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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.
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?
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 ?
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?
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?
How can we in the global community help the Iraqi LUG? Are there resources available for computer donation, etc.?
libertarianswag.com
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?
Three Squirrels
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?
Any undertanding at all or just considered foreign and evil?
Help fight continental drift.
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.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
After living under totalitarian rule, what is the state of the country's computing talent? What disciplines have the strongest computing talent?
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.
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?
-- Will program for bandwidth
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?
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?
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.
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?
No no no,
Mandrake refuses to install itself in Iraq.
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)
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...
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain