04.26.09

Microsoft Attacks GNU/Linux (Pardus) in Turkey, Dumps on Students

Posted in Asia, Europe, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Mandriva, Microsoft at 11:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Turkey gradually moves to GNU/Linux starting with the administration, so Steve Ballmer pays a visit and pays the government

A LEOPARD (OR KARAKAL) CAN’T change its spots, even if any exist at all. And likewise, Microsoft is doing to Turkey what it did to Russia last week. One country after another, Microsoft is spending as much as necessary to derail GNU/Linux migrations that are massive.

Turkey was recently a victim of Windows and ODF Turkey was established some weeks ago. In addition, at the bottom we append a lot of evidence from the past 2 years about GNU/Linux adoption in the country, including the government. Pardus addresses the needs of the nation [1-4] and some people consider it to be one of the best distributions of GNU/Linux [5-40]. Even the Turkish army is moving to Pardus in very large numbers [17].

Now watch what Microsoft is doing in Turkey. [via FSDaily]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in Ankara to announce the opening of Microsoft Innovation Center which is founded in Bilkent University. The most important task of Microsoft Innovation Center in this process will be “Microsoft Government Project”.

[...]

Ballmer said that the software projects have been developed in the scope of academics, students, financiers, health and education in the Microsoft Innovation Center. Microsoft, also, will try to attract the students with “DreamSpark Programme”.

As before, information about what DreamSpark really is can be found in:

• Poor Microsoft Gives Poor Software to Youngsters, Hoping to Remain Relevant
• Microsoft’s Anti-Linux Dumping Crusade: Chapter 11.1
• Microsoft Tries to Fight Libre with Gratis
• An Open, Gentler Microsoft: The Best Illusion Only Novell Can Buy
• Microsoft’s Last Breath: BAD (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping)
• Microsoft’s B.A.D. (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping) Comes to the Philippines
• Down with Microsoft… in India (Updated)
• Microsoft Takes Dumping Tactics up a Notch
• The EDGIfication of the Philippines

The dumping technique is known (internally at least) as “EDGI” and we showed documents about it in:

• Is Microsoft ‘Pulling an EDGI’ on Kerala? (Updated)
• Microsoft Vice President Teaches PR People How to Spin Anti-Linux Programme
• Microsoft Dumps on India, South Africa, Malta
• At Microsoft, “Fear Uncertainty Doubt (TALKING POINTS)” is Formal Strategy
• Microsoft’s Dumping Strategy Versus GNU/Linux (EDGI Continued)
• Extended Windows 98 EOL to Block Government Migrations to GNU/Linux and Free Software; More ‘Donations’
• Microsoft on “Maintaining Gap vs Linux” Using “Patents“, “Children’s Software“
• Microsoft’s Internal Presentation on How to Fight GNU/Linux
• Microsoft Chief: “Under NO Circumstances Lose Against Linux”
• Microsoft’s EDGI in India: Fighting GNU/Linux in Education
• EDGI Finale: Microsoft’s “Linux Compete Squad”

Turkey should realise what Microsoft is up to and therefore reject those Trojan horses. The company from Redmond is being anti-competitive and it is trying to get this nation locked in even further so that it pays for such neglect in the future. Freedom and national Independence are priceless. █
__________

Policy

[1] Open source tour of Europe: Turkey

There are sporadic examples of Turkish open source projects. In August 2007 Turkey’s Military Recruitment Division, which is part of the Ministry of Defense, announced that it was switching to Pardus Linux on all of its 4,500 desktops and more than five hundred servers.

Pardus is also being used by Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council as part of its digital television archive and analysis project.

Meanwhile CentOS is used along with Apache and MySQL to power Yerelnet, a web site designed to encourage collaboration between local governments. Other early adepter success stories include Manisa Health Directorate, Petrol-Is, and Neziroglu Motors, all of which are using Pardus Linux.

While there are few examples of Turkish open source deployments to date there is reason to believe that may will be more in the future thanks to the fact that the Ministry of Education is teaching students to use and understand open source software as well as Windows as part of the IT curriculum.

[2] Kurdish operating system under investigation by Turkish attorney general

Previously, we reported that Kurdish Linux was launched in Turkey: Kurdish Ubuntu, a Linux distribution, was launched this week with a reception in Diyarbakir. Ubuntu was the first Linux distribution to implement Kurdish localization[1]. Kurdish localization in Linux was an important milestone for Turkey due to ethnic conflicts

[3] Kurdish Linux launched in Turkey

November 24, 2006

Kurdish Ubuntu, a Linux distribution, was launched this week with a reception in Diyarbakir. Ubuntu was the first Linux distribution to implement Kurdish localization

[4] Free Software Period To Begin In Public Organizations

A new and free software period, which brings the utilization of Linux-based operating systems with open source codes instead of Microsoft’s operating systems in computers, will begin in Turkish public organizations.

The first application will be performed in the Draft Department of the Ministry of National Defence where Turkey’s national software ‘Pardus’, developed by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), will be used as the basic operating system.

2008-2009

[5] News from Pardus

The Team works great in these days We have Qt-Creator, Qt 4.5.0 and KDE 4.2.1 in our development repository just after release announcements For KDE 4 based technologies I finished my work on Sysinfo just follow;

[6] Review: Pardus 2008.2

I HAVE written several articles about Pardus GNU/Linux since it first appeared on the Linux/Open Source scene in 2005, but in one report to coincide with the release of version 2007.3, I wrote the following introduction.  “Do you know what I love so much about Linux?  It’s the feeling you get when you stumble upon a distribution that’s pure computing gold.”

[7] The Turkish Pardus Linux Distribution

Pardus provides a very important public good to be used by the whole FLOSS community, in Turkey and abroad. The Pardus GNU/Linux operating system is being deployed and used in many government and other public services including the Turkish military and defense sector, in radio and telecommunication, health and education, as well as private vendors. The use of Pardus in all these sectors and institutions will save several millions of Euro in taxpayers’ money.

[8] Review: Pardus Linux

I wonder why Pardus is such an unknown distribution. It is easy to install, has a great configuration center, and a good package management system with plenty of packages to fulfill most peoples needs. The people behind Pardus have spent a lot of time to create a distro that looks good and is stable. I believe my granny can work with Pardus without problems. No messing with config-files in any way, just install it and start working with it. I will continue to use Pardus and have advised others to give it a try.

Good job, Pardus team!

[9] Pardus Linux

Overall, though, working with Pardus has been a very pleasant surprise so far. A very auspicious start indeed.

[10] Pardus 2008 – Where were you?

Pardus is a very good distro, and should really be much higher on the Distrowatch rankings. They really do know what beautiful is Smile and includes a plethora of applications. I highly recommend this distro if you are just starting out using Linux or want to introduce Linux to someone else.

[11] Pardus 2008: A touch of refinement

My experience with Pardus was quite positive. The attention to detail, right down to skinning Amarok with the Pardus colors, is matched by the elegance of the installer and the efficacy of Kaptan and PiSi. Booting and running Pardus is quite speedy on my old AMD Sempron 2800+ with 512MB RAM; other distributions with similar features (such as Ubuntu) run slower on the same hardware. In short, I think Pardus is a distribution worth looking at for any Linux users who aren’t happy with their current choice.

[12] Pardus 2008 Review

Pardus 2008, to a green user, is your average desktop environment. Many of the gems of the system lie under the hood in utilities like TASMA and PiSi. It’s an easy system to get started with, but has some odd quirks such as PolicyKit problems and the somewhat hidden root account. In the end, it’s clear that a lot of effort went into making Pardus a usable desktop for anyone.

[13] Pardus 2008 review

Pardus 2008 is everything I could of asked for it looks good, plays all my multimedia, it’s super-fast/stable and it’s so easy even a Mac OS X user could easily adapt to it. Pardus has taken over my linux partition at the moment I consider it the best distribution available at this time; I won’t switch distribution anytime soon perhaps I may use Pclinuxos 2008 for reviewing purposes but it’ll be hard to top pardus 2008.

[14] Pardus 2008

After my review of do-it-yourself-Arch, I wanted to test a distro with a totally different philosophy, one that aims to give you a complete desktop system from the start. The problem was, I didn’t want to test Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Mandriva, Mint…those are too well known.

[...]

There’s no doubt that Pardus 2008 is one of the better Linux distributions out there. In the week I tested it I found not much wrong with the way it works, apart from an annoying tendency to forget some settings. It’s been reliable, stable, and relatively speedy. However, there is some work to be done before it can compete with the likes of Ubuntu, like providing an even more polished look, especially when it comes to the integration of GTK applications. It also needs better and more up-to-date documentation. Pardus is a very ambitious project, and so far, it doesn’t quite attain its goals just yet. I have no doubt however that it’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, it’s a viable alternative for anyone who isn’t satisfied with the offerings of the big-name distributions.

[15] Pardus 2008 : A testdrive

Pardus surprised me. Today it is listed as nr 49 on Distrowatch, but it deserves a place near or in the top-ten. It is a distro that has everything to become a major newcomer-friendly distro. It is a distro that I will use/propose (along with PCLinuxOS ) when converting Windows Users to Linux, and the Dutch version is also very good (kudos to the Dutch translation team).

[16] Pardus 2008 RC2

I love finding fault when reviewing products, services and software, so
consider this my standing ovation to Pardus for being nigh on faultless.
They’ve got a top notch operating system on their hands and I’m willing to
say this might be one of the best releases of 2008.

[17] Real answers to the question “Can you run your business on Linux and open source?”

He continued, “For the client OS migration, we are experiencing a large scale project for the Turkish Military now. 5.500 clients will migrate to Pardus (a Turkish government-backed Linux distribution.)”

[18] Battle of the Beasts: Wolvix vs. Pardus

Final Score:
Pardus = 7
Wolvix = 3
*Winner, Pardus!

Conclusion:
Pardus won by quite a large margin mainly because in my own opinion it is more polished and complete than Wolvix. However, I can’t fully assume that Wolvix is the ultimately loser in this battle since my judgment was solely based on the results of my tests and on my hardware alone. To be really fair, I need other people’s opinion. So, to those who have also tried these two distros, feel free to give us your thoughts.

[19] There’s Something About Pardus

I’ve tried so many distros already and only few have left a lasting impression on me. Pardus Linux is now one of the very few. I just love almost every vital part of it. The system installer, the package manager, and the control center among others are all wonderfully crafted. I can tell that the developers took their time to really buff up this distro. I’m sorry to say though that Pardus is still pretty much underrated, because many distros are far more popular but are not as good as Pardus. Anyway, I’m so glad that I’ve tried Pardus, and I would highly recommend it to just about anyone who is still searching for a fully featured, easy-to-use, and quality Linux distro.

Pardus 2007.X

[20] Review: Pardus Linux 2007.2

Really, overall, I like Pardus a lot. I honestly have to admit that I was impressed. While it’s certainly not to the level of PcLinuxOS, it most definitely can hold its own against the major players in the Linux market. If you’re new to Linux, or a more seasoned user, you will definitely want to check it out. Right now I can’t give Pardus my official recommendation due to a few flaws mentioned above, the biggest being the package manager. However, if those few flaws are rectified, I don’t see why Pardus wouldn’t find its way onto my recommended distributions list. It really was one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had lately in all my testing. And I’ve definitely tested several different distributions lately, some of which were so bad, the only right thing to do was to burn the cd. 0_0;;        

So reviewing Pardus was a breath of fresh air. I look forward to the next version of Pardus in hopes that it will have ironed out these last couple of problems so that I can, with a good conscience, add it to my recommended distributions list.  

[21] Turkey’s Pardus distro is easy to use

Overall, Pardus lives up to the goals and statements made by its developers. It is indeed easy to install and even easier to use. Pardus is an accommodating and customizable desktop system suitable for new and experienced users alike.  

[22] Pardus Linux 2007.3 Duyuruldu

Pardus Linux version 2007.3 is now released.

[23] Pardus 2007.2 — new cat in town

Pardus is one of those distributions that has something unique and intriguing. Caracal is nice, easy, and it works.

[24] Pardus Linux 2007.2 Review.

Pardus Linux  is funded by the Turkish government. With the support from the government, I hope that Linux and open source software  would  be given  more emphasis by the newly elected Turkey  government.

[25] Pardus Linux 2007.2 Review

The last time I tried Pardus (around 6 months ago) there were frequent freezes, and I mean a lot; to such an extent that it did not allow me to do anything usefull to it. But I can see the effect of consistent hard work from pardus developors. Pardus is far from being complete but it is on the right track, may be one year from now, it will be shine amongst rest of distros.    

[26] Pardus 2007.2 – A Review

I hope that with the recent release, Pardus will continue to climb the ranks and get closer to the top where it deserves to be. For those looking for a great out-of-the-box KDE-based distribution, I highly recommend giving Pardus a shot, you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, as I have a few distributions lined up to review, I will be replacing Pardus with something new tomorrow! For those that can advocate further, regarding their use with Pardus, please post comments so other readers can see what you have experienced.      

[27] Pardus 2007.2 – Unrivalled Wlan Support.

I  managed  to get  these  5 wifi cards  connected  to my  Linksys router  via  the  WPA-PSK encryption protocol out-of-the-box  with the help of the network manager. The connectivity was  excellent.  Despite  still  using  the softmac stack  instead of  the  devicescape  stack, Pardus Kurulan  2007.2 (installation CD)  managed to conquer  all of these  notebook-based wlan cards.    

[28] Review: Pardus Linux 2007 Kurulan RC2
 

I’ve suddenly become an advocate for Pardus Linux. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing with this “Kurulan” RC2 release and actually find it as capable as some of the much bigger players that I tend to toy with. It may not have the biggest English community of all the distros but I hope that situation changes because this is actually an excellent release.  

[29] Review: Pardus Linux 2007.1
 

Pardus is a relatively unknown release funded and developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

[30] Pardus 2007.1 — Almost Perfect

Pardus is a unique distribution which has its own solutions which work very well. I think that the distribution deserves far greater renown than it has currently and if it keeps up such innovation and quality, it’ll be an important player in the category of extensive desktop distributions.

[31] Review: PCLinuxOS 2007 Test 3

I look forward to seeing how this distribution, like SimplyMEPIS, continues to improve and bring a friendly and comprehensive configuration system to Linux. New Linux users would do well to check out either of these distributions. However if you’re using a recent model Nvidia card, I have to recommend SimplyMEPIS over PCLinuxOS for its out of the box Nvidia driver support.

[32] Review: Pardus Linux 2007

I have not used this Pardus system for my production system. Only a few days I have used this system. I can see a lot of innovation are going on in this project. It is my dare saying that Pardus is worth to watch for further innovation in Desktop Linux.

[33] Pardus 2007.1: Warmly Recommended by Béranger pardus

Pardus 2007.1 deserves much more attention than PCLinuxOS 2007 or Kubuntu.

[34] A Second Look At Pardus 2007.1 RC: Surprises, Surprises

My first look at Pardus 2007.1 Release Candidate was somehow pessimistic, however I was confident in the future.

[35] A First Look at Pardus 2007.1 Release Candidate

As announced yesterday, an unexpected RC of the upcoming spring release 2007.1 of Pardus Linux was made available to the public.

[...]

Türkçesi, this is not a Release Candidate, this is more like an Alpha release. Or, judging by Mandriva’s quality standards, a Beta

[36] Pardus Linux 2007.1 Felis chaus: Released!

KDE 3.5.6, a faster PiSi, better networking for wireless users… release announcement and Distrowatch brief.

[37] Pardus gives Linux a custom lift

Apart from a KDE desktop and applications, the developers of the Pardus 2007 Linux distribution have built an entire distribution from scratch. Pardus, released last month, has its own multilingual installer, custom dependency-resolving package manager, and an INIT system that slashes boot times by several seconds. The distribution has come a long way since its first release in 2005, when it was based on Gentoo and lacked a package manager. Thanks to its custom tools, it’s one of the easiest Linux distribution to run and manage.

[...]

If you’ve been using a Linux distribution for some time, getting used to Pardus wouldn’t take long, despite all its custom tools. New users will appreciate the ease in carrying out out system tasks such as setting up firewalls and managing startup services. With its modest hardware requirements and streamlined boot scripts, Pardus could easily turn an old machine gathering dust into a modern Linux desktop.

[38] Pardus Linux 2007

Having seen dozens of Linux distributions announcing themselves with great enthusiasm only to disappear at the sight of a first problem a few months later, I am not easily impressed by any new arrival on the Linux distro scene. As such, when the first stable release of Pardus Linux was announced in 2005, I found myself inserting the installation CD with a considerable amount of scepticism.

[39] Pardus — a penguin from Turkey

ardus is a Turkish distribution that comes with KDE as the default desktop. It is however not just another pack of known open source apps.

[40] A Look at Pardus 2007.3 Lynx

Overall, I had a very positive experience with Pardus, considering I didn’t know what to expect going into it. I was very pleasantly surprised. It really has some innovative features and I like the approach a lot. I really like the fact that it’s backed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council Of Turkey–perhaps this guaranteed support enables the developers to be bolder in their approach, I don’t know. Either way, it’s great to see a national body supporting the development of open source software like this and I wish more nations would follow suit. It could really be beneficial to us all.      

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