Sharif Linux 2 Released
From FarsiWeb
Sharif Linux 2, the first public version of the Iranian operating system Sharif Linux, is now released. Sharif Linux is a bilingual Persian/English operating system which has been developed for the local requirements of Iran, specially the Persian language. It is one of the results of the research made by the FarsiWeb Project and Sharif FarsiWeb Inc. since early 1999.
The following properties of Sharif Linux 2 are notable:
- Support for security and bugfix updates for the first time in Iran, which makes Sharif Linux usable in operational environments.
- Localized Persian user interface for all the major components of the operating system while keeping the English user interface completely functional, including the GNOME desktop environment, the OpenOffice.org office suite, the Firefox web browser, and the installation program.
- Ability for playing several multimedia file types out of the box, without any need for installing additional software
- Availability of the source code from Sharif FarsiWeb, Inc.
Sharif Linux's release and introduction ceremony was held on Sunday, May 28, 2006. in Sharif University of Technology, which was attended by more than 350 people, including managers and experts from public organizations and private companies, university professors, students, developers, IT journalists, and enthusiasts.
The ceremony was opened by Dr Yahya Tabesh, Director of Computing Center, Sharif University of Technology. Dr Tabesh introduced Sharif FarsiWeb, Inc. as a successful company founded in the Computing Center and achieving a notable growth. He was followed by Roozbeh Pournader, CTO of Sharif FarsiWeb, who introduced the FarsiWeb Project, the company Sharif FarsiWeb, and finally the new public product Sharif Linux 2, also displaying screenshots.
The ceremony closed by FarsiWeb representatives, Yahya Tabesh (Chairman), Elnaz Sabar (CEO), and Roozbeh Pournader (CTO), thanking two important supporters of FarsiWeb, Dr Saeed Sohrabpour (Chancellor of Sharif University of Technology), and Dr Mohammad Sepehry Rad (former Secretary of the High Council of Informatics of Iran). Sharif FarsiWeb also announced that it will donate 5% of its annual profits to Sharif University of Technology.
The FarsiWeb Project was started in Computing Center, Sharif University of Technology in early 1999 and has been supported by Sharif University of Technology, Science and Arts Foundation, and the High Council of Informatics of Iran. The FarsiWeb project has been successful in advancing the level of support for the Persian language and other languages of Iran in the Internet and in computer software. The most important achievements of the FarsiWeb Project include representing Iran in the Unicode Consortium, creating The Persian Digital Library, authoring the Iranian national standard for information interchange, developing standard Persian fonts, internationalization and localization of free software (also known as open source), founding the Persian Wikipedia, and finally several contributions to Sharif Linux.
Sharif FarsiWeb, Inc. is a privately held company established in 2003 to continue the activities of the FarsiWeb Project. The main fields of activity of the company are language technology and free software (also known as open source). Its major customers include Shell Development Iran.
