Copyright
(c) 2008 Khamis Siksek.

Permission
is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of
the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
Documentation License".

JoLUG Business
Plan

Executive
Summary

JoLUG (Jordan Linux User Group)
has mainly one mission, to distribute the knowledge about GNU/Linux
around Jordan, by any possible mean, such as training, installation
festival, educating and/or advocating.

GNU/Linux is part of a bigger
movement called the Free Software (a.k.a as Open Source), which is in
short to have the source code of any software with the software
itself and gives the user the right to copy, redistribute, use and
modify that source code.

FLOSS (Free Libra Open Source
Software) as a philosophy and as a strategic decision is adopted by
many individuals, companies, enterprises, and governments, for
example Google, Yahoo, Facebook are from the big names on the
Internet who are using FLOSS in over 70% of their websites, Oracle
has created the “Unbreakable Linux”, where the customer gets
Oracle database and Java on top of GNU/Linux, NSA (National Security
Agency) has created the SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) which they
challenged people from around the world to break the system, and
finally NASA. used FLOSS in their latest trip to march. Countries and
some USA states are adopting FLOSS in their governments and schools
such as Germany, North Korea, Brazil and California State from USA.

JoLUG ambition is to have Jordan
Free (as in freedom) from the technology dependency on others and
become a producer instead of consumer or just an assembly line.
Adopting FLOSS in Jordan gives it the following advantages:

1. 
   Information Technology Freedom.

   
   

2. 
   Flexibility, with the existence
   of source code and software developers anything can be done with
   minimum cost.

3. 
   Security, GNU/Linux is Unix-Like
   operating system, which is famous for its security, and with the
   source code availability highly qualified software engineers and
   developers can audit the software to ensure that it is free from
   anything that could harm the businesses and leak confidential
   information.

   
   

4. 
   Reliability, GNU/Linux is
   server-based, that means it was built to be placed on servers, with
   that design in mind, the software designers, engineers and
   developers took care of every detail to ensure 100% reliability and
   dependability.

   
   

5. 
   All of that for free (free of
   charge).

   
   

JoLUG helps into distributing the
knowledge, and helps whoever wants to help into distributing the
FLOSS, around the country, with expertise that cannot be valued
freely.

Our
Vision

Its
not to make Jordan propitiatory software free, as a matter of fact
and being practical this cannot happen, companies and institutes
might need to buy software that doesn't have a good replacement for
it on FLOSS, but at least to minimize the dependency on such type of
software to make it 5% instead of 95% will be healthy for the economy
and for the country's direction towards being an IT reference in the
Middle East. Mainly we want to free as much as possible all the
sectors (public, private, etc ...) from the closed software, open the
market for more competition and help the growth of the country and
people.

Market
Analysis

Jordan,
is a 3^rd
world country that is suffering from poverty and lack of natural
resources, yet is rich with talented young people who are eager to
hit the market and be productive. Jordan is rich with minds that are
eager to learn, if directed properly, and those are the future
makers.

Despite
the fact that Jordan is facing many economical difficulties and
debts, still all the money is wasted on importing almost everything
in the country, which makes it a consuming country from the first
class, and increases the burden on the government and therefore on
the people.

Jordan
is trying to become one of the IT references in the Middle East, but
what the government is missing here is that being an assembly line or
a re-distributer of others products and software, doesn't generate
money for the country, since the big cut of the cost goes to the
product's owner, while the assembler, customizer, or redistributer
gets a very small piece of the cake.

After
entering the WTO and applying the rules of intellectual property,
Jordan has spent during the last years millions of JDs buying
propitiatory software, such as Oracle DB, Microsoft products
(Windows, Office, Exchange, ISA server, etc ...), SunOS and many
others, all of these softwares are needed and are great, but Jordan
with all the debts it has, is just increasing the burden and
depending on AIDS from different 1^st
world countries, while Jordan doesn't need the aid of anyone, just
the belief in its people.

FLOSS
is the solution for Jordan, as it was the solution for Brazil, North
Korea and the European Union, FLOSS software offers Jordan the chance
of becoming a producer and a money generator through its people by
adopting FLOSS.

Advantages
of adopting FLOSS from economical point of view:

1. Minimum
   TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), with FLOSS the initial cost of
   getting the software equals zero,
   and if setup correctly the servers can run flawlessly for years.

2. Training
   and producing FLOSS experts and exporting expertise to different
   Middle East countries which also lacks experts in this area.

   
   

3. Local
   support from the previously trained people.

   
   

4. No
   vendor Lock-in, any institution, company or organization, is not
   locked to one vendor or support company, FLOSS opens the doors for
   competing on delivering the best service whether in support,
   customization and/or modification.

   
   

5. One
   thing is removed from the import list (consuming) and added to the
   export list (producing). and to keep the country's money inside it (
   at least in that part ), which will help into using that money for
   other sectors like energy and electricity.

   
   

6. Using
   FLOSS, means that Jordan will not have to update, change or remove
   software packages because the vendor just said that.

   
   

7. Using
   Closed software or propitiatory software means that if the vendor is
   out of market or for any reason stopped supporting the software that
   it used to provide, institutes and companies will have a disaster
   that all that spent money is now worthless and now they need to look
   for something else, while with FLOSS, the software continues to live
   as long as the community needs it, whether the community is local or
   international, it will stay.

8. Exposure
   to others work and experiences not only the interface of the
   software, but the code that built that software increases the
   knowledge of our IT students and helps into making them real
   software developers not only software users.

   
   

9. Helps
   into making the PC available to any person, by eliminating the price
   of software, which is now might go over the price of hardware
   itself.

   
   

10. Simplest
    thing, being exposed to FLOSS, gives you a good winning card to use
    against any vendor to show it that you have other options.

    
    

Market
in Jordan is thriving for a solution that doesn't add more debts on
it, that increases the competition and increases the potentiality of
making Jordan the number one country in the Middle East who offers
the best yet the cheapest software solutions, Jordan is still young
in the IT international market and can make a strong impact by
adopting the FLOSS on the national level.

Competition
Analysis

FLOSS
doesn't compete with anyone except us, we are the real competitors
against adopting FLOSS software, for different reasons:

1. Ignorance
   of the fact that there are other solutions.

   
   

2. Being
   used to one thing and being conservatives and not wanting to change.

   
   

3. FUD,
   Fear Uncertainty and Doubt, makes most decision makers unable to
   take the decision to adopt FLOSS.

   
   

4. The
   opposite propaganda, that is made by propitiatory software campaign
   that makes us more attached to that software and ignoring its flaws,
   bugs and issues.

   
   

5. The
   false massages that is send from propitiatory software companies,
   that FLOSS is made by armatures and is not suitable for real life
   business.

   
   

6. Students
   are attached to what they learn in the universities, which makes the
   impact of professors and teachers crucial into helping students
   understand FLOSS

7. Strategic
   relationship that his majesty King Abdullah made with Microsoft
   makes the ability for FLOSS software to penetrate the market very
   minimum.

   
   

8. The
   confusion made on the word FREE, which makes people think that FREE
   means free of charge, which is partially correct, while FREE was
   meant to be free as in freedom,
   which included the free of charge in its way.

   
   

9. The
   confusion that the word FREE introduced that made people think that
   they cannot generate money from it, since they cannot sell the
   software, while on the contrary, FLOSS has generated lots of money
   for different companies, by providing support, creating services for
   that software, or creating software packages on top of FLOSS.

   
   

10. FLOSS,
    since it is based on the community, doesn't have marketing and sales
    department to show its advantages and hide its disadvantages, as
    propitiatory software companies does, they market the Graphical User
    Interface and hide the security issues that makes it vulnerable for
    viruses and crackers. FLOSS is marketed by the community to help the
    community, so as much FLOSS adoption happen as much the FLOSS will
    be adopted.

    
    

Strategy

Since
JoLUG can only help JPO and cannot work under its umbrella, we can
help in the following:

1. Preparing
   Flayer that is given with every machine.

   
   

2. Preparing
   a user manual in Arabic to help the new users.

   
   

3. Being
   referenced as a volunteer community, not the official support center
   for JPO, who can help any of those users in their problems.

   
   

4. Train
   some JPO staff on Linux and FLOSS.

   
   

5. Prepare
   a Linux laboratory for the JPO to use and learn on it.

6. CAN
   WE DO MORE

   
   

JoLUG
will need in return for its services, the following:

1. To
   take 50% of the Flayers to distribute it to its own channels

   
   

2. To
   take 50% of the prepared user manuals

   
   

3. The
   training session(s) to be sponsored by JPO but not dedicated to JPO
   staff, which means any of the JoLUG members are welcomed to attend
   the training.

   
   

4. For
   the prepared laboratory, JPO has to sponsor two installation
   festivals with at least 500 JDs worth each, which is going to be
   beneficial for JPO themselves since some of the people who bought
   their machines will attend such an event.

5. CAN
   WE GET MORE

   
   

All
expertise from the JoLUG, which worths thousands of Jordanian Dinars,
is going to be offered for free for JPO to get the previously
mentioned points, otherwise, JPO has to pay consultation and training
services for individuals from the JoLUG or any other place they want.

The
Management

JoLUG
is led by a group of core people, who will
change from time to another, due to its voluntarily architecture,
nevertheless there will be always someone to contact, for now the
group contains some of the finest people such as:

1. Abdullah
   Alhalabi: who is the owner of hosting company in the USA, with an
   experience in FLOSS of over 12 years [ MORE INFO ]

2. Kifah
   Issa: The CEO of freesoft solution, a leading company that started
   in 2004 to provide support and consultancy to companies and
   institutions that wants or already uses FLOSS, with an experience in
   FLOSS of over 10 years [ MORE INFO ]

   
   

3. Mousa
   Nassar: Certified RedHat Engineer and Trainer, works with ITU
   (Internet Technology University), with a FLOSS experience that is
   over 4 years [ MORE INFO ]

   
   

4. Ali
   Al-Shemmari: The chief editor for Linux for Arabs, a magazine that
   have a monthly issue in Arabic language about Linux, with a FLOSS
   experience over [ MORE INFO ]

   
   

5. Jad
   Madi: Not an IT person, studied Law, with a FLOSS experience over [
   MORE INFO ]

   
   

6. Khamis
   Siksek: Organization and Methodologies Manager in Mecca.com, with
   FLOSS experience over 8 years.

   
   

7. Ala'a
   Tawalbeh: [ INFO: what do you work and your experience]

8. Nasim
   Tamimi: A fresh graduate from Hashimate University [ MORE INFO ]

   
   

The
management team as it appears from previously stated names and
expertise, spans different sections, levels of expertise, IT
specialists, non IT people, enthusiasm and wisdom, all have one goal,
which is to help the country in general and the people in specific to
adopt FLOSS.

Financials
and Sponsors

We
are a non-profit group, so we will never benefit anyone financially
in a direct way, though companies and institutes can benefit by
making Ads and presence in JoLUG events and booths.

Being
a volunteer group of people, there is no direct cost on any one
sponsors the group, no salaries or social security needed to be paid
on behalf of the group members, though sponsors are welcome to spend
money on helping us in many different ways such as:

1. Printing
   brochures and Flayers.

   
   

2. Copying
   CDs of FLOSS software or Linux distribution.

3. Giving
   us a place to meet, organize technical sessions, give training
   courses, perform installation festivals or just to socialize.

   
   

4. Buying,
   loaning or renting hardware for different JoLUG activities.

   
   

5. Acquiring
   a booth for JoLUG in national or International IT events such as
   MITS and GITEX.

   
   

6. PLEASE
   ADD MORE IF ANY

   
   

The
sponsor will get in returns:

1. A
   presence for it in every Linux event by putting an Ad.

2. A
   point of sale for the sponsor to market its products and services.

   
   

3. Being
   mentioned, acknowledged, and referenced by the JoLUG group and given
   the priority over other competitors who provides the same service.

   
   

4. A
   link and/or Logo on every printed brochure or Flayer.

   
   

5. A
   link and/or Logo on the Jolug website.

   
   

6. PLEASE
   ADD MORE IF ANY