ALKHOBAR, 7 May — Simon Moores is back at a conference in the region again. I’m starting to wonder if this guy doesn’t have a twin or a clone. Moores, chairman of the UK-based Research Group, spoke at E-Commerce 2002 in Riyadh a few weeks ago. Now he will be a keynote speaker at the IT Security Conference and Exhibition, "IT Security: Strategies and Solutions for the Information Age," which is the first of its kind in the Gulf. Regional companies will have the opportunity to develop their IT security skills at this conference, hosted by the Bahrain Information Technology Society (BITS) at the Gulf International Convention and Exhibition Center (GICEC), Bahrain, from May 20-22, 2002.
Organized under the patronage of Bahrain’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ali Saleh Al-Saleh, during the conference, there will be 18 sessions, highlighting the latest technological advancements in IT security. The concurrent exhibition will feature the most modern software and solutions in the field. The conference will cover 10 major topics: IT security strategies and policies, disaster recovery, IT security solutions, IT network security, intrusion detection and prevention, human issues (awareness and training of personnel), and IT security for e-banking, e-commerce, e-government, and the mobile and wireless environment. Further information on the conference is available at www.its2002.com or e-mail: [email protected].
On a different subject, over the past few weeks we’ve heard a lot of hype about STC’s new prepaid phone cards. But the prepaid card most of my friends have gone after is Batelco Jeraisy’s "Green Card." Football fans in Saudi Arabia have been extremely unhappy to learn that it will be difficult for them to watch the World Cup. The matches will not be shown on free to air television channels in the Kingdom and, even worse, the timings of the games are very inconvenient for this region.
Batelco Jeraisy has introduced the Green Card service (green2002.com) which will be active from May 31-June 30. Once a football fan subscribes to the service, he will be able to get news updates about the World Cup, team standings, game summaries and even some live results — all sent via SMS to his mobile phone.
I am certain the Green Card will be popular. I was also pleased to learn from Rashid Al-Snan, executive director, Batelco Jeraisy (Atheer), that the Green Card is much more than it appears.
"The Green Card is a first trial in this market for a notification service," said Al-Snan. "If it proves successful, in the future Atheer could be marketing notification services in areas such as news, finance and lifestyle, as well as sports. We would like to capitalize on services that will interest the huge number of mobile users in the region. We would also like to find new ways to differentiate Atheer from other Internet service providers (ISPs) in the Kingdom."
Wow! A local ISP that actually would like to offer more than just connectivity! After waiting three years I’d almost given up hope. Speaking of mobile services, for all the Nokia addicts out there, click to the new Nokia Middle East site — nokiame.com and join Club Nokia. You can also take a mini quiz and register to win one of 55 mobile phones. And for everyone with a teen at home, take a look under "Community" and learn about the Nokia Select Scholarship program to the American University of Dubai.
Moving on, last week I received a "Software License Guide" produced by Tech Data. Get one by sending an e-mail request to [email protected]. When we think about software licensing only one name comes to mind — Microsoft. Perhaps that’s because over the years they have been the loudest whiners on this subject. The "Software License Guide" is very interesting because for the first time there is talk about the licensing requirements of a diverse group of IT companies.
The publication begins by laying out the penalties for copyright infringement throughout the GCC. All the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have nasty punishments for copyright infringement but I wonder how often these fines and prison terms are actually brought into force. Then the booklet has about 25 pages of information about licensing the products of such companies as Caldera, Novell, Veritas and Microsoft. The Q&A sections are especially instructive.
The Kingdom’s piracy rate used to be quoted in the range of about 64 percent. I wonder how much of that is Microsoft and how much is other companies? And how is that number divided between computer software, video games and movies? No one seems to be quite sure, and although I requested clarification on the subject more than three months back from the Ministry of Information, nothing has been forthcoming from them.
Piracy is a part of the biggest issue facing software users right now in the Middle East. Recently there have been calls for a boycott of Microsoft products. Is that possible or practical?
First of all it needs to be pointed out that when a person boycotts goods or services that means he or she refuses to deal with or buy goods or services from companies in order to punish or coerce them. Some people have told me that they will boycott Microsoft. To them this means not purchasing Microsoft software, but still using it simply by purchasing pirated copies. In my dictionary, such behavior has nothing to do with a boycott. It’s theft.
For example, if a person says he will boycott American car manufacturers, this implies that if he wanted to buy a new car perhaps he would purchase a Toyota. It doesn’t mean that he could go out and steal a Ford and be praised for participating in the boycott. It’s the same with software.
So back to the original question — is it possible or practical to boycott Microsoft? Yes, we could all give up our computers and go back to electric typewriters and snail mail. That is a choice. I believe it is an insane one. When discussing a boycott of Microsoft it is necessary to realize how much their products are a part of our lives and that there are few viable replacements especially for the desktop.
We have gotten ourselves into the current mess by forgetting about the importance of diversity and competition in business. We have come to rely on Microsoft to fully serve the needs of the desktop. For years we accepted the choices they made for us when it came to operating systems and application integration. It is past time that we questioned the control that Microsoft has on the creation and movement of information.
There is another operating system (OS) outside the purview of Microsoft. It is called Linux. In the Middle East promoters of this system have generally been ridiculed. Linux has been called an OS for geeks. The fact is that it is now the second most widely used operating system in the world. Linux is about 10 years old. It is based on the Unix operating system, which has been around for at least 32 years.
According to market research firm International Data Corp., Linux will account for 32 percent of server installations this year, up from 27 percent in 2001. Windows will jump from 41 percent in 2001 to 47 percent in 2002. Unix, on the other hand, is expected to drop from 14 percent of new installations in 2001 to 10 percent in 2002.
In recent months, online trading company E-Trade and retailer Amazon have announced a shift to Linux as money saving measures to run their websites. Amazon said it saved $17 million in one quarter alone by using Intel/Linux systems. Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley is also moving to Intel running Linux.
Linux is no longer the OS of university computer labs. For the Kingdom, the Middle East and the developing world, Linux is the OS of the future. Linux is Open Source software. It is different from proprietary software like Microsoft’s which can only be used after payment of a licensing fee. Linux can be used by anyone, free of charge.
When a market weans itself from dependence on proprietary software, business and government can focus on investing financial resources in providing additional services rather than paying licensing fees and buying software upgrades. With Linux all users have access to the source code, thus support, implementation and interoperability possibilities can be brought to an optimal level.
Worldwide, network managers and producers of IT appliances are turning to Linux. The desktop is still ruled by Microsoft but all acknowledge that this is temporary. In the Middle East we have other challenges. Investment in Linux associated Arabization has not been made by governments or educational institutions. This is a mistake. In the long-term, Arabization of Linux will cost less than licensing fees. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to pour funds into the Arabization of its products.
Can we do anything now to escape the Microsoft licensing trap? Yes, but such moves must be done strategically with a view toward long-term impact, not emotionally to aid a boycott. Networks require a phased approach. Overcome Microsoft dependency one application at a time. In the following order replace Firewalls, mail servers, and web servers. Leave the desktop for last. Take a look at OpenOffice.org and StarOffice 6. They give hope that MS applications can be conquered. Remember that because it’s not bloated software, Linux can run on older, less powerful hardware. This means that in addition to saving on licensing fees a business can extend the lifecycle of hardware.
For more information on the shift to Linux, see linux.org or enter "Linux" into the search at ZDnet.com.
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