Contact: Dr.
Walter James FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel;: 968 25446365
GSM:
968 96064166
Email: wljames@unizwa.edu.om
FROM
NIZWA UNIVERSITY – LINUX FUTURES!
(A
seminar given on Linux Futures at Nizwa College of
Applied Sciences)
On the 28th January, a talk on “Linux
Futures” was given by the University of Nizwa's recently appointed e-learning Director, Dr. Walter James. At the invitation Dr. Bechir Gattoufi of the Ministry of Higher Education's College of Applied Sciences in Nizwa, Dr. James gave his talk to an audience of Computer
Science teachers as part of their “2008 Linux Training Workshop”. Dr. James had been invited to share his
considerable experience of using and teaching with the Linux operating system
during seven years as head of IT at the nearby Nizwa College of Technology. He was given a
warm welcome.
His talk covered topics including strategic
issues and advice on getting started on replacing parts of a Windows based
structure with Linux. A strategy was
given for a step by step move towards including the proven reliability of Linux applications within a college's administration
systems. Recommendations were made for
the use of “Samba” as a totally reliable replacement for the various Windows
file-servers and for the use of the “Squid” Internet proxy server and its
attendant firewalls as a cost effective way of replacing their Windows
alternatives. Other cost benefits were
described. A particular example given
was the Ministry of Health's adoption of “Open Office” as an alternative to
“Microsoft Office™ “ with huge savings in licence fees.
Various demonstrations were given of Linux's latest capabilities. These included the running of host systems
under “Qemu”, the open source virtual machine, and
the powerful Linux feature of using iso images of
“live Cds/DVDs” both as software repositories and as
mountable file directories.
The talk ended with a section on web
applications running under Linux. A
demonstration was given here of the University of Nizwa's prototype of a computerised timetabling system. This was shown to flexibly create on demand and in response to chosen
criteria, a comprehensive set of coherent, non-clashing timetables for the
students, staff and rooms in anything from a small department to a large
college. The meeting was particularly
interested in the system's ability to provide detailed analysis information and
for its ability to make almost a 100% utilisation of rooms.
Dr. James ended by congratulating the
computing staff of the College of Applied Science on the wisdom they had shown
in moving towards a Linux future, and especially for their wise choice of the proven and
stable Red-Hat Fedora Core 8 version of Linux. For the university, a useful bi-lateral relationship has been
established for the exchange of ideas and cooperation in the future.
