Israeli education looking further than Microsoft

The piece 'Linux in Government: Jordan - A Surprise in the Middle East' at http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8479 is three years old, but is surprisingly relevant. As the LJ piece concludes:

Quoting:Considering the amount of free software growing in the wild, I hope that countries such as Jordan will come to see for themselves that it makes no sense to import software. Although such a realization may be difficult to grasp, perhaps a walk through the markets in Jerash might provide an example of the difference between a Microsoft concept and the reality of becoming a self-reliant producer of ICT products. Because, until a country embraces free software and commits to becoming its own producer, it will continue in the cycle that creates two worlds--an industrial one and an impoverished one. In the 21st century, perhaps it's time for that cycle to come to an end.

Yes, Or Kashti's piece is specifically about open source in Education, whereas Tom Adelstein's is more about open source in Government. At the same time, Education eventually affects Business and Government, and likewise, Business and Government policies affect Education.

Open source inroads will hopefully continue to open up both businesses, governments, and the general populatiion throughout the Midlle East to get out from under aegis (read: vendor lock-in!) of the Microsoft's "sovereignty".

Good read, thanks. We must have a "world-view"























'

"World domination for fun and profit."

Quoting:Linux in the middle East

There is a lot more going on with Linux in the Arab world than appears to be. The latest I heard is a large cluster in Dubia. This article was writen in 2004, but still a very good read. [url=http://jinicomputer.com/index_news.php?pnid=268&t=Linux In Dubai]http://jinicomputer.com/index_news.php?pnid=268&t=Linux In D...[/url]

Arabeyes is a Meta project that is aimed at fully supporting the Arabic language in the Unix/Linux environment. It is designed to be a central location to standardize the Arabization process. Arabeyes relies on voluntary contributions by computer professionals and enthusiasts all over the world. http://www.arabeyes.org/

Linux books in Arabic http://resala.linux-egypt.org/packages/arabic-linux-book/

Linux for Arabs. University of king Abdul-A'zeez (In Arabic) http://www.linux4arab.com/

Linux-Egypt Forums - لينكس-مصر - Arabic Issue http://www.linux-egypt.org/archive/index.php/f-46.html

Google this to see a lot more if interested. [url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=ru8&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Linux in dubai&spell=1]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org....[/url]