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Rapid Internet Growth In Iran
securitas writes "The BBC's Abbas Azimi reports on the rapid growth of the Internet and Internet cafes in Iran, apparently with the tacit approval of the government. Seven million Iranians have Internet access, or 10% of the population - double the rate two years ago. Access costs 60 cents/hour. The article describes how the Internet is used for everything from VoIP phone calls to chat and Web logs. Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life.' All of this despite the ban on many sites, which is easily circumvented by Iran's webmasters and geeks. An interesting point is that most of the PCs used in Iran are assembled from smuggled parts and run pirated versions of all the latest software (due to foreign embargo?). It sounds like a great opportunity for open source software."
Why would there be an embargo on modern operating systems? I wouldn't guess that missiles use windows xp. And if they did, it's not like they wouldn't be blowing up in mid air. Seriously, someone I knew used to say that in Ukraine he couldn't find a legal copy of any MS software... only burned copies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,6532 82,00.html
(More Detailed News Article)
" Meeting girls is easy this way," said Amir, as he continued typing, "You can be relaxed no worries."
Apparrently Iranians need the love too! Just like Internet access first got booming over here, it seems porn and interent romance will probably be a big thing over there too.
An interesting point is that most of the PCs used in Iran are assembled from smuggled parts and run pirated versions of all the latest software (due to foreign embargo?).
the pirated software is not Iran-specific, this occurs in many parts of the world, most notably India, China, and other Asian countries, in some parts of china you can go to your local computer store and pick up a copied version various software
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
When you hear the word smuggled, you think that the item smuggled is illegal itself. This is not the case with computer hardware in Iran. If hardware is smuggled into Iran, it is because it is difficult to find, but not because its illegal. A year ago, I sent my Iranian fiance's mom and dad back to Iran with a suitcase that contained a complete desktop computer with Win98 minus the monitor. Upon arrival in Iran, their luggage (just like all luggage, mail and packages entering Iran) was opened and searched, and they were allowed to proceed.
They even have a site for linux in Iran. linuxiran.org says that " We, at linuxiran.org! are happy that with your help Iran's first site dedicated to GNU/Linux and FLOSS, is the most active GNU/Linux site in Iran today. To find out more about linuxiran.org! and our group or GNU/Linux and FLOSS in general, please read the FAQ.
Pirated Software isn't a problem only in Iran. So don't blame it on embargo. The problem is economic. To buy MS Windows and Office is some time more expensive than buy a computer in the country where i live (and computers are already expensive without it.). People buy software for bussiness, but don't remember a friend of mine buying MS off-the-shelf software for personal use.
It's easier to sell a computer with a pirated Windows because it's cheaper and some people don't know linux yet, and prefer to buy a computer like their neighbor one.
Dont be too sure.
Even now MS even offers input language support for Kazakh, Estonian, Kyrgyz so farsi shoudnt be too difficult. Though of course I cant believe anyone cares abt that enough to use MS.
farsi has been supported since windows 98 as its own edition. nt4 had an arabic edition which you could patch.
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and windows 2000 sort of said it did but it didnt seem to work very well unless you installed office xp. windows xp and office xp combo was perfect as farsi seemed to run natively.
only problem with xp was if the main input method was english and a user who used farsi was using the system when the screen lockout thing would kick in you would never ever be able to unlock it with the right passwd as you would need the right input method which isnt an option at the screen unlock!
as for linux or OSS linuxiran have live CD based knopper's distro called shabdiz(x) which has farsi kde and other tools.
weird logo.
i think the gnu free tools for windows and other bumper packs do get bought in iran
mandrake comes out of the box with farsi support. never tried it as opportunity hasnt come up to foist linux on any iranians.
and most linux supports arabic anyway which therefore can be easily adapted. i think there are a few how-tos out there for any langugae regarding linux for native language users and second language learners.
I read an interesting article in cnn.com the other day about bloggers in Iran and their fear of an eventual clampdown. These blogs not only allow Iranians to voice their opinions about difficult issues, but they give an interesting view of Iranian society and people to the world. Links to some blogs can be found via the article.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
It is not just about software in Iran. Books have the same situation. Unlicensed copies of the books can be bought in the bookstores with amazingly low prices. Basically, you just pay the price of the paper and the ink! The reason is that in Iran the copyright rules are very weak and in practice there is no copyright, patent, ... etc barrier to hold anyone to copy anything! No matter it is Microsoft Windows, a Cell Counter lab equipment, a F-14 simulator or a telephone switch box, all are being copied over and over.
The mere fact that /. is a geek site, with, as a consequence, a huge majority of people that don't understand a thing about politics, and even less to arab politics
But surely you must know that Iran is not an Arab country?
Try obtaining the basic facts before you start berating others at great length! X-D
Iran is a persian country, I totally agree.
But I didn't imply that Iran was a part of the Arab world. It's just a common misconception I didn't argue because it was not the proper subject of my post.
Furthermore, even if 60% of the population is persian, the arab culture, religion (even if Sunni are in minority in the arab world), and language still play an important role in the common life of this country.
And the last elections is a good proof of that.
Sorry if I didn't make that point clear.
Nonetheless it remains the same in the absolute.
Regards,
jdif
Let's overcome our weakness.
First, you've confused shia and sunni.
Second, Persians speak Parsi/Farsi/Persian, however you want to call it -- not Arabic. Yes, it's been altered by Arab colonizers, but it's still Persian.
Finally, ask some Persians about where the high culture like art, architecture and poetry of the Arab Empire come from.
Kill, Tux, kill!
Dear People. You should know the following: 1. Iran is not an ARAB country. 2. The fact that who is the leader (mullah or not mullah), doesn't change anything. The computers will always live. 3. Internet will always find its ways to any country. 4. We don't hate the western people, rather they hate us. Example: IT is concidered prohibited by the American government the entry of powerfull encryption technology to Iran, and some other countries, which includes MD5. Therefore, we aren't allowed to d/l Linux (any reasonable distro) from US mirrors. 5. You know, there also exist some geeks, who don't care about politics at all. (Like me). 6. I am very intrested in OSS coming to Iran. It already has, to some extent. Check out: counter.li.org iranlinux.org and, kdefarsi.org . 7. Anyways, Linux and OSS will eventually take control of everywhere, including IRAN. 8. We are not TERRORISTS. We live like other people in the world. What is the point in being a terrorist anyways? How do you dare call us (including me) TERRORISTS? Have I killed you? Or what? 9. Religion has nothing to do with Open Source. Open Source is actually a special type of religion, if you put it that way. 10. May the source be with you. (NOET: Soorry for louzy spelling and grammar) --Regards, Darioush
As an Iranian, I must tell you we don't hate westerns, We may become angry when we hear you refer all inventions and science to your self, forgetting for example the medical-science-reburn was based on Avicenna (Abu ali sina, a pure inranain scientist), even the cloth you wear on graduating-celeberation in university and the way you change the position of the rob in the hat you wear in getting diploma is mimick of the way he was used to do when he was able to solve a problem, Or X(variable in algebra), and Algorithm was first used by al-kharazmi one of or mathematicians(Algorithm word is based on his name ), ZAKARIYA RAZI,"As a chemist, he was the first to produce sulfuric acid together with some other acids, and he also prepared alcohol by fermenting sweet products" Or we are using the most accurate calendar in the world based on reburn of the earth(Persian Calendar) So, when we see in your history books that science begun from greek and a gap and then you invented everything again we may become angry, but hatret? noway. Those advanced I mentioned was not based on nothing, we have a very powerfull culture, Persian Culture, that becasue of our current weak-country state it is weakened in many ways, but it is still alive, and it is based on " Good Thoughts Good Words Good Deeds", and we are so much foreign lovers as a characteristics of our nation. You can see that UN title is a peom from sadi (a persian poet) that says: "All people are in the same body, when some part suffers others suffer too, if you don't suffer, you are not a human", we don't hate anyone. And about OSS, it is so weak in Iran yet, the government is not so concerned and people are so used to pirated softwares that is a little hard for OSS-devoted developers to convince them for using OSS softwares, but like everywhere there are some devoted developers here too, We will work and try hard for spreading and helping FLOSS idea here in Iran, because we believe that if anyone in anywhere hurts, we will fill bad too, and the propriety softwares have many aches too be ignored ;),
regards,
Be like shadow in the light or darkness.KMZ
My school uses this. My current theory is that it saves a copy of the FAT (or for NTFS whatever it uses) in memory, and uses copy-on-write to an unused block whenever you alter the filesystem. I don't actually have any comfirmation for this though.
Buddy, have you only been reading history written by your good Uncle Sam?
Go back to 1953, when British and US intelligence agencies removed Mossadegh from power, only to give power to the capitalist-friendly Shah. Mossadegh had nationalized the oil industry after failing to negotiate higher royalties, and so had to go. Oh, and he was a nasty commie.
The Shah used torture, repressed and killed scores of communists and lefties, leaving all dissent to right-wing anti-American religious nuts. Remember the Iran hostage crisis? That was the first modern Islamic fundamentalist revolution.
The US and Brits destabilized democracy, by taking away non-violent options for people's legitimate aspirations, they made violence all but inevitable. We reap what we sow. (Note: this is not to say I agree with violence, far from it).
So, with that little historical perspective, you can understand why I seriously doubt the administration would encourage a revolution because of the hardships the population faces: they have caused it to further their economic interests.
Now if you told me they wanted to destabilize them because of the fundies, well, that would be believable
Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"