatic]

Well, for a start, Windows costs much more ;)

No, Linux costs more. Most Linux releases come on 3 or 4 CDs whereas XP comes on one. The price is about $2/CD so Linux costs more (unless they use Knoppix).

At least in former times there was a lively blackmarket in software in Baghdad.

Better Question

[TrollBridge]

...or at least more complete.

How about "Do you think maybe people will use linux more than windows or Mac OS since it's cheaper and can (maybe) get a foothold in the market faster?"

Windows isn't the only commercial OS on the market, and Apple hardware isn't exactly an 'economy-priced' either.

Licensing differences...

[mi]

Question:

Would an otherwise computer-literate Iraqi be able to distinguish between a BSD and a GNU license ?

Re:Terrorism.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you think "Idiots!", when you see these kinds of questions?

SCO Lawsuits

[gmhowell]

Have any lawyers from Davis, Boies, and Schiller been in contact with the members?

How do the religious groups respond to this?

[northwind]

The struggle for power in Iraq is at this time dominated by the fundamentalist groups which all of them favor non-democratic governmental forms.

Linux clearly being beyond governmental control must to these people appear to be very very dangerous.

All tyranies builds on the foundation of controlling information and information flow. So this initiative is clearly not in their favor.

Re:To all the people that think liberation is bad.

[Milton Waddams]

what do you mean by, "If you think liberation is bad"? Who are you talking to? just curious...

Re:Who cares?

[the_mad_poster]

Who fucking cares?

You will when they label you an enemy combatant and lock your ass up with no lawyer, trial, or contact with the outside world.

You don't screw with hair-brained dictator-wannabes and their psychotic little regimes unless you're serious.

General

[billsf]

Are there any restrictions of any sort on using computers in Iraq in general and Linux in particular?

What is currently the most popular OS and hardware platform in Iraq, both by numbers and total computing power?

Issues:

* Crypto importing
* Access to Internet to maintain a Unix system
* The ".iq" top level domain
* Who runs the providers?
* Keeping Microsoft out (their own EULA forbids its use in Iraq)

who is more evil?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Gates or Saddam Hussein?

Overall

[YrWrstNtmr]

Is the average Iraqi better off today than one year ago?

How do you think they will be one year (or 5 years) in the future?

Re:Overall

[WildBeast]

Overall they're worst, I can tell you that much.

Re:Overall

[YrWrstNtmr]

Is this really necessary to ask?

Yes, I think it is. Various entities have said no, they're worse off. others have said they are better off.

I'd like to hear it from someone on the ground.

And you can keep your Dr Dean innuendos at home. If you can derive my political leanings from one simple question, you are truly a master.

Personally, I think they are much better off today. However, a real opinion from someone actually there would seem to count for much more that your or my opinion from thousands of miles away.

Re:Overall

[senatorpjt]

Five years from now, India will probably be outsourcing all their programming jobs to Iraq.

Re:Overall

[Stray7Xi]

There's a serious problem with that question. By only considering the "average Iraqi" you discount all the outliers. You may want to discount some outliers (Saddam is worse off today for example).. but these outliers are the ones MOST effected by the occurances over there. It would completely ignore political prisoners.

For example was the average american better off with slavery being abolished... probably not but it was improvement for overall Americans. The average person would be unaffected (at least directly) if all people with green-dyed hair were killed.

The proper way in my opinion to measure off Iraq's quality of life is to take the summation of every Iraqi's happiness (yes even Saddam's) before and after. The problem is how do you quantify happiness.

Note: I know some slashdotters will chime in about the definition of average but in this context average is not used in a mathematical sense. Average in this sense means the most ordinary, quite close to Mode in mathematics.

I may sound offtopic but its important to define your question if you want a proper answer. Otherwise it can both be true and false with varying interpretations.

Re:Overall

[YrWrstNtmr]

Well...I asked about the 'average Iraqi', because I figured that's what the target of these questions would have the most experience with.

Sure, some are far worse off (former Ba'ath party members), and some are better off (potential new politicians).

If it had been posted as "A former political prisoner in Iraq wants to know about using computers as a knowledge multiplier...", I might have worded it differently.

Again..."How is the average, on the street, Iraqi citizen doing? Better or worse than a year ago. How will they be a year (or 5) from now?"

I may sound offtopic but its important to define your question if you want a proper answer. Otherwise it can both be true and false with varying interpretations.

No. You brought up a very valid qualifier. And I hope, if this question gets submitted, that the responder will target different segments of society in his answer. "These guys are doing ok, those guys are screwed, etc, etc"

In-house, commercial, or hobby?

[your_mother_sews_soc]

I would be curious to know what kind of software, in general, is being developed there? Are the Linux users doing mostly in-house, commercial, hobby, or other development?

If there is a lot of commercial development, in what areas?

How can we help put Linux...

[SlashDread]

on every computer in Iraq?

"/Dread"

Well, it is good to hear that!!!

[sdukaric]

I'm on my way back to Iraq to work on tracking support for U.S Army near Baghdad. And this is really nice to hear since I'll be there for a year. 4 months ago I was distributing Mandrake 9.0 there so this is maybe most used distro :-))) Now I'm carrying Debian and Mandrake with me. Habibi Iraqi.

How many?

[firstadopter.com]

How many Linux users are there in Iraq? And what kind of PC hardware are they using?

get up off the wallet

[mellon101]

They have a paypal button on http://linux-iraq.org/ Drop them a few bucks!

OMG WMD

[stud9920]

What flavour of Embedded Linux do you Weapons of Mass Destruction run on ?

What's the rest of te region doing?

[Artifakt]

U.S. news on C-Span has been reporting that the Middle east governments are relaxing their previous strict control over citizens using the internet. However, the report only mentioned Iraq and Egypt by nane. What are you seeing from your neighbor states? Do you think these governments mean to stick with a policy of more free speech, or are any of them likely to crack down again in a year or so? Who's likely to be a holdout?

Intellectual Property legislation

[Elektroschock]

I read in other news that Iraq as under US occupation will get a copyright legislation written by a RIAA official. But nobody talks about software patents in Iraq. Will the United States pressure for a US style patent legislation in Iraq? I heard that patents are incompatible with islamic law. Some muslims in my neighborhood were much in favour of free software because of religious reasons. Do the Iraqis LUG guys also believe that the GPL unlike proprietary software is according to Shariah law.

State of the Iraqi network.

[Lodragandraoidh]

What was the state of network infrastructure before the war, and what is the current state of the network?

I.E. is broadband available? Is it mostly dialup etc...

In Case

[Tablizer]

Do you have bullet-proof case mods?

How much time do you spend using linux

[Photar]

Aren't you too busy dodging enemy fire, and stuff?

Re:Understanding?

[bstadil]

Foreign? Evil?

WTF, do you think I mean. Iraq is not exactly a hotbed of technology, so it is a safe assumption the most technologies will be Foreign in the Not from Iraq sense. Second, Computer science, Semiconductor technology and Operations research is probably not the 3 top subjects on the How to be a Mullah curriculum. So there is a good chance it is foreign in the I have no experiece with this sense

Chances are the the clerics only knows that computers can be used to watch porn (Women without a headscarf) so take a wild guess whether they think it is something to be encouraged or not!

As for the Evil part maybe this has something to do with their perspective, but maybe you already figured this out and was just trolling.

And the 2004 elections...

[gfxguy]

...should be decided by asking "Who would Osama vote for?"

The Arabs gave nothing to the world...

[Slashamatic]

Was a comment that was made by one British commentator which promptly got him into serious trouble.

The thing is, he was right (probably without knowing it). They gave us the concept of zero in about 950 (I think). I would guess that it probably came also from Baghdad, along with all the other stuff.

The story of the sack of Baghdad must be more complicated. As a rule, if you agreed to their notional rule (the Kahn was usually a long way away) and raised and paid taxes, cities were generally left alone.

Re:The Arabs gave nothing to the world...

[jabberjaw]

Actually I do believe that is was the Indians who gave up the concept of zero. However, the Arabs are responsible for countless mathematical innovations including algebra (thanks mostly to Mr. al-Khwarizimi), the concept of tha alogrithm (thank again Mr. al-Khwarizmi) and arabic numerals. Find out more about Mr. al-Kwarizimi.

Nature of your members

[djeaux]

Are most iLUG members hobbyists, CS students, or IT professionals?

Is there any optimism that, once the current turmoil settles down, Iraq will be able to grow a stronger technology-based economy?

Re:What does Linux give Iraq that Windows does not

[EzInKy]

Since the per capita income in Iraq is around $2700 a year the special advantage to using Linux over Windows is that the people there can still afford to eat.

Contributing to linx-iraq.org

[dillon_rinker]

Here where I work, we've been talking about the PayPal link you have. It's a great idea and I'd love to contribute. Linux is a passion of mine, and I'd like to help directly (if only in a small way) to rebuild the information infrastructure that my government has done their best to level. But what assurances can you provide that contributions will be used only to promote linux in Iraq? I wouldn't want to end up in Guantanamo bay with Ashcroft's rifle-butt in my stomach.

This is a serious question - are you affiliated with any international organization? I don't know what the government is like right now - can you be registered as a non-governmental organization? Is there someone who can audit your finances? Any information you can provide would be useful.

the best question asked yet....

[pauly_thumbs]

How can we help? Are there ways for Americans to donate machines to the Iraqi people and what types of machines are needed most?

Here in Seattle there are lots of PII's at the Goodwill - great for Linux use :)

Re:the best question asked yet....

[easter1916]

How about machines that produce steady electrical power? Or those that supply clean, filtered water? Pauly, do you honestly think that the Iraqis give a flying fuck about Pentium IIs and open source when they don't even have basic security, healthcare, jobs, etc.?

Best ways to get software?

[JWhitlock]

When I look at mirror pages for servers in the Middle East, there are few or none. What servers do you use to download software? Are they specific servers, or servers in particular countries? Is it faster to use a server, to get a friend to burn a CD, or to buy them off the streets?

I'm probably headed back to Saudia Arabia for a week in February, and I had a heck of a time finding good servers. You never know how much you rely on a fast Internet connection until you spend three days downloading the source for Open Office for your Gentoo-based laptop.

And yes, I know for the future that the binary Open Office package is smaller, just about as fast, and that it doesn't take 30 hours to build on a P3 system.

Linux for Voice Services

[markster]

Building in an environment with little legacy infrastructure can provide excellent oppportunities for deploying new technologies. Are you considering suggesting Linux for voice services (e.g. for example, my own project, Asterisk) as well as data?

Enslaved by property rights

[yintercept]

Having been liberated by the United States, I suspect that Iraq will soon pass copyright protections and recognize international copyrights.

From the anti-intellectual property perspective, this means that a country that rejected intellectual property will start having copyrights. I suspect that, sometime in the near future, commercial software will start being available in the country, and that Iraq will see a major crackdown on the copying and free distribution of copyrighted material.

If your primary political view revolves around rejectiong the existence of intellectual property, then the Iraqi war would be seen as a step backward...the poor people of Iraq are being enslaved by property rights.

Yeah, in the old Iraq, you would get tortured and brutally murdered for expressing your opinions, but you didn't have to pay for your CD collection.

Iraqi Blogs

[TheSync]

BTW, check out these Iraqi blogs:

Baghdad Burning
Salam Pax
The Mesopotamian
Iraq at a glance
Hammorabi
Nabil's blog
Baghdadee
Fayrouz
Iraq the model
Iraq and Iraqis
A Family in Baghdad
Road of a nation
Ihath - Losing myself
Sun of Iraq

Apparently they need books most

[geeklawyer]

Not necessarily the latest most up to date stuff but if you have an old O'Reilly they could do with it.

Post it to the following address:
Adam Davidson or Ashraf T. Hasson
c/o Sinclair Cornell CPA (USAID/IRAQ) OTI APO AE 09335

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[BigBadBri]

Even though you're an AC, I'll allow you the chance to rant at my response to your little whinge.

My point about 'risking its own staff' was that unlike the people who will actually lay the cable, fix the pipelines, rebuild the roads and bridges, etc. etc., Microsoft can profit enormously merely by selling overpriced, underperforming software, knowing that EDS or another bunch of sharks will employ some monkeys to install and configure the systems.

I was going to lump Halliburton and Bechtel in there as well, but they actually need people on the ground to oversee the physical reconstruction work, so I didn't think it fair to lump them in with MS.

And yes - if Linus were to go to Iraq to try to persuade them to see the economic sense of OSS, I would be singing his praises.

If Bill Gates gets his arse out there (or better still, sends Monkey-boy Ballmer - boy, the Iraqis would love him!), I'd not begrudge him turning a buck on the deal, but let's face it, we're not likely to see any Microsoft staff presence in-country for many a year yet.

You could try responding to the meat of my point - with crooks like Chalabi parachuted in by the US, what hope does Iraq have of a system without endemic corruption and theft?

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN

[BigBadBri]

Given that the story is inviting questions to the representative of Iraq's LUG, and given that Microsoft are probably aiming to take most of the budget for IT reconstruction work, it's probably not a troll, Mr Coward.

It is a pertinent question - should the Iraqi people have to pay for software that does an inferior job to software that they can get for free, or should they spend the money saved by going with Open Source on better infrastructure?

It doen't have to be IT infrastructure, either - every dollar less in Bill Gates' pocket is a dollar more for water treatment, childrens medicine, marsh restoration - I'll wager an Iraqi could think of around 25 million cases more deserving of that dollar than that Redmond robber-baron.

Average Rainfall?

[Apostata]

What's the average rainfall in Iraq?

(I figured asking about linux usage in Iraq was ridiculous...might as well find some others to ask).

Free Software Participation

[webmaven]

What Free Software/Open Source projects are the ILUG members most interested in contributing to, or are already participating in?

How is Linux going to help Iraq?

[1iar_parad0x]

I'm going to ask what I believe is the most obvious question. I also ask this question in the most sincere way.

How is Linux going to help Iraq?

I believe Linux could help Iraq in terms of infrastructure and perhaps it can help low-cost news organizations (radio, newspapers).

When...?

[Joey7F]

When are you going to hand over control of the Iraqi Lug to the Iraqi people?

--Joey

Why don't you get off your high camel.

[glrotate]

If they want to phunk around with RedHat educating and entertaining themselves who are you to cry foul?

I can hear it now

[Zork the Almighty]

Iraqi Linux! It's free as in... ???

Re:I can hear it now

[senatorpjt]

Khlal Kalash.

Re:I can hear it now

[dagar17]

oh dear god, mod parent up! I hope other people got this joke.

Re:I can hear it now

[GimmeFuel]

I'd mod it up, but I sold all my mod points for cash and bought some crab juice.

Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani's website

[tehanu]

Not a question, but I'd just like to point out that Al-Sistani, the Shi'ite cleric that's currently causing such a lot of trouble for George Bush has his own website (yes, there is an English version):

http://www.sistani.org/

Al-Sistani is one of the top Shi'ite clerics in Iraq, based in the holy city of Najaf and a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed. He is of course conservative. It's interesting to see this mixture of latest IT and tech.

Anyway one of the questions here is do clerics in Iraq see IT tech as evil? I think that if even the top Shi'ite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani has a website I think that somewhat answers that question. You can even ask religious questions through a webform, the answers to which are guaranteed to 'bear the seal of the office of the Grand Ayatollah Uzma Sistani.'

Sistani's got a website

[cabalamat2]

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini Sistani presumably doesn't think technology is evil, he's got a website.

And it runs Linux - Red hat to be precise.

iRaq

[Atario]

Right after they get done suing Iraq for its obvious ploy to subvert the Macintosh naming-convention "look and feel" with its transparent recapitalization.

Them and iRan, iLlinois, iNdia, iStanbul...

Iraq already has a sensible copyright law

[cabalamat2]

Iraq already has a sensible copyright law:

Copyright lasts 50 years, or 25 years if the author is dead. There are no provisions against circumvention of TPMs.

This is a pretty sensible law, IMO, so they'd be stupid to change it.

Re:GET SOME PRIORITIES!

[Anonymous Coward]

GET SOME PRIORITIES PEOPLE! Iraq has just sufferred the most demoralizing invasion of Westerners in a decade! They are out in the street starving and looking for work! And here we are talking about what distrobution of Linux they use?!?! GET SOME PRIORITIES!

So we should just ignore the possibility of them returning to a normal life? What would you rather we do? Ignore them? or sit at our terminals and have a pity party?

great!

[acceso]

First we invade them and now we slashdot them!!

what's next?

Wireless mesh for

[certron]

My understanding is that because of the deteriorated or destroyed telephone system, it is very difficult for people to call their neighbor across the street or other local numbers unless there are cellphones at both places. One solution is to set up a wireless mesh network (similar to www.locustworld.com) to voice services (VoIP) to places where the land lines no longer connect to the rest of the phone system. Are there any plans to create a wireless network like this to provide this kind of service?

Re:Wireless mesh for phone service

[certron]

Ah yes, the joys of forgetting to finish the post topic...

Should read "Wireless mesh for phone service" instead. Oops!

Re:Creating Saddam

[be-fan]

The fact that we gave him weapons and political support did a lot to solidifying his regime. Hence, the "helped to create" rather than the "created."

Re:They Quote Hayek!

[easter1916]

Hahahaahaa! You're fooling yourself! Whigs? You have got to be kidding.

Re:My question

[jdifool]

Your simple economics are *so* simple.

I'm not going to put some more oil, because I know I will be wrong nonetheless. This is something you can't say. And especially on /.

But come on, you really think you are helping a country crippled by war and the result of 20 years of both dictatorship and embargo by playing with computers ?
I really wonder how a regular Iraqi fellow would react, considering that some of his fellowcitizens are answering questions such as : 'which distribution do you like most'?

You are right on one point : this can be said in every fucking country in the world. What I was saying was more of an ironic statement than anything else.

So, if you don't mind, let's go away for a little while from economics and let's look at what is happening in *our* streets. Please tell me how you relieve, by being a computer-scientist, people that live there. Easy answer : you don't. The only way to do it is to get involved in some charity. Now you are helping people. Let's take apart the criticisms implying that this is one more manifestation of western-centred mentality, or maybe of a void try to get rid of my guilt feelings. This is what I do, twice a week, in *every* fucking country I live in. It's a fucking pain in the ass for somebody who is not born with that job in blood, but I do it whatsoever. This is some kind of personal acountability, if you want.

This is already a fucking mess in my mind to see 90% of people, entranched in specializations and fileds and areas, not doing anything for their people. But trying to promote such a ill-suited concept to other countries ? And trying to divert people for what should be their prime objective (don't you remember about patriotic huge movements like women at work during WWII) ? What is that ?

Again I guess this is something you can't say.
And I have no hard feelings. But Life is a matter of priority.

Regards,
jdif

Linux.org interview with Adam.

[nabil_IQ]

You may want to check this interview out before submitting questions to Adam to aviod repetition.

I found answers to most of the questions asked here in that article. It's a good read. Enjoy.

What about asking the Iraqi's?

[maxII]

Can't the questions be sent to the Iraqi's for comment rather than an American reporter? I mean it was nice and all if he helped to set them up, but we hear enough Americans talking for other people.

Let's clean up that myth

[CaptainZapp]

expecting presents in their hot little Swiss bank accounts

Actually it would be pretty dumb to use a Swiss bank in order to park bribes or other illicitely won gains.

The only good reason to use a Swiss bank is if you plan to do some tax evasion.

See, tax evasion is considered a mild misdemeanor in Switzerland (relatively small fine, a slap on your wrist and 20 hail maries or so) and thus banks will not provide information about their customers on tax evasion cases. Tax fraud (i.e. you don't 'forget' some income on your tax statement, but you cook the books) is a different story and in such cases (as in all criminal cases) the banks provide customer information to authorities (foreign and local).

Also the myth about the infamous numbered accounts is riddled with bullshit. Mind you, they do exist, but that doesn't mean that a customer is anonymous (this is prohibited by Swiss laws and the last loopholes where closed some 15 years ago), but that he is bank internally coded by a number. The true owner is known by only very few people in the bank, but is never anonymous.

If you really want to park dirty money there are far better places then Switzerland, like The Cayman Islands or even a few crooked banks in Florida (which is the worlds money laundring capital, btw)

Microsoft Excel - no really!

[GeniusJones]

I saw a BBC TV piece about the Iraqi police force. The guys on the ground are yute driving, gun weilding Iraqis, but behind the scenes there was this Armerican officer acting as what we'd call a Custody sergeant. Keeping track of prisoners, charges, and related data on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The screen of his laptop was shown in close up.

There seemed to be some process (a manual one I guess) whereby the list was updated and circulated MONTHLY. Meanwhile parents were enquiring after missing children (something they did under Saddam for different reasons) and their children couldn't be found in the spreadsheet because it either hadn't been updated or was inaccurate.

A particularly interesting scene was where the BBC journalist had to explain to the Iraqi father that the US soldiers weren't very good at spelling Iraqi names so made sure that the man wrote down the name on the spreadsheet - kind of like an involuntary alter-ego born from the seed of a yank's typo. The man then had to go to another prison and search for his son using a variety of differently spelt names.

Apparently no-one had thought of circulating a dictionary of common names, or using SOUNDEX for that matter.

Re:GET SOME PRIORITIES!

[newiraq]

I don't understand .. are you asking people not to help Iraqies to raise their knowledge base knowing that they very much need help in this sector?! or is it a request to help them with nutrition and not education?!
Although priority has a rule to play .. and maybe Iraqies need work to support their families but education is a major and not a trivial thing to be put at the end of the schedual! I believe it is parallel in importance to nutrition.
Regards from Iraq

Re:GET SOME PRIORITIES!

[AndroidonPPC]

Well, I tried. But hiring is kinda slow around these parts. As far as a demoralizing invasion, I do not feel good about what my country did, even if there are some positive changes. All I can do seems like crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Talking about what distribution the Iraqis use does two things: 1) put a human spin on it ("they use linux? I use linux too! wow, that rocks... I wonder what distro they use...") 2) I forgot what I was going to say here. Also, if a good amount of Linux users become established in Iraq, there might not be room for the great western virus Windows to take hold. Peace, Android in Chi

al-Gebra

[tepples]

It's not wise to put strong encryption capabilities in the hands of any Islamic nation.

Public-key encryption relies on mathematical methods called "algebra". Remember your mathematical history: who invented algebra? (Clue: "Algebra" starts with al, the Arabic word for "the", so it was probably an Arab.) His name was Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al'Khwarizmi. He was born near Baghdad. It stands to reason that because an Iraqi-born mathematician wrote a seminal work on algebra, Iraqis should have access to the fruits of his work.

Re:a job?

[Howler]

Ditto here, I'll even supply my own AR-15 as long as I can get some FI issue kevlar and ammo.