Rapid Internet Growth In Iran

securitas writes "The BBC's Abbas Azimi reports on the rapid growth of the Internet and Internet cafes in Iran, apparently with the tacit approval of the government. Seven million Iranians have Internet access, or 10% of the population - double the rate two years ago. Access costs 60 cents/hour. The article describes how the Internet is used for everything from VoIP phone calls to chat and Web logs. Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life.' All of this despite the ban on many sites, which is easily circumvented by Iran's webmasters and geeks. An interesting point is that most of the PCs used in Iran are assembled from smuggled parts and run pirated versions of all the latest software (due to foreign embargo?). It sounds like a great opportunity for open source software."

First post

[Anonymous Coward]

And praise Allah for it.

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[Anonymous Coward]

Because. Like all good Christians, we must convert them.

Wooo...

[Anonymous Coward]

PCs used in Iran are assembled from smuggled parts and run pirated versions of all the latest software

Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Windows is now open source

[Anonymous Coward]

So yea, its a great opportunity for them!

Linux in Iran and SCO

[vinit79]

If every one in Iran started using linux, SCO could stage a come back by suing all Iranians in the Islamic court in Iran

Rapid growth?

[dtio]

If you google for "internet iran" you'll get pretty much the opposite impresion [google.com].

Re:Love in Iran!!

[segment]

" Meeting girls is easy this way," said Amir

"Hi Amir my name is hot4u [infiltrated.net], and I am so hot. Please get back to me.

Glad I'm not living there...

[Deraj DeZine]

Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life.'

Here's a little bit I copied from his site:

22-02-2004: meetings is teh sux0rs

HEY, sup all??? jus got back from a informasional meating on how were totally kicking the liberals's @$$ in teh polls this year [sbs.com.au]!!!!1 those losers are such morons! to bad the voter turnout was bad! Dude u guys need 2 go out and vote so i can be your leader next year wouldnt that be gr8???
All so, there was this totally hot reporter there who kept talking 2 me asking questions and $h!t. She was totaly n 2 me and i was gonna get her # but those loser body guards said i had to go to another meeting. gawd, what pr!cks!!!
anyway, i gotta go sighn sum papers, ttyl.

(Glad he's not one of the leaders of my country)

Re:Linux in Iran and SCO

[sanx]

McBribe would never go for it. If he lost the law-suit he'd end up without hands...

Re:linuxiran.org

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer this bit from the site:

We, at linuxiran.org! are happy that with your help Iran's first site dedicated to GNU/Linux and FLOSS, praise be to Allah for seeing fit to allow the creation of the holy Linux kernel. We wish you to grant strength to Muhammed Abduli-Stahlman in his continuing sacred Jihad against immoral proprietary software.

A fun idea

[Papa Legba]

Let's call the BSA and the RIAA on them. Let's see how well these two orginizations do with their sudo draconian tactics in a draconian state. Should be pretty fun to watch I figure.

Re:Linux in Iran and SCO

[cujo_1111]

I reckon he would be dead long before he won or lost...

You don't really want to piss off heaps of disenchanted, fanatical and angry people.

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, they'd still probably blame it on bush.

online dating

[Anonymous Coward]

Another popular site is an online dating agency set up by a young ayatollah.

Unforunately all the ads read like this:

swf. black head scarf. inexperienced at dating. enjoys long walks in the desert. i do not sing. please no public stoning.

only on /.

[Anonymous Coward]

do we call it caffine "input" rather than "intake" !

Heh. Do they speak English in Iran, now?

[*coughs loudly*]

Yeah, given OSS's robust and pervasive support for right-to-left, Arabic script languages, it'll be a cinch to get a foothold in Iran.

Re:Linux in Iran and SCO

[bursch-X]

You don't really want to piss off heaps of disenchanted, fanatical and angry people.

But McBribe had done exactly that by attacking the Linux crowd. ;-)

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[ogre57]

If the president were found banging a dead 14-year-old hooker in the Vatican ..

You left out the group that would blame it all on Clinton. Also, understand Ballmer normally handles that part of the business now. :))

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[line.at.infinity]

Yeah, but first she'll have to figure out what to do with her "dead" condition...

YIKES

[boomgopher]

For a second, I thought the story blurb read:

"The BBC's Abdul Alhazred reports..."



Come'on, you know it's funny. For the uninitiated among us: Abdul Alhazred [wikipedia.org]

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[Xoro]

The Arabs cheer you!

But the PERSIANS of Iran probably think you're a pompous git.

Marketing in Foreign Online Dating

[duck_prime]

swf. black head scarf. inexperienced at dating. enjoys long walks in the desert. i do not sing. please no public stoning.

You see some pretty funny stuff in the Russian dating service sites. "Single White-Russian Female, Christian, hobbies include sewing and quiet submission to husband. No Chechens." I think there's some ... exaggeration going on.