changed:
-
MUCH POTENTIAL IN A LAND WHERE FOSS IS SEEN AS AN OPTION TO 'PIRACY'
====================================================================

*Government and industry support makes it happen in Pakistan*

Pakistan -- the sixth most populous country in the world,
home to the second most populous city in the world, and the
second most populous Muslim country [1] -- is having an
interesting encounter with FOSS (Free and Open Source
Software). Its experience with FOSS contrasts with those of
neighbouring countries in South Asia, as also with those in
the rest of the Asian continent.

Initially, and  now too, the debate has seen FOSS being
promoted as an option to piracy. In Pakistan, FOSS gets
support from initiatives supported by the government (OSRC),
industry, and through coverage in the mainstream media.
Statements from senior officials have played a role in
shaping Pakistan's approach to FOSS. There have been
indications that the official world is willing to both fund
initiatives to promote FOSS, and take cognisance of existing
volunteer initiatives.

While useful initiatives are underway, like elsewhere, the
issue of making all these 'visible' -- both in tech circuits
and to the general public -- still probably remains an
unfulfilled need.

Diverse techie networks and individuals, both home-based and
expat, have lent a hand in promoting FOSS in this part of the
world. More could be done though in terms of building
networks in different parts of the country, specially when it
comes to building a national network across the diverse
regions of Pakistan.

'Piracy'
--------

Pakistan, a country often facing criticism for what the world
of proprietorial software terms as 'piracy' (i.e. the illegal
copying of software) [2], is placing its faith in the Free
Software and Open Source options, to get out of this trap and
also build local skills. Pakistan enters global listings as
having the-fifth highest 'piracy' rate in the world, after
Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and along-with China where piracy
is also estimated at 86% [2]. In this context, a promotion of
FOSS not only makes sense to avoid global pressures over
'piracy', but also build independent local skills.

"Sure, piracy is far high. If
everybody somehow started using
Linux, we'd fall below the US
piracy levels, and maybe have
2% piracy. We want to be ahead
of these guys before they start
their next 'war on terrorism'
(using the issue of
'intellectual property')."
-- Salman Ansari, 2002

As Fouad Riaz Bajwa, general secretary of the Free and Open
Source Software of Pakistan (FOSS-FP), launched in 2005,
said: "Our goal is to help people identify open alternatives
to 'pirated' (or illegally copied) software. Our aims is also
to identify processes by which people, governments,
enterprise and the civil sector can use Free/Libre and Open
Source Software for their sustainable economic development." [3]

Way back in 2003, these issues were already being put on the
agenda through official statements. [4] Pakistan Ministry of
Science and Technology advisor Salman Ansari then raised the
possibility of some 50,000 low cost computers, PIIs costing
$100 each,  being installed in schools and colleges all over
Pakistan. Ansari said proprietary software for these PCs
would cost a small fortune, surely more than what the
computers cost. Using GNU/Linux would ensure low overall
prices. "Don't be surprised if we become the first country in
the world to say that all (government-run) services are going
to be GNU/Linux based," Ansari had then said in a NewsForge
interview.

Techies, and community
----------------------

From techies come other interesting initiatives. What is
surprising is the low-level of awareness about projects that
could have much relevance to Pakistan, South Asia and beyond.

For instance, Zeeshan Ali Khattak developed the Video-Whale
Project, which assembled a group of Red-Hat GNU/Linux boxes
into a wall of video. The Video-Whale Project is an
implementation of a video wall which exploits the combined
power of FOSS tools Gstreamer and Xinerama. With it, four
monitors are controlled by one machine, and a LAN of four
machine controls a 16-monitor video wall. It comes across as
a very interesting implementation of low-cost alternative
technology to meet needs of the hardware-constrained,
resource-poor but talent-rich Third World. [5]

"The [GNU]Linux community is
very large, but it needs to be
assembled together." -- Zeeshan
'Shan' Ashraf.

Fawad Halim has written a man interface in PHP. Code is being
distributed under the GNU GPL. There are also some attempts
at community building. Apart from the main Pakistan Linux
Users Community, other regional LUGs (or user-groups) that
have been noticed in recent years include the Sindhi's Linux
User Group (SLUG) in Hyderabad, Sindh, in the Indus Valley.
Not all have maintained activity though.

In 2002, the international site tracking FOSS news, NewsForge
[6] commented "Linux gains ground in Pakistan" [7].  While
the potential was noted, so were the shortcomings that
blocked the growth of FOSS in Pakistan.

Meraj Rasoo was quoted saying: "The drawback (blocking the
growth of FOSS) is trained people, I mean there is no such
institute or college (other than a few) who may have
qualified or experienced people in Linux. So no good Linux
training. For a business point of view, if you implement
Linux in (your) business, it would be very hard for you to
get support from any IT company. Because currently no one is
offering its support services for Linux. So it is also a
major drawback. The same I told to the Director of ASPLinux
[http://asp-linux.com] , who is from Pakistan. What we need
here in Pakistan is trained people so that we could give
support to the businesses who migrate to Linux. On the other
hand most of the ISPs in Pakistan are using Linux as their
platform...." [8]

Since then, the situation has changed somewhat, as the links
below would indicate.

"I'm interested in [GNU]Linux
because of the fact that in
[GNU]Linux you know what's
going on. Nothing is hidden
from you behind nice dialog
boxes as in Windows. It's a
very good toy for me as I can
play and tweak as much as I
want and I have all the
necessary help and information
from the Net." -- Zuhair Ali,
worked in networking and has
done his Masters in Physics and
Systems Engineering

As NewsForge's Robin "Roblimo" Miller commented in the same
article: "One contributing factor is -- like everywhere else
in the world -- proprietary software producers' increasingly
aggressive licensing enforcement. Pakistan is one of the
countries where almost all individuals and small- or
medium-sized businesses have historically used software they
either copied themselves or bought under the table, which
means Linux has offered little or no cost advantage over
Windows."

It has been suggested that in a context of much talent, the
high cost of proprietorial software, and some degree of
official support, FOSS appears to be well placed for growth
in Pakistan. It would help however if there was greater
awareness of initiatives in diverse parts of the country.
There is also a pressing need for greater communication among
the diverse islands of excellence that Pakistan has already
created, so as to encourage others to both find role-models
and enter the field themselves.

Recognising the community
-------------------------

In June 2002, the English-language newspaper 'The Dawn'
published from the port city of Karachi, announced: "... The
Government of Pakistan is committing itself to the reduction
of piracy and the protection of intellectual property. Linux
and open source technologies are the corner stone of this
initiative."

Pakistan's Technology Resource Mobilization Unit
(www.tremu.gov.pk) was been established by the Government of
Pakistan to enable groups of professionals to exchange views
and coordinate activities in their sectors.

"These physical and virtual groups involve volunteers in
Pakistan and abroad, who contribute to policy making by the
Government of Pakistan. Each group has national and regional
coordinators. Meetings, seminars and conferences are held to
debate, crystallize and propagate relevant ideas, concepts
and policy directions," the Pakistani government announced.
On the GNU/Linux front, "the task force is expected to
include committed professionals (e.g.PLUC), academics, and
practicing software developers to set the future direction
for Pakistan", it was officially announced via the Pakistani
press. PLUC is the Pakistan Linux Users' Community.

PLUC was formed in December 1999 by Abdul Basit. Initially,
there were just eight members in the group. In a couple of
months, the PLUC list increased to 30. By 2001, there were
100+. There were many more registered at
http://www.linuxpakistan.net Basit and his friends launched
this network from the Sir Syed University (SSUET) in Karachi.

In recent years, plans were announced to have a "Linux force"
-- as it has been described -- to hold meetings, seminars and
conferences to educate the user community. "They will also
come with proposals to the government (for) funding such as
the creation of user-friendly client/server software,
training strategies, local language software development, the
induction of Linux into (the) basic syllabi, etc," said the
government in an advert published in The Dawn newspaper.

TReMU, Pakistan's Technology Resource Mobilization Unit, in
the past, has plans to set up secure network and e-commerce
task forces too, in addition to the GNU/Linux task force.
"The main qualifications to participate are a commitment to
volunteer your time and intellectual inputs, to work in a
team, and to have a desire for the betterment of the
country," said TReMU.

It anticipated that these groups will "enable a sharing of
resources and ideas". Besides, TReMU has voiced hopes that
several of the ideas could germinate into development
projects and thus "translate the brainstorming, discussion
and planning sessions into practical realities". Forms to
sign-up were at www.gov.tremu.pk.

Some like Ovais Khan commented: "The interesting thing is
that the name of PLUC is in the ad. Congrats (to PLUC's key
driving force Abdul) Basit and all the others." But some felt
differently. Fawad Halim wrote: "I'm very skeptical about
anything (good) coming from the Government; but let's see
what comes out of this." Bilal Muddassir felt differently: "I
think the only organization that can mobilize immense amounts
of resources (of course if it wants to) for a particular
purpose currently in Pakistan is a government organization.
Being skeptical is okay..."

For some time now, officials in Pakistan have been talking
about "not stopping" the government from buying branded
(proprietorial) software, so long as they could justify their
decision and negotiate a good price. The need for a level
playing-field has also been stressed. "In a government
contract, if you're going to bid for computers which has a
legal OS and office suite, guess who's going to win," as
Ansari put it in an interview.

On the strategy has been encouraging legal software, enabling
a 'complete industry growth' for product development
(including tools based on GNU/Linux), and making people aware
of the powerful potential of FOSS.

New initiatives
---------------

In recent years and months, new initiatives have come up.

In Pakistan too, there are other networks -- like the
professional-based Linux Pakistan network, active since
earlier this decade.

FOSS-FP has been holding short-duration, single-day literacy
campaigns. They say they have given students free training on
installing and using Ubuntu Linux, Open Suse, Red Hat Fedora
Core. FOSS-FP is headed by a board of nine, with specialists
from the world of computer sciences, special education, and
gender-based representations. It networks with other
institutions such as CRULP (Centre for Research in Urdu
Language Processing), the FASTCE (Foundation for the
Advancement of Science and Technology), among others.

In Pakistan, FOSS-FP believes it contributed to helping 5000
individuals from 506 organisations in two years to shift over
to Ubuntu. "FOSS-FP provided technical support (to technical
reports) to 4000+ incidents. FOSSFP also released a book on
release of Ubuntu Drake. We hope to release a printed copy
soon, at a price of not more than Rs 150 (US$3 approx)," says
Fouad Bajwa.

The FAST initiatives on FOSS is made up of students. (FAST's
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences is a
private information technology institute, established in 1980
under Foundation for the Advancement of Science and
Technology. www.nu.edu.pk)

Usage, Ubuntu
-------------

For long now, the highest rate of GNU/Linux usage has been on
the server side. Bulk of the ISPs use GNU/Linux. All
enterprise networks in Pakistan had -- and have -- a bridge
between the server side on GNU/Linux and the desktop network
on Windows. But with the entry of the simpler-to-use Ubuntu
distro, it is seen as something which could possibly change.
Easy to implement Urdu solutions to work on the Free Software
platform is one of the main priorities. Work is underway on
this front.

Comments FOSSFP's Fouad Bajwa: "Apart from its low-cost and
free-of-cost models, its greatest benefit particularly for
Pakistan is that FOSS can be localised into the 70 regional
languages spoken in Pakistan. This will provide versions of
FOSS that use Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pushto, Sariki,
Himalaya as an alternative to the widely available software
interfaces in English."

Some of the reasons for the slow spread of FOSS in Pakistan
have been identified as being due to the law of awareness,
software piracy, uncertainty of available support, lack of
active GNU/Linux user groups, and a lack of established
companies providing high-end training. (See Zeeshan Muhammad
in 'The Future is Open Source'
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/news/?q=node/254 )

Institutions
------------

Some of the institutions often named in FOSS-promotion
activities in Pakistan are the OSRC of the software-exports'
PSEB www.osrc. org.pk, Linux Task Force of the ministry of
science and technology www.tremu.gov.pk, Special Interest
Group of the Computer Society of Pakistan www.csp.org.pk/foss
and Linux Pakistan www. linuxpakistan.net are making their
contributions by creating awareness about the initiative.

Educational institutions offering FOSS training has been
identified as Peshawar University, SZABIST, MAJU, NUCS-FAST,
OpenTech, Oracle University, and APTECH (professional,
technical and managerial training) and GIK, NED, UET, or
NUST-NIIT (in the fields of engineering, GIS, etc).

This 'country profile' seeks to offer links to groups,
initiatives, issues and individuals taking FOSS forward in
Pakistan. Below are some specific links and resources.
Readers are requested to point out any omissions to fred at
bytesforall.org so that this could be corrected in future
releases.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan
[2] http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/05/23/78597_HN2005piracyrate_1.html
[3] http://tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1262
[4] http://www.newsforge.com/software/03/10/05/162252.shtml?tid=132&tid=82
[5] http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/apps/videowhale.html
[6] http://newsforge.com/
[7] http://os.newsforge.com/os/01/12/20/1532225.shtml?tid=2
[8] http://os.newsforge.com/os/01/12/20/1532225.shtml?tid=2

RESOURCES AND NETWORKS IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
AFFORDABLE SOFTWARE

Copied low-cost software available in Pakistan: 
Maintained by 
Tariq Farooqi, 4 - E - 1/6 Nazimabad Karachi - 74600.

Low-priced CDs, in a range of distros. Debian, SkoleLinux,
Red Hat, Fedora, LTSP, En Garde Secure Linux,
Mandrake/Mandriva, Lycoris, Demo Linux, Knoppix, ASP Linux,
GLUE, Yoper, Ark Linux, AST Linux, redWall, EuroNode,
Startcom, OpenLX, Astrix@Home, ADIOS, Symphony, Slackware,
Vector Linux, Arch Linux, Free BSD, Lunar Linux, Debian NP
Live, Buffalo Linux, College Linux, SLAX Live, Blagg
Linux-LAMP Server, Trustix Linux Server, Trustix Firewall,
Lorma Linux, LAS Linux Server, SOL Linux, SuSE Linux, Gentoo
Linux, Damn Small Linux, Gnoppix Linux Live, Ubuntu Linux,
Kubuntu, Berry Linux Live, White Box-Enterprise Server, Tiny
Sofa-Enterprise Edition, YES Linux-Small Business Server, IP
Cop-Firewall Gateway, AUSTRUMI-Live, Debian Edu, OpenWall,
GoboLinux, Censor Net "Open source Internet Filtering &
Management solution", ZoneCD, Pentoo, Puppy, Admantix, Dragon
Fly BSD, JayOS, pfSense, PcBSD, GobLinx, Nonux, Freeduc,
Kanotix, Grml, KLAX, SaxenOS, SLAMPP, DDBackup, PCLinuxOS,
Finnix, TRIXBOX, SME Server, ZenWalk, NibleX, dyne:bolic,
easys, Fresh RPM's, Lycoris Dev Tools, INRIA Software,
Downloaded - Applications, Distro's and Manuals, LP ISO
Collection, GPL Software for Win_xx OS. 

Prices approx Rs 35 :call SearchCompleteStop()
per CD. Contact linuxcd_AT_linuxpakistan_DOT_net

http://wapurl.co.uk/?FX3W2ZB OR

http://www.linuxpakistan.net/wiki/index.php?pagename=LinuxPakistanKarachiSof
tware

Ubuntu Linux is available for download locally at

* http://www.ubuntu-pk.org
* http://www.fossfp.org
* http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/
* http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/ubuntu-cd/
 
YES Linux Release Team <release@yeslinux.org> has announced
availability of YES Linux 2.2 Build 3.  This is the third
build of YES Linux 2.2.  This release features more updates
to features than to new features such as php, and apache.

* http://www.khyberlinux.net
* http://www.pakistanopensource.org
* http://www.yeslinux.org
 
NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
MAILING LISTS

General -- LinuxPakistan General Discussion list
This is the list for general discussion at LinuxPakistan.net
general@linuxpakistan.net
http://mail.linuxpakistan.net/mailman/listinfo/general_linuxpakistan.net
362 non-digested members; 156 digested members as on Nov 12, 2006

pluc
106 Members, Archives: Public
New subscription requests will be sent to pluc@linux.com.pk
Moved to Mailman. At
http://mail.linuxpakistan.net/mailman/listinfo/general_linuxpakistan.net
Please subscribe to general@linuxpakistan.net instead. Even
though this list is still around, the activity on the list is
restricted. The new list has complete access for users.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pluc/

FOSSFP MAILING LISTS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fossfp/join
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fossfp

The ICT4Pakistan Forum has been established by FOSSFP:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ict4pakistan/
93 members.

FLOSS network for South Asia (including Pakistan) set up
after the APC regional consultation in Dhaka, Bangladesh in
April 2006:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_floss/

linuxpromoters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxpromoters/

PkOug_Linux
58 Members, Archives: Membership required
PkOug (Pakistan Oracle Users Group) SIG Linux
http://www.pkoug.org/sig/linux
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PkOug_Linux/

linux_pakistan
53 Members, Archives: Public
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_pakistan/

linux-system
18 Members, Archives: Public
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-system/

plpo
< 5 Members, Archives: Membership required
Group of users, programmers, gamers, administrators and
consultants for the [GNU]Linux platform.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/plpo/

linuxfoundation
45 Members
Linux Pakistan Research & Development
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxfoundation/

linuxpakistan
22 Members
A group dedicated to Linux experts in Pakistan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxpakistan/

linuxworkshop_gift
13 Members
Linux GIFT University Gujranwala (Pakistan)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxworkshop_gift/

Paklinuxclub
8 Members
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paklinuxclub/

pakistan-linux
< 5 Members
An egroup for Pakistani Linux enthusiasts. The purpose is to
share knowledge, news and other issues about Pakistani Linux
community.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistan-linux/

lnxpakistan
< 5 Members, Archives: Public
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lnxpakistan/

Linux Pakistan.  Linux User group in Pakistan.
17 members.
http://groups.google.com/group/Linux-Pakistan

Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Mailing List
http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-pk

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
WIKIS

LinuxPakistanWiki. (Currently not much information)
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/wiki/index.php/HomePage

Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan LoCo Team Community Wiki
http://ubuntu-pk.org

NETWORKS IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
MISCELLANEOUS

Ubuntu Monthly Newsletter: Produced and Published by
Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Local Team in collaboration with
FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan
www.fossfp.org. Provide your feedback at bajwa at fossfp.org
Publishers say the Ubuntu-Pakistan Mailing List reaches to
800 subscribed members.

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
ORGANISATIONS: REAL OR VIRTUAL

OSRC: The Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) was created by
the Pakistan Software Export Board (G) Ltd.
[http://www.pseb.org.pk/] at Islamabad. Its aim is to bring
together a wide range of expertise related to FOSS
technologies and resources at one place. It aims to enable IT
companies to access, share, and contribute the knowledge
"particular to the development and transformation of IT
products on Open Source technologies." This Resource Center
says it brings together established technology vendors,
startups, Open Ssource community members and enterprise IT
users/customers to jointly explore new opportunities for OSS
deployment and how to capitalize on them. The Resource Center
said it would serve local IT companies to discover
cutting-edge features of FOSS; offer detailed information on
the best practices in FOSS, bring in pragmatic guidance on
how to leverage FOSS in business; access the "comprehensive
knowledge base covering various facets" of FOSS; tackle
technical issues related to development, deployment,
distribution and packaging in general and to startups in
specific. It would also aim to hlep build networking of
professionals, start-ups, researchers and existing
communities Source: http://www.osrc.org.pk

Contacts: OSRC, Pakistan Software Export Board, Ministry of
Information Technology 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex Agha
Khan Road, Sector F-5, Islamabad Tel : 051 9208748 Fax: 051
9204075 Email: hosman@pseb.org.pk URL:
[http://www.osrc.org.pk] ; [http://www.pseb.org.pk]

See details of OSRC seminars
http://www.osrc.org.pk/seminar/

LINUXPAKISTAN: http://www.linuxpakistan.net/
Linuxpakistan.net has some 4321 members in its discussion forum.

FOSSFP describes itself as "an organization that promotes
ICTs enablement through FOSS for reducing the digital divide
and promoting knowledge development and innovation."
http://www.fossfp.org/

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
PROJECTS

"We have been actively involved
in open source training and
creating awareness, and by the
grace of Allah, today PING is
working on a completely open
source environment with an
ever-growing list of customers
who have migrated to Linux and
open source." -- Asaf Maruf
Ali, CEO of PING Systems
www.ping.com.pk. Quoted by
Zeeshan Muhammad in 'The Future
is Open Source'
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/news/?q=node/254

In May 2005, it was reported that the Ministry of Information
Technology [http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/moitt/index.jsp] is
currently implementing two open source software-related
projects under the Pakistan Software Export Board
[http://www.pseb.org.pk/] The "Automation of Domestic
Industry on Open Source Systems" project had as its aim to
develop Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for "four
to five" industrial sectors and to introduce the automation
culture in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with a
developmental budget of Rs 38 million. It was announced:
"This project will create jobs by initiating open source
software development in Pakistan, and help local software
companies acquire knowledge and experience of open source
technologies. It is expected that this will help in
eliminating the software piracy issue in Pakistan, and also
bridge the gap between the local industry and software
companies."
http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-May/003300.html

Seema Javed Amin noted that another project costing Rs 29
million, the Open Source Resource Center
[http://www.osrc.org.pk/] was meant to facilitate
"stake-holders and investors in the software industry, should
they decide to shift their businesses from vendor-dependent
proprietary software to open source software technology."

Yet another project costing Rs24 million was begun under the
auspices of the Pakistan Computer Bureau
[http://www.pcb.gov.pk/] "Its target is to create a talent
pool of 4,000 end-users and 200 systems administrators in
open source software technologies. It has already trained a
number of people in this regard. Another objective of this
exercise is to prepare related training material in a
simplistic format," Seema Javed Amin commented.
http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-May/003300.html

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
INTERESTING SOFTWARE PROJECTS FROM PAKISTAN, OR LINKED THERE

[Some in an initial stage of work, or at concept level.)

Fawad Halim's man software for PHP (a man interface in PHP)

http://www.linuxpakistan.net/man.php?source=1

Download 'saveable' code from

http://www.linuxpakistan.net/man.php.txt

Telenor SMS Script

Telenor SMS sender script enables you to can send SMS
to any Telenor mobile numbers. In Pakistan.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/telenorsms/

Pklinux (Minimal distribution set for all your basic
GNU/Linux needs)

http://linuxpakistan.sourceforge.net/pklinux/info.html

Pashtu Localization Project

This project is designed to initiate and facilitate the
localization of Open Source Software into Pashtu, the
majority language of Afghanistan and the border areas of
Pakistan.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/localizepashtu/

Urdu Localization

Urdu internationalization utilities. Three utilities: Inpage
converter, typing tutor and collating/search will be made
available initially.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urdu/

Urdu Font Project

Urdu Font Project is a step towards Opensource development of
True Type Unicode Standard based Urdu Fonts specially
"Nastaleeq", "Nastaleeq" Like and "Naskh" fonts.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urdufontproject/

Urdu Indic Initiative

This is the F/LOSS-based localization (l10n) Initiative for
Urdu as spoken in the Indian sub-continent. We are working
towards a localized GNOME/KDE, Mozilla Firefox and
OpenOffice.org for ur_IN based on the Unicode Standard and
associated technologies.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urduindic/

Urdu Bulletin Board
A Mozilla-Firefox Plugin which enables Urdu Typing/Rendering
for HTML Pages.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urdu-bb/

RabtPad
RabtPad is a configurable unicode and Java based text editor
for arabic based scripts including Urdu and Farsi with
virtual keyboard for not latin scripts on latin based
systems, export to pdf, rtf, html and plain text (later xml).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/rabtpad/

PyUrduEdit
PyUrduEdit is a simple text editor for the Urdu
language.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyurduedit/

Urdu phpBB
An Urdu adaptation of the phpBB forum software complete with
langauge translation and an online Urdu editor.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urduphpbb/

Urdu OCR SDK

It is under progress and will be capable of of recognition of
Urdu isolated character recognition. It is an SDK for off-line
Urdu character recognition.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/urduocrsdk/

Zeeshan Ali Khattak developed the Video-Whale Project, which
assembled a group of Red-Hat GNU/Linux boxes into a wall of
video. The Video-Whale Project is an implementation of a
video wall which exploits the combined power of Gstreamer and
Xinerama. With it, four monitors are controlled by one
machine, and a LAN of four machine controls a 16-monitor
video wall. It comes across as a very interesting
implementation of low-cost alternative technology to meet
needs of the hardware-constrained, resource-poor but
talent-rich Third World.

http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/apps/videowhale.html

Sahana is a secure Web portal that provides applications for
coordination and collaboration in the aftermath of disasters.
Applications include finding missing people, connecting
organizations, reporting on the distribution of aid and
services, matching donations to requests, tracking temporary
shelters, and, overall, providing transparency and visibility
to groups working in a disaster. Key features include GIS,
biometrics, PDA support, and availability in the form of a
live CD. From Sri Lanka, but deployed in Pakistan following
the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

http://sourceforge.net/potm/potm-2006-06.php

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
CAMPAIGNS

FOSSAC'2005 1st National Free and Open Source Software
Awareness Campaign 2005 (August 2005) At the Punjab
University College of Information Technology
(PUCIT),University of the Punjab, Allana Iqbal (Old) Campus,
Lahore, Pakistan.  FOSSAC'2005 was a four day mass awareness
and training event organized by [FOSSFP]Free and Open Source
Software Foundation of Pakistan - Punjab University College
of Information Technology PUCIT, Pakistan Software Export
Board-Open Source Resource Centre PSEB-OSRC with support by
UNDP-IOSN International Open Source Network to promote
nationwide awareness about the benefits of Free and Open
Source Software and to persuade organizations and individuals
of Pakistan to use Free & Open Source Software by providing
an alternative to Pirated Proprietary Software."

http://www.fossfp.org/fossac

NETWORKS  IN PAKISTAN
--------------------------------------------------------------
LOCAL LANGUAGE COMPUTING

Ubuntu Pakistan Team Urdu-l10n International Translation Team
(Noumaan Yaqoob, Team Lead) has announced the localizing --
including the new "language-pack-gnome-ur 1.6.06+2 Pack" --
in the latest Ubuntu Linux version 6.10 global distribution
which gives support for Urdu at installation. The latest
version comes with an installable Urdu Pack by default and is
also available when upgrading Ubuntu 6.06 LTS version to
Ubuntu 6.10. Test new features and report them to
noumaan{at}ubuntu-pk{dot}org

Noumaan and team created and contributing Pakistan's first
public Urdu Word Bank and Dictionary accessible at
http://l10n.urduweb.org/dictionary as well as translating the
latest versions of Gnome Interface into Urdu. Saadat Saeed,
an Ubuntu Pakistan team member, introduced the first Ubuntu
Linux Urdu Editor "PyUrduEdit".

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pyurduedit

According to Faoud Bajwa, Team Lead Localized Documentation
Team Waqas Toor is shortly (as of October 2006) introducing
the Ubuntu Desktop and Server Guides in Urdu that will also
be available in the future versions of Ubuntu Distributions
as default availability. Contact: waqas{at no
spam}ubuntu-pk.org

An announcement said teams are now "gearing up for Sindhi and
Punjabi translations" and volunteers have been sought. Ubuntu
Pakistan Team claims to have over 40 volunteer developers and
contributors.

Register at:

https://launchpad.net/people/ubuntu-pk (Ubuntu Pakistan Team)

https://launchpad.net/people/ubuntu-l10n-ur (Ubuntu Urdu l10n Team)

Subscribe: 

https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-l10n-urd

https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-pk

To participate in translation:

Urdu: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/edgy/+lang/ur

Sindhi: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/edgy/+lang/sd

Open Office 2.0+ is already available with Urdu Support, with
efforts coming in from India, but that has to be added as a
separate language pack, according to Bajwa.

o Kamran Azeem (RHCE) has contributed Computer Based Training
programs for learning Linux in Urdu. CDs from
www.wbitt.com/urducbts according to a post by Fouad Riaz
Bajwa <bajwa@fossfp.org> DVDs Rs 500 each. Contact Kamran:
kamran@wbitt.com

o According to Gora Mohanty [gora_mohanty at yahoo.co.in] in
New Delhi there are now GPL-licensed Urdu fonts from an
organization called PakType. * CDAC, Pune has localized the
OpenOffice 2.0 user interface into Urdu, though there are
some issues with the drop-down selection boxes for a LTR
language. * Work has also been started on a Hindi-Urdu
transliterator, which can help by allowing a
first-approximation transliteration from Hindi to Urdu, that
can then be reviewed by an Urdu speaker.

Other links:

o  FOSSFP Urdu Language Localization Project - ULLP
   http://www.fossfp.org/ullp

o  Urdu Linux Localization Project Presentation
   http://www.fossfp.org/fossac/downloads/ullp/ubuntu_localization.pps

o  Urdu Linux Localization Project Steps
   http://www.fossfp.org/fossac/downloads/ullp/steps_for_ubuntu_ver3.doc

o  Urdu Linux Localization Project Brochure
   http://www.fossfp.org/fossac/downloads/ullp/pamphetlet.doc

o Khalid Latif [klatif at ifs.tuwien.ac.at] says National
Langauges Authority (NLA) and FAST-NU had worked together on
developing nastaleeq true types font for Urdu and also an
installable windows keyboard layout [1,2]. True-type-fonts
also exists, he says [3].

[1] http://www.crulp.org/
[2] http://www.cicc.or.jp/english/hyoujyunka/mlit4/7-10Pakistan/Pakistan2.html
[3] http://www.crulp.org/linuxphonetickb.html

MISCELLANEOUS LINKS
-------------------------------------------------------------

Linux Pakistan User Group http://www.linuxpakistan.net
Linux Pakistan latest posts
Forum: http://www.linuxpakistan.net/forum/
News: http://www.linuxpakistan.net/news/?q=rss.xml
Jobs: http://www.linuxpakistan.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=9
Linux Pakistan News Portal: http://www.linuxpakistan.net/news/

Linux Pakistan General discussion list
http://mail.linuxpakistan.net/mailman/listinfo/general_linuxpakistan.net

Linux Pakistan Karachi
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/wiki/index.php?pagename=LinuxPakistanKarachi

Software avaiilable:
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/wiki/index.php?pagename=LinuxPakistanKarachiSof
tware

Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan http://www.fossfp.org
Ohloh service http://www.ohloh.net
FOSSFP chapters http://www.fossfp.org/chapters
Rosetta http://www.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/dapper/+lang/ur
BytesForAll FLOSS Localization
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_floss

SOLUTIONS ... AND THE SEARCH FOR THEM
-------------------------------------------------------------

ERP GUIDE FOR PAKISTAN: Fouad Riaz Bajwa <bajwa@fossfp.org>
has written a guide ERP-Rising in SPIDER Magazine, March-June
2003 which focuses on Enterprise Resource Planning in
Pakistan. More recently, he has been working on the second
edition of ERP-Rising "that will take into account ERP
implementation case studies from the Pakistani IT Industry
scene." Bajwa says they plan to also "be focusing on OSS
based ERP solutions identifying their viable market options
for Pakistan, presenting open business models that can be
taken into account." To share case studies, implementation
experiences, the pros and cons of OSS ERP solutions contact
bajwa at fossfp.org

PSEB-OSRC's Industrial Automation Project, also known as
BRIDGE-OPEN SOURCE Project was worth Rs.60 million that has
developed 4 OSS (Java/Postgre/Fedora/RedHat/Ubuntu) ERP
solutions to be deployed at member companies, according to
PSEB. PSEB has partnered with four industrial associations --
All Pakistan Textiles Processing Mills Association, Pakistan
Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories
Manufacturers, Pakistan Ready-made Garments Manufacturers
Association/Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association, and
the Surgical Instruments Manufactures Association. Initially
the solution will be provided to fifteen industrial units in
each of these four sectors. http://www.osrc.org.pk or
http://www.pseb.org.pk/page.php?page_id=100

ANNEXURES
-------------------------------------------------------------

o Tune your brains, by Fouad Riaz Bajwa: Open source software
has gradually made its way across the shores to Pakistan. It
is not only major organisations but also interested
individuals that can benefit massively from its arrival
http://www.spider.tm/sep2006/cstory1.html

o The open and closed case by Nizar Diamond Ali: A study of
open and closed source software reveals why more corporate
and home users are making the shift towards open source
http://www.spider.tm/sep2006/cstory2.html

o The Open Option By Seema Javed Amin, May 21, 2005
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/science/science6.htm

o My Ubuntu experience, by By Noumaan Yaqoob: A computer user
explains his reasons for switching from the near-ubiquitous
Windows operating system to a user-friendly version of Linux
called Ubuntu. http://www.spider.tm/sep2006/cstory3.html

o The Future is Open Source By Zeeshan Muhammad
http://www.linuxpakistan.net/news/?q=node/254

o In Pakistan, the Government looks to the Linux users' group
http://www.freelists.org/archives/linuxinindia/09-2002/msg00002.html

Feedback to: Frederick Noronha fredericknoronha at gmail.com