Slow Going for Linux in Iraq
As Iraq emerges from years of stagnation wrought by a closed political system and tough sanctions from other countries, Iraqi interest in computing technology is finally burgeoning.
Reports from inside the country say curious citizens are keeping Internet cafes filled to capacity, that eager students are returning to universities to learn how to program and that high-end computer workstations can be bought for as little as $150 in city marketplaces. But even with all the growth, there is still one aspect of technology that has yet to penetrate the country's borders: open-source software. With software piracy so rampant that a CD copy of almost any program can be bought for just 2,000 dinars, or $1, the demand for free software just isn't there yet, according to Ashraf Tariq and Hasanen Nawfal.
The two Baghdad University engineering students are among just a handful of Iraqi citizens who are familiar with Linux -- and that has them deeply worried. If nothing is done to educate computer users in Iraq about open-source software, what is now a blank canvas will quickly be painted over with expensive, proprietary Microsoft products, they argue. And if that happens, the country could end up spending millions more than it needs to on software purchases and hardware upgrades, they say.
But unlike the computer experts who have traditionally advocated the adoption of open-source software in other countries, Iraq's technocrati have yet to grasp the benefit of using an operating system like Linux, Nawfal said in a recent e-mail interview.
"Most of them just heard about Linux but are afraid of trying it. For home users things are worse -- for them, a computer equals Windows, and vice versa."
