24 Friday | NOVember 26, 2010
FO3S
Vol. III, Issue 3
H! There!
W
elcome to the third issue of the third year.
Hope you all had a nice break and spent the
holidays in meaningful ways to celebrate two
important events — Eid Al Adha and the 40th
anniversary of National Day — that coincided to double up
the joy. Keep up the good spirit.
We know it’s pretty hectic life for some of you, espe-
cially those who are in the final year of the course, who
have been busy revising lessons to get ready for exams.
We wish them the best of luck and, at the same time,
would like to remind all of you who are in the first stages of
the graduation programme that the key to enjoying the fun
and excelling in academics is nothing but hard work and a
disciplined way of life. Never leave it for tomorrow – per-
haps this is the first and the most important lesson that we
will have to mind throughout life, and this basic rule of life
is never more relevant than when you are a student. So, do
not put off that assignment for tomorrow – do it today; do
not leave the revisions for tomorrow – revise them today.
We at H!SQU had a busy but enjoyable time because
we had gathered most of the stuff for this issue much in
advance. And that meant we did not have to worry about
the issue while enjoying the holidays. Of course, H!SQU
could never be out of our mind whether we celebrate a
festival or get ready to climb a mountain!
The cover story for this month deals with the interesting
and infinite opportunities the technological world opens up
to us. While we gain upon such opportunities, we must try
to contribute something of our own. The Free Open Source
Software Society is about exploring such opportunities.
Read, and discover, how you could be part of FO3S.
Our Guest for this month is Dr Andrea Hall and her Ap-
peal is about E-learning and its possibilities. She advises us
to learn more effectively. Yes, the opportunity is at our door,
and the opportunity will not come knocking again and again.
There are many gifts of life but to receive them one
must have the right attitude. And what is that? “Do unto
others as you would be done by.” In ORS, Catherine Lonie
teaches us the art of living a happy life.
Among the other dishes of the month is Just Imagine
and Dear Students, besides other regular items.
Happy reading.
Cheers till next month
Team H!SQU
H!SQU is brought out by the English and Translation Society at SQU. Email your
views/suggestions/articles to hi-ets@hotmail.com or hi@timesofoman.com. For
more information visit www.englishsqu.net
Editorial Coordinators
Ahmed Al Hadhrami & Sumaiya Al Kindi
Mr Wise
Never let days do you,
do yours yourself
Dr Hadj Bourdoucen
Director-Communication and Information
Research Centre; and Prof.-ECE Department,
College of Engineering
THE idea of Free
and Open Source
software (FOSS)
derived from the
history of similar
initiatives in Oman.
to reckon with
In fact, in the past
10 years there have
been a number of
various personal
attempts but lacked
the governmental
FOSS, or free open source software, is what you could install and modify as you please. The global initiative support. Now,
that challenged conventional ideas about human motivation and competition – as well as proprietary software the idea comes alive again but at the national
level. I thought why not having a whole team
— has inspired a team of IT experts and university students in Oman, leading to the formation of FO3S. Their working on such a great project? So a new,
goal: developing an Omani Linux-based operating system. Team H!SQU meets the brains behind this initiative small, devoted team was born, along with SQU
as an administrative sponsor, ITA as the main
sponsor — and here we are! The main goals
behind this move, however, is to create an
independent student Free Open Source Society
(FOSS). At present, we are targeting the staff
and the students of SQU to ensure our presence
in society. Later on, we plan to cover other
educational institutions in Muscat and other
places gradually. There were many obstacles on
our way but the biggest was the people’s attitude
toward software programs. People normally
tend to be “Windows biased”. They do not want
to try other software because they fear of trying
new things. Also, the idea of how much easy it
is to install a program or download it through
the Internet keeps people away from coming
up with innovative and smart options available
in the market. So this was a challenge for us to
enlighten people of the other varieties for them.
The other challenge was to have our own lap
and technical support venue, but this has now
been solved. Our position compared with other
GCC countries is neither advanced nor late. We
are actually on the right path.
I believe it’s a matter of dedication, hard
work and continuity. And, more importantly,
is the fact that the government is supporting
the initiative, which is definitely a promising
indication. All what we need is to spread
awareness among our students in different levels
because they are the future of Oman.
Mansoor Al Gharibi
Project specialist, ITA
The term “free
and open source
program” is well
known, yet the
idea of it is still not
clearly perceived
by our society. I
am working now
on three projects.
The main one is
about supporting
free open source
programs (free
computer software). That’s not putting one
technology over another; rather providing our
society with more alternatives. People now
are to choose whether to pick the pre-paid
software, Windows, for example, or the free
open software like Linux. This free source is
much enlightening especially for students to
freely discover the software and be proactively
effective and innovative.
Our focus currently is to target students who
hold IBs and diplomas to make them aware
of the novel software recently available in
Oman. We have awareness-building sessions
and regular capacity-building workshops for
IB graduates and individuals in ministries.
We have also started to approach colleges and
different governmental entities along with our
training programmes. Last time we had around
15 students from SQU, Higher College of
Technology and Nizwa University. This training
opportunity was provided, sponsored and
certified by Linux Profession Institute (LPI). In
ITA, we believe that such an initiative has to
be carried out through students themselves. In
fact, a team of SQU students was so actively
involved in one of the well-known Omani
e-forums, so we contacted this team and they
showed great interest. Through cooperation
between SQU students and ITA we established
the first free open source society in Oman.
The thrilling thing about this novel initiative is
the fact that the response is promising. We are
very much looking forward to reshaping the
understanding of the new open source program
through cooperation with people and the whole
community.
Khalil Al Maawali
College of Engineering, Computer Systems and
Networks Engineering
I’m the founder
and president of
the Oman unit of
the Free and Open
Source Society
(FOSS). The group
started off with
eight members,
and has now
more than 150
members divided
into three major
committees. I’m
the contact point
between FO3S, the
group academic
advisor and also information technology
authority (ITA) support team.I want to see
FO3S branches operating in other universities
and colleges around Oman. We have started at
SQU but the aim is to reach every computer
user around Oman. Our plan is to give FO3S an
effective start at SQU this year and handover the
responsibility next year to other students who
love the philosophy and freedom enshrined in
FOSS. The person who inspired me to use free
and open source software was my instructor at
my last semester in my bachelor degree studies.
I learned from him what freedom in the world of
technology is all about.
I still remember his words, “You now know
about the Free and Open Source Software
world, let everybody in your family, your
friends and your colleagues know about it.” I
will never forget these words and I will always
be thankful to him. The FO3S idea was inspired
by these words.
I hope that all computer users all over the
Sultanate would try to use Free and Open
Source Software. I wish that FO3S will reach
every university, college and school in Oman.
Othman ALManthari
college of Engineering,
Mechatronics
As the Vice
President of the
Society, it is my
duty to assist
the president of
the Society in
achieving the goals
and the plans we
have made for the
coming years. My
main personal goal
of being a member
of the Society is to
help promote free open source software among
SQU students and Omanis in general. I am sure
that the job is not easy but by the hard work of
the members and our great motivations, we will
surely overcome all the stumbling blocks and
succeed by all means. I do really hope to see
the day when free and open-source software is
widely used in Oman in the near future.
Ahmed Al Yhayai
College of Science, Computer Science
I am the head of
the support and
development
committee of
FO3S. My main job
is to provide all the
means of support to
solve any problem
on free and open
source software
(FOSS). This
specific support
takes place during
lectures, workshops
and developing
projects organized
by the Society. I am
also responsible for developing free open-source
projects. The first project is developing an
Omani Linux-based operating system (Omanix),
which is currently undergoing an incentive
development. I have joined FO3S society
because I strongly believe that the first step
is to approach the government along with the
people and enlighten them about the alternative
software available and spread the concept of
FOSS. Also, it will help me in my major study
as well as my career.
The passion I have in being a member of
this Society started when I installed Linux on
my computer. I faced a problem in detecting
hardware.
Then I found an E-forum in s-oman.net
about GNU/Linux and I posted my problem.
Within hours I got it solved. After that I started
to help them support other Linux users. So they
have chosen me as moderator for the forum.
Then I received an email from the current
president of FO3S society who told me about
his plans to spread (FOSS). Thankfully, the
project succeeded to attract different students
from different majors and colleges. I personally
want to continue the journey on developing
(Omanix) and add more features to it. Also, I
want to create my own company which will
provide FOSS support and development.
NOVember 26, 2010 | Friday 25
Said Al Ramadhani
Collage of Science, Computer Science
I am the vice
responsible for
the public relation
committee in
the group. My
responsibility
is to coordinate
with other people
important to the
Society. Also,
our job is to
communicate
with other student
societies to cooperate with us in organising
and participating in some events and activities
on campus. My first personal goal is to get
the skill of dealing with people from different
cultural backgrounds. I also want to improve
my skills in programming and designing new
Omani software which is surely going to help
me out through my study and future studies.
Also, I would like to expand my knowledge in
open sources and free software world. Finally,
I would like to use an Omani operating system
that I participated in designing. My inspiration
of being a member of this group came five
years ago when I was surfing the Internet. I
read about Linux and open-sources software
though I didn’t know anything about it. The last
semester in SQU, however, I met someone who
told me about the idea of open-source software
and having an independent society. One of the
most important things that I want to achieve
in the future for the good of society is to make
people aware of open-sources software and the
Linux operating system. Also, I have planned,
with my friends in the Society, to conduct some
workshops outside the university.
Ahmed Murslat
College of Engineering, SQU
I am programmer
of a lot of websites,
experienced in
database platforms
and specialising in
server technologies.
Fluent in Python,
PHP, ruby, C, Java
& Bash Scripting.
I have been
programming since
I was 12, and to date I own 35 websites, some
with more than a million hit a day.
My responsibility is programming, and helping
people with the introduction to the Linux
environment.
My aim, by being a member of this group, is
to get other people familiar with Linux. Other
things that I plan to do through the Society is
program and design some open source software
contributions. It’s going to be a great step for
computer science in SQU, for sure. As for
inspiration, there are many.
I was inspired by Tim Berners Lee (inventor
of the HTTP protocol at MIT), Linus Torvalds
(founder of Linux)... But there is one man who
stands out, and that is the owner of oman3d, his
name is Hilal, a hardworking man whose help
was so valuable and without him I would have
never known anything in the world of software.