Arabic-L:GEN:ITISALAT closing down

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 03 Jan 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:ITISALAT closing down

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1)
Date: 03 Jan 2007
From:paul roochnik <proochnikllc at yahoo.com>
Subject:ITISALAT closing down

Dear Friends,

Ahlan wa-sahlan, kull `am wa-antum b'khayr.

Some of you old-timers may remember ITISALAT... "IT  IS  Arabic  
LAnguage  And  Technology"... the first internet forum on Arabic  
computing, begun in the early 1990s.

I have made a momentous decision: The time has come to bid "ITISALAT"  
a fond but final farewell.  Yes, I have unplugged the power cord,  
removed the feeding tube, unhitched the respirator.  Ma'a salama, ya  
ITISALAT.  Many of you probably thought ITISALAT had disappeared at  
the turn of the millennium.  No, IT was just dormant... the long  
sleep.  Now comes the longest sleep, the permanent one: Arabic cyber- 
historians in the future will mark the official death of ITISALAT as  
the first day of winter 2006.

ITISALAT started with a bang in 1993 and made its mark in the Arabic  
computing community.  It served a real purpose for the first 5 years  
of its life, disseminating information about Arabic computing and  
software, and fostering cooperation and collaboration in the field.

By the end of the 1990s, most of the problems associated with Arabic  
computing were already being handled by the big guys -- Microsoft et  
al.  Competing code pages vanished in favor of the MS Windows Arabic  
code page; right-to-left issues were resolved, etc. etc.  The traffic  
on ITISALAT slowed to a trickle.  Sometimes, months would go by  
without a single message or exchange.

I feel a certain sadness that I am no longer part of that pioneering  
adventure.  In the 1980s, Arabic computing was so new, so  
problematic, and such fun!  Now we just do Arabic on the computer  
with nary a thought, nary a worry.

In any case, we have an even better outlet for discussion of Arabic  
computing issues on Arabic-L, Dil Parkinson's forum associated with  
the American Association of Teachers of Arabic.  The conversation  
continues and it is in the best of hands.

So may the Good Lord grant ITISALAT that eternal rest that it has  
earned, out of the cybersphere, up into digital heaven.  Amen.

Cheers,
Abu Sammy

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End of Arabic-L:  03 Jan 2007