Wednesday, September 27, 2006

26.3 million Arab Internet users is not enough

Whenever the topic of growth in the number of Arab Internet users is
discussed, the enthusiasm of the impressive progress is tainted by the still
low penetration levels relative to other regions of the world.

According to the latest report by Madar Research, the number of Internet
users in the Arab World by the end of 2005 stood at 26.3 million, with a
growth of 9 million in one year!

That's nearly a 50 percent growth rate in one year, and it's expected to
continue every year between 40 and 50 percent.
Now for the not so good news. While this growth means more Internet
penetration relative to the population in Arab countries, it still stands
below 10 percent.

The Pan-Arab penetration rate was 8.50 percent in 2005, compared to 5.36
percent in 2004.

The worldwide average for Internet penetration is 14 percent.
What this means is that Arabs are not capitalizing on the Internet
revolution as much as others are, which affects education and economic
development in Arab countries.

Today, the Internet is a vital component in social and economic development
and it is one of measures of a country’s potential.
There are, of course, regional differences in the Middle East. As you would
expect, the wealth of a country comes into the equation.

The GCC countries enjoy the highest Internet penetration, particularly the
UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. Arab countries that lag behind badly are Algeria,
Sudan and Yemen. In Yemen, only 1 in 15 adults has Internet access. Still,
regardless of national wealth, governments which adopt aggressive Internet
access initiatives in education, with external support of donor countries,
manage to outperform richer countries in penetration. Jordan, Lebanon and
Egypt and good examples in that regard.

According to Madar's report, Arabic speakers refrain from using the Internet
because of the lack of Arabic content and services.

I have to disagree with that statement, as Arabic language websites covering
every area of content have been around for many years. In fact, Arabic
newspaper websites record millions of page views daily, and it is now a
recognized fact that online readers of many Arabic newspapers are even more
than the print edition readers!

The report says that the lack of an Arabic search engine is also a reason,
but that fact seems somewhat biased as Madar is involved in the team
developing Sawafi, a new Arabic language search engine. In any case, the
specialized Arabic search engine, Araby.com, has been launched this year;
more importantly, Google has been offering Arabic language search for two
years!

Anyway, here's the last interesting bit of information from the study:
Arabic speakers represent 5 percent of the world's population, yet they only
represent 2 percent of its Internet users. It's a digital divide indeed.

zanasser@gmail.com

Monday, September 25, 2006

Twenty years of the Jordan Computer Society (JCS)

In 1986, when home computing in Jordan was just getting started, and business computing meant a large investment only made by big banks and organizations; the Jordan Computer Society (JCS) was established by a limited number of 'computing professionals'.

It was the first such society in the Middle East, and was founded to develop the IT profession.

Twenty years on have been many bright points in the society's history, but the one that stands out the most is how it formed the basis of the public-private sector partnership in IT development that has now manifested itself in various bodies such as the new Ministry of Information & Communication Technology, the Jordan Information Technology Association (int@j), and several IT initiatives like REACH.

Over the years, and especially since the rise of int@j, there has been some debate on the role of the Jordan Computer Society and how it has been somewhat limited to catering to the needs of professionals, rather than companies as a whole, and focusing on education and awareness to the public instead of taking up pre-set and well-funded initiatives.

In spite of what may be said, JCS has done well to survive and maintain a loyal and growing membership base.

Another of its lasting legacies is the IT show it started in 1989, which has evolved into the Middle East Technology Show (METS).

In a commemorative event this week, it felt like a reunion of people who were in computing and IT two decades ago, back when the industry was not taken seriously compared to the traditional economic sectors of construction, real estate, manufacturing and others. How things have changed!

The current JCS President, Hisham Qattan, said that the society has learned from its past achievements.

Faiz Al Koudsi, one of the JCS founders and its first president, took the audience through a trip down memory lane. He spoke about computing in Jordan in the seventies and how only five organizations had computers, mostly mainframes and mini-computers. He also talked about the beginnings of the PC revolution in Jordan and how it changed everything.

Surely, there is a lot to be learned from the senior members of this sector, many of whom were present at this event and recognized like Khaled Kilani, Yousef Bargouthi, Saeed Shoqum and Ahmad Sacca. Figures who have been involved in computing for two or three decades deserve recognition and have spearheaded the country’s development.

Looking to the future, there are some serious challenges facing both the Jordan Computer Society (JCS) and int@j, as a very demanding society of IT professionals and companies have various opinions on what needs to be done next.

The pace of change is now faster than ever, and professional societies and associations sense that they must move even faster than there members.
Provided there's the required leadership and vision, we'll hopefully be celebrating another 20 years of the Jordan Computer Society.

zanasser@gmail.com

Friday, September 15, 2006

The Arab Horse gallops into search engines

Maktoob Group have released Araby.com, an Arabic search engine which is optimized to deliver Arabic-language results from Arabic sources.

Read more at AdBlogArabia.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Are raids the only way to battle piracy?

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has announced two raids in Jordan on companies using and distributing illegal copies of software.

Such raids are carried out in cooperation with the authorities and based on intellectual property rights (IPR) laws which have existed in Jordan for some time.

First, let's make something clear. Piracy is, indeed, theft. But, it can't just be tackled by raids and legal threats. Which is why the BSA also run awareness campaigns and promote the use of licensed software whenever they can.

But, the BSA rarely, if ever, mentions the key factor: Software prices!

Why? Well, because the Business Software Alliance (BSA) represents the interests of its members, the world's largest software publishing companies.

The BSA estimates the amount of money it could make if piracy drops and that motivates its members. The numbers do look impressive, and seem to also have a positive impact on local economies and job markets.

Apperantly, 13,000 new jobs would be created if the Middle East's piracy rate drops by 10%. It is also estimated that such a drop in piracy would create additional economic growth of over $4 billion!

As far as jobs and GDP are concerned, we cannot underestimate the impact of piracy.
Regretably, though, no one seems to be studying 'the other side' of this equation.

If piracy is stamped out, people in poor countries who use this illegal software to learn, develop their skills and create income will lose those opportunities.
Isn't it then possible that poverty will increase in such countries?

Maybe a neutral body should look into this.

The issue this raises is the fact that it is the responsibility of every software publisher to support the community by offering some free software, lower-prices and other moves to help development, then enforce piracy

Already, some of these initiatives are being applied by companies like Microsoft; providing lower software pricing for students, or cut-down packages at lower prices, or even free software to public libraries.

At the end of the day, if the prices of software in general remains too high, someone is bound to get hurt.

If software prices are reduced it will help reduce the rate of piracy.
Users want the technical support and packaged extras (like manuals) that comes with licensed software.

But, as you would expect, software companies are not interested in such a proposal, as it would reduce the income estimates stated above.

But, it would be the right thing to do, and the only true path to battling piracy.

Or, the current cycle can continue. A few raids every year, followed by a gain of 10 percent annually in legal software, which will be easily reversed by tough economic times when users go back to copied software.

It's a never ending story requiring brave, new ideas.

(Published in The Star)
zanasser@gmail.com

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Your employer is watching your emails

Nowadays, it’s quite possible that the company or organization you work for is ‘logging’ your emails, both sent and received.

What that means is that your ‘corporate’ communications are not private. If you sometimes use your work email account for private messages, it’s going to be recorded.

Clearly, companies apply this practice so as to pull out an old email when necessary, to clarify a work-related issue or to simply find out what happened.

Accordingly, employees are strongly advised to maintain a formality in the nature of their communications through work email addresses, and keep the personal stuff on their Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or Maktoob accounts.

At those services, chances are your email records will never be recalled, unless of course you commit a serious crime whereby the US government can request your emails backlog; but that’s another story, and is completely different to the constant threat of your boss finding out how much time you spend emailing your friends about football topics instead of getting your work done!

This particular example, of emailing your friends, seems to be the incident most cited by IT managers as a ‘misuse of company time and resources’.

There’s also the impact of receiving and distributing large media files, which can slow down a company’s system or overload its server.

These actions can be used against you in any argument with the management regarding your productivity or dedication to the job.

Moving onto the more serious matter of work-related email messages, you should know that email is now ‘legal tender’, which means it can be used in a court of law.

When you put business issues in writing, they better be legitimate matters, nothing out of the ordinary and surely nothing that harms your company!

Some companies have clear guidelines on how to use the Internet on the job, in fact it is now part of many employment contracts in the US and Europe.

In such contracts there is an ‘acceptable limit’ to dealing with personal issues through ‘commnication tools provided by the company’. Some things are urgent, and don’t occur frequently.

Obviously, chit-chatting with your friends and sharing music and videos are not among these!

It’s not clear yet how many incidents of mis-use in Jordanian companies have resulted in the firing of staff; but maybe it’s worth researching this matter.

A recently released survey by the American Management Association found that 26 percent of private-sector employers have fired workers for e-mail misuse and that an additional 2 percent have fired workers for inappropriate chats via instant messaging.

So, watch out what you say in your ‘work emails’ and how you use your business email account; or your instant messenger application!

You have been warned!

(Published in The Star)
zanasser@gmail.com