Article from AMEInfo.com (English)

"Its importance to the Middle East region was confirmed at the IBM-hosted seminar series that finished in Dubai today, after visiting Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, where large, enthusiastic audiences discussed issues around adopting open source software, and customising for local application in Arabic."

In this article IBM makes the typical arguments for Linux. Last year they announced Arabic language support:


"The difficulty in Arabising Linux lies in part in the nature of Arabic script, where characters are joined, and can shape depending on position. An example of the programming challenge is the Layout Engine, the main library. It handles ordering and shaping of Arabic text, both with respect to the location of each character in its segment of text, as well as the location of each segment of text in relation to surrounding segments, which may contain characters other than the Arabic characters (e.g. Latin characters, numerals and neutral characters)."

Support for Arabic character can be obtained here (904K ZIP file).

IBM had also said in a June article that Linux is unstoppable in the Middle East:

"Since IBM hosted the region's first Linux Symposium in Bahrain this time last year, its growth in the region has been impressive. Linux user groups have appeared in Middle East countries, contributing to the development of Arabic support in Linux, which IBM helped jump-start with the development of key software modules at its 200 person Cairo-based software development centre."

- Willy Smith, reporting from Costa Rica