GNU/Linux Rising to 8% of Desktops/Laptops in Jordan?
This is what statCounter shows today:
MORE than 2 decades ago, and prior to the war in Iraq, Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller wrote about "Advocating GNU/Linux and Open Source in Amman, Jordan".
He said, "before departing the U.S. for Amman on December 12 I was already in contact with several Linux users there who were in the process of organizing a local LUG (Linux User Group) and hoped to meet informally during the workshop and plan future LUG activities."
Over the years we had some people from Jordan in our IRC channels. ‘Roblimo’ and I were a bit like online friends until he died some years ago.
‘Roblimo’ said: "I knew that, if nothing else, IBM, through its local sales partner, UBM, has been pushing Linux and Open Source as heavily in Jordan as everywhere else. Indeed, IBM used the OSS Workshop to announce the opening of a new Linux lab — under their corporate sponsorship — at the University of Jordan. So even if the top ranks in Jordan’s industry and government were not yet Linux and Open Source-aware, the academic computing and hands-on techie crowds in Amman were already as fascinated with Open Source as their counterparts in the rest of the world. [...] And the Microsoft representatives put out the same FUD in Jordan we’ve heard in every other country where Microsoft is worrying about the growing popularity of Linux and Open Source."
Microsoft operates though local proxies inside Jordan. We used to keep track of this stuff in the 'pre-Android' era.
Jordan will hopefully fulfil its vision as a powerhouse for Free software in Arabic. That would impact nearby countries too. █
