Eid Greeting to all!

Here's wishing everyone a very happy Eid Mubarak!

Funscrape.Com | More Eid Mubarak Comments

May this joyous occassion bring for all happiness and prosperity!

Blogging Problems

Do you guys face a problem when trying to publish a blog? It takes a few days to get an article published sometimes and others its on the spot. The only way to check if the blog is not erased / lost is to go the Dashboard area and look for it in the edit section. How do you fix this problem?

It is increasingly becoming difficult to get a house for rent in Muscat. In all the major news papers you will find more people looking for house, than the people looking for a job. Is this house hunt going to end at any point in time? Is there a workable solution for the same?

There has been a trend seen in charging an exorbitant amount as house rent, in addition to that one may have to pay 1 year / 6 months / 3 months advance. House owners even go up to taking post dated cheques for several months.

It makes me wonder if the situation is going to worsen…Is there an issue to shortage of houses? Its so unlikely, a long walk in the evening would make you realize, there are good many number of houses however very less takers, due to the challenges involved in taking a house for rent. When I think aloud “very less takers” may mean that there are houses that are bigger than you want and smaller than you wish…

Are people able to manage? Well, some may feel, yes – people are able to manage, and others may say otherwise. Whatever may be the thought, its going to be clearer day by day……

Ramadhan Greetings to all!

It's almost time again when we enter into the blessed month of Ramadhan...

In Melbourne, Ramadhan starts from 1-sep-08 (Monday) and should finish by the 30th of sep...(runs over the course of September)...I'm not sure about timings for Muscat, but estinates point to a start from either the 1st or 2nd of september...

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Ramadhan Kareem...with a prayer that May the blessed month bring for all peace, tranquility and happiness... And May the Almighty accept out endeavours to gain his blessings and mercy. (Ameen)

Excerpts from Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System

A recent trend in some of the private companies in Oman is “Communities of Practice”. Below are the excerpts regarding the same. Dr. Etienne Wenger is a globally recognized thought leader in the field of learning theory and its application to business.

You are an engineer working on two projects within your business unit. These are demanding projects and you give them your best. You respect your teammates and are accountable to your project managers. But when you face a problem that stretches your knowledge, you turn to people like Jake, Sylvia, and Robert. Even though they work on their own projects in other business units, they are your real colleagues. You all go back many years. They understand the issues you face and will explore new ideas with you. And even Julie, who now works for one of your suppliers, is only a phone call away. These are the people with whom you can discuss the latest developments in the field and troubleshoot each other's most difficult design challenges. If only you had more time for these kinds of interactions.

We all recognize knowledge as a key source of competitive advantage in the business world, but we still have little understanding of how to create and leverage it in practice. Traditional knowledge management approaches attempt to capture existing knowledge within formal systems, such as databases. Yet systematically addressing the kind of dynamic "knowing" that makes a difference in practice requires the participation of people who are fully engaged in the process of creating, refining, communicating, and using knowledge.

Even when people work for large organizations, they learn through their participation in more specific communities made up of people with whom they interact on a regular basis. These "communities of practice" are mostly informal and distinct from organizational units.

Defining Communities of Practice:
Communities of practice are everywhere. We all belong to a number of them—at work, at school, at home, in our hobbies. Some have a name, some don't. We are core members of some and we belong to others more peripherally. You may be a member of a band, or you may just come to rehearsals to hang around with the group. You may have just joined a community and are still trying to find your place in it or you may be a leader of a group in your company or college. Whatever form our participation takes, most of us are familiar with the experience of belonging to a community of practice.

Members of a community are informally bound by what they do together—from engaging in lunchtime discussions to solving difficult problems—and by what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities. A community of practice is thus different from a community of interest or a geographical community, neither of which implies a shared practice. A community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:
What it is about – its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members
How it functions – the relationships of mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity
What capability it has produced - the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time.

Communities of practice develop around things that matter to people. As a result, their practices reflect the members' own understanding of what is important. Obviously, outside constraints or directives can influence this understanding, but even then, members develop practices that are their own response to these external influences. Even when a community's actions conform to an external mandate, it is the community—not the mandate—that produces the practice. In this sense, communities of practice are fundamentally self-organizing systems.

Day 1 @ Oman Community Blog

Dear All,

My Name is Vipin Kumar. This is my first day in Oman Community Blog and am very exited to be a part of the community...!!!

Its been a little over 2 months I am in Muscat, however I feel as if I share a strong bonding with the soil....I am sure there are many people who share the same feeling about the city and the country.

I have done my graduation in Computer Science and Electronics. I started my career in MphasiS BPO, as a trainee customer service executive. MphasiS has an exceptional character as a company and I gained a lot in my 3 years tenure, grew as Unit Manager within 2 years, expanded my horizons into services sector, learnt to lead teams into achieving goals, motivating them, the number game of the industry.

The opportunity knocked and I moved into consulting as a HR Manager, worked in Zygon, Focus Management Consultants at various positions. Interacted with clients like IBM, Accenture, SAIC, EDS, Genpact, Professional Access, Zensar, GE.

With my specialization in recruitment, I am here to test my skills and add value to my company and the country (I would be very happy if I can accomplish this).

Photography being my passion, Oman is the best suited place for me, as close to my heart as my home country...

Thank you all...

Sultanate of Oman to embrace the Idol franchise

In few months time Radio Sultanate of Oman and Al Sawadi Beach Resort will lunch its first singing talent show ‘Oman Idol’ as part of Idol franchise such as American Idol and Super Star, for residence of Sultanate of Oman only. The Shabiba wrote an article about it.

Sheikh Saud Bahwan Passes Away

Al Mawaali, over at the Be in Oman Blog broke the story late yesterday.

The Arabic papers were sold out by the time I got to sultan center this morning, but the Times of Oman ( Here and Here) and the Tribune both had lovely eulogies, Far better than anything I could write here. In particular, the papers highlighted Sk Saud's many charitable endeavours. I think you all would agree, that he was a man of extrordinary generosity and business acumen.

According to the papers, Prayers will be performed at the Abu Bakr Mosque, Wattayah. His body will be carried to Al Amerat graveyard and condolences will be accepted at the mosque. In mourning, all the offices, divisions and branches of Saud Bahwan Group shall remain closed from August 20, and shall resume operations on Sunday August 24.

I counted 36 full pages of advertisements from various businesses in the English papers alone. I assume that these are being run instead of the regular adverts, and possibly at a discount. The rates for a full page b/w advert in Al Wattan are roughly 1,200 rials per day before any discount. Assuming a 40% discount, with six newspapers carrying 72 full pages of advertising , That's Maybe 51,000 Rials for Today's edition of the papers. I would expect just as many adverts in tomorow's edition . Call me a cynic, but I can't help wondering if the advertisement divisions of the newspapers high five one another every time someone important dies.

It seems to me that a better way to honor a man and family who gave so much to philanthropic endeavours would be to pull the advertisements for the day and instead donate, quietly, the amount that would have been spent on the advertisemsnts to one of the charities Sheikh Saud established. 100,000 rials in two days would improve the lives of countless disabled children, Diabetes patients, and the less fortunate famalies among us.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon--we belong to Allah and to Him do we return.

One Step Forward : Omantel

Another step towards the right direction from Omantel...according to this article in the Times of Oman, Omantel is revamping the tariff scale for local calls and lowering IDD rates...

Bloggers gathering - August 2008

We had yet another small gathering this evening at D'arcy's Kitchen in MQ. This gathering was unique, though, because we had an honor guest; our fellow blogger MMK080 from Qatar. He was in Oman during the weekend for his first time in the Sultanate, and on his last day in Oman we thought of having a small gathering. It was indeed nice having him between us, and it was an honor meeting him in real life. Hope that he liked his stay in Oman and enjoyed the special Omani hospotality. :-)

Anyways, the gathering was all organized quickly and just via e-mail in the last couple of days, when MMK080 announced last Tuesday that he will be in Oman for the weekend. I quickly e-mailed the bloggers I thought would be interested in meeting up, and they all responded. Everyone came except Muscati who was really looking forward to coming but couldn't make it since he was in Dubai, as he explained to us from the beginning. The bloggers who attended the gathering are: Al-Maawali, Kishor, Blue-Chi, MMK080 from Qatar, our great chief Del_Yahi from the Omani Cuisine, Conceptoo from Oman3D and of course, myself.

And guess what? Blue-Chi and Conceptoo, the founders of Oman3D, gave away some free t-shirts in the gathering carrying Oman3D's logo. So it wasn't only a nice gathering, but we got free t-shirts as well! :-p ..

Again we hope that MMK080 had enjoyed his time in the Sultanate. :-) Wishing to see him again in the future.

UAE Visa for non-GCC Nationals

Is it true that from August the 1st onwards the UAE visit visa for non-GCC nationals is going to cost 50 rials instead of 10 rials only?

We're planning on going to Dubai for a short trip by car sometime in mid-August. Even though we're Oman residents (not citizens) and traveling to Dubai by car, we need a UAE visa which is issued just at the UAE borders and cost 10 rials per person. But I've been hearing from different people that they're raising the fees to 50 rials, does anyone have any idea about this?

If it's true, then I think we're canceling our plans. Because we'd end up paying over 200 rials just for visas for a 4 ~ 5 days visit! Ridiculous.

Happy Renaissance Day

Happy 38th Renaissance Day :-)

Times of Oman is back online

Finally, after being slugged with warning messages on both Google and FireFox 3 for a number of weeks, Times of Oman is back Online...

There is no noticeable change in the content/layout of the website though...it still looks like a website made by a 12-year old in 2 hours (!)

Two-wheeler Schumis

These teenage kids zip around the roads between Wadi Kabir, Ruwi and Muttrah areas in the evenings, and cause a great bit of inconvenience to car drivers. Most of the time, they trespass into the highway and cause a flutter by their helter-skelter riding skills. Not content with highway, they often stay into pavement next to the highway. Call it adrenaline rush or teen passion, they are surely putting their lives at risk. Where are the ROP guys?

Sleepless in Muscat, RIP

I received the sad news late this evening of the passing of Ali Mehdi, known to most of you as Sleepless in Muscat. Ali was without a doubt, Oman's most prolific blogger. He was also an aspiring poet who self-published two books of poetry, and a frequent columnist in The Week and online on the Times of Oman website. He posted frequently on Oman Forum as well. As a blogger, he contributed to a dazzling number of blogs in addition to his own many blogs. He was also the founder of the Oman Community Blog.

Ali's last post on his blog was on May 3rd. It was a poem called Passion's Death.. He fell ill shortly after and was admitted to hospital into Intensive Care where he remained till his passing earlier today. He was 29.

Deepest condolences to his family; our prayers are with them in this difficult time.

Tier three, again

For the second year running, Oman has earned a place amongst the fabulous glitterati of Tier three on the US Dept of State Human Trafficking report. The only entities surprised by this are the ministry in charge of fixing it, and perhaps the courts. The media coverage and press release from the Ministry of Foreign affairs was so shocking, that if I were in charge I would haul up the Minister and departmental heads of the ROP and Courts and demand an explanation.

You can read the report here. One can and should question if the US is a good country to be evaluating the human rights of other nations (Git-mo Abu Gharib, etc...) but the observations in the report are a totally accurate analysis of the current Human rights situation in Oman.

I, personally, am ashamed and embarrassed, because I thought Oman was actually going to DO SOMETHING about human trafficking, instead of throwing a few conferences, issuing a decree which was never enforced and distributing a printed leaflet to illiterate labourers. How hard would it be to actually run an aggressive sting programme to bust companies and individuals who deny their employees their basic human rights? Follow that up with some aggressive prosecutions, some crippling fines, and jail time for the CEO's and sponsors convicted of sexual trafficking, Physical abuse, Non payment of Wages, and withholding Passports. Then publish their pictures in the paper. Front page. Next, set up a small shelter for Victims of human rights violations, as well as local victims of marital violence.

Congratulations one and all. This is certainly a proud moment for our glorious nation.

Show ?! Training ?

I mistakenly come across this video on YouTube this morning. I'm not sure if it's real or it was just a show but for sure it was in SQU's campus. If it's for real then it's scary... and if it's just a show or whatever, then I don't understand why the shotguns and in a university campus?

OmanTel announces new ADSL packages

So the pricing for the new ADSL packages are now announced and can be checked on OmanTel's official website. [Link]

As Muscati pointed out in my previous post, the 8 Mbps turned out to be close to 100 OR. 99 OR actually. It's crazy, even after considering the unlimited free downloads you get with that package. Nobody on his right mind will pay 99 OR on an Internet connection for personal usage.

The other four packages starting from 512 Kbps, 1 Mbps, 4 Mbps are reasonably priced I guess. You can check the packages in details [here].

And yeah.. according to the press release, your 384 Kb/s ADSL connection should automatically upgrade to 512 Kb/s with no charges.

So, what do you think of the pricing ?

Yet another interview with HM by a Kuwaiti newspaper...

(ONA)

The same Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Al Jar Allah, editor-in-chief of Al Siyasa Kuwaiti newspaper, who interviewed His Majesty the Sultan two years ago, interviewed HM again on Saturday April the 26th, 2008.

It's a quite interesting interview. The highlights of the interview can be checked on Times of Oman newspaper by clicking here. And for Arabic readers, they can check the whole interview in details (Q&A) on the Kuwaiti newspaper: Al-Siyasa [Link].

I wonder why we don't have Omani journalists interviewing His Majesty as often? Or as a friend of mine said, maybe it is because we don't have such capable journalists in Oman?

OmanTel's 8 Mbps ADSL

Does anyone have any idea about the new 8 Mbps and 16 Mbps ADSL packages OmanTel is offering?

The ad above was posted by someone on Sablat Oman (omania2.net), but unfortunately when I checked OmanTel's website it has nothing mentioned about these offers.

Any idea? information? recent news from OmanTel?

(YET) Another Inflation Record Smashed...(but is that all that is to the story?)

Just when some are beginning to think it cant get much worse, in an article published by ITP's ArabianBusiness (click HERE to go to the article in full), inflation in Oman is racking up record upon record ever since the US Dollar started it's fateful slide for the worse...since then, the Omani Rial has lost close to 20% of it's value against some currencies (as I compared here), prices for food and other essential commodites have shot up through the roof (possibly more than just a roof this year)...

According to the article, "Inflation in Oman rose for a ninth month to 11.11% in February, the highest in at least 18 years"...

further adding that "Food, beverage and tobacco costs, which account for almost a third of the consumer price index, surged 19.6% in February, the Ministry of National Economy said on its website on Sunday. Food costs had jumped 17% in January"

And the response was just the usual rhetoric the Omani public has been hearing all along..."There is no quick fix," Omani Economy Minister Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki told newswire Reuters on Sunday."We took measures of reducing imports and we also requested wholesalers to reduce prices. Inflation will take its natural course in 2008."

Oman's CPI is now at 120 points, up from 108 from the same point in time a year back. This is reportedly the highest level since 1990.

The final piece of data given is: "Inflation in Oman, which hit 10.12% in January, had risen by an average of 1% in the last 10 years.

Rents rose 14.1% in February, down slightly from 14.3% in January,"

The article then goes into the defensive statements we've been hearing all along...there is an implicit message again that Oman does not intend to depeg or revalue the ailing Rial anytime soon...

What is surprising is the fact that the article mentions a Central Bank official as saying that Oman needs to slow down economic expansion...I dont see how that can be done without raising interest rates and reducing the money supply and liquidity in the market...

That said, I have a few thoughts of my own to add...I dont think Oman is alone in facing rapidly inflating food prices...Prices for food items have been rapidly increasing all around...I've noticed food items in Australia going up as well (Australia faces inflationary pressures as well and annual inflation is at around 3-4% despite measures by RBS including relentless interest rate rises, but some food items like Indian rice have shot up by as much as 20% over a period of months).

prices for food items (such as rice, wheat and perhaps all essential grains) have been rising sharply all over the world since the last year or so...prices are expected to stabilise a bit this year (since Australia is coming out from drought and expects to produce a healthy wheat crop this year) but to what extent they stabilise remains to be seen.

Damn, now what am I going to do with that Free Tibet banner?

I was interested to read in yesterday's Times of Oman about the plans for today's Olympic torch relay. The media and the various ministries seem quite excited about it all, though I am slightly disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown by most of my friends and associates.

That's not what this post is about though. I laughed out loud when I read the following :

Oman announced yesterday that the nation is all geared up to host the most peaceful leg of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay tomorrow. The claim came from Oman Olympic Committee vice-chairman Habib bin Abdulnabi Macki, who addressed a large press gathering at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

“Our security is tight and anyone trying to put a hurdle will be severely dealt with,” said Habib Macki. “The Royal Oman Police is ready to handle any such situations.”

Did you catch the pun? Hurdle! get it? Hurdle?

After I stopped laughing, I spent another twenty or thirty minutes marveling at his poor choice of words regarding how protesters will be treated. I can't believe that nobody prepped him for the question, or if they did that that was the quote he was supposed to give. That is textbook bad Public and Press Relations.

With the eyes of the world on us today, the OOC would have been well advised to trot out a someone more seasoned to deal with the media, or to have prepared statements that didn't quite present the plan for crowd control so bluntly.

That said, I think it's a real mark of distinction that Oman was chosen to host a leg of the relay. For those of you who want to attend, the relay starts off from the Dhow at the Al Bustan R/A at about 17:00 and continue along the coast through old muttrah, and up through the darsait heights area, then Past the refinery I think and down into Qurum. The relay is scheduled to finish amongst great fanfare and fireworks at around 20:30 tonight, in the floating theatre in Qurum park.

Be there or be square Hip Cats.

A slightly more Caustic version of this is Cross posted on my Blog, Other Oman

Where did the traffic go?

According to an article published by Times of Oman, passenger traffic at Muscat International Airport saw a sharp decline towards the end of Feb-08 compared to the same period last year...

According to the article, "traffic fell by 23.9 per cent to 617,791 at the end of February 2008 against 812,600 passengers during the corresponding period in 2007,

The number of arriving passengers fell by 20.8 per cent...

The number of departing passengers via Muscat International Airport fell by 24.1 per cent "

Click here to read the full text.

The reasons cited by the article include withdrawal of Gulf Air and some airlines ceasing service to MCT.

Muscat Hils, Golf Country Club!!

So the projects name is changed but why the hell is called in Arabic Muscat Hills instead of beng called 'Tilal Muscat' we are in Oman and names should be in Arabic....... westren names are not for us... this is really pissing me off

Another rant about inflation (or controlling the juggernaut)...and my own observations

Another one added to the tally of a bajillion articles on inflation and what the government is doing to combat it was published in the Times of Oman recently...Click here to read it (it's a bit long).

Apparently the import of fish has been allowed, which will somehow drive down inflation. (It should drive down prices of fish and seafood, provided the imports are comparable in price to local produce. That aside, it should also calm the markets by balancing out supply/demand to an extent).

In my observation over the last year or so, I have noticed that inflation in Oman is not necessarily due to supply/demand...it is due to excessive liquidity in the market. This is due to the GCC states (except Kuwait) having to shadow US Monetary policy...while the US Federal reserve has cut interest rates form 5.25% to 3% from september onwards trying to ward of recession, the GCC countries are riding on a growth spurt fuelled by oil prices smashing new records everyday. This is practically a case of two economies moving in opposite directions but following the same policies.

This disparity in economic policies has driven up inflation in several ways...on one hand it creates a situation where a rapidly expanding economy meets excessive liquidity, excess money supply and low interest rates...when these combine together, it can drive up inflation very quickly...

Secondly, due to the OMR being pegged with the USD (at 1 USD = 0.385 OMR) and Oman shadowing the US economic policies, the value of the OMR has been dragged down to record lows against the major currencies...I'll cite a few examples:

Currency, Value in OMR 15-Dec 2006 , Value in OMR at 6-Mar-2008, % change from 2006 value

AUD OMR 0.300 OMR 0.360 (up 20%)
CAD OMR 0.332 OMR 0.390 (up 17.4%) [1]
EUR OMR 0.504 OMR 0.584 (up 15.8%)
GBP OMR 0.752 OMR 0.770 (up 2.4%)
JPY* 306.04 268.53 (up 14%) [2]
SGD OMR 0.250 OMR 0.277 (up 10.8%)
NZD OMR 0.266 OMR 0.307 (up 15.4%) [3]
CHF OMR 0.315 OMR 0.373 (up 18.41%)

[1] Canadian dollar attained parity with the USD in early November 2007, peaking at OMR 0.410
[2] The rate against JPY is expressed as OMR 1 to JPY/. Other currencies are 1 unit of foreign currency to OMR
[3] NZD value was reduced by some amount after intervention by RBNZ


(All rates sourced from HERE)

As it is clearly visible, the OMR has lost significantly to all major currencies except the UK Sterling. This means that all imports (be it shoes from European brands, your favourite meats from AUS/NZ, and the Cars from Toyota APAC which is based in Australia and manufactures most of the Camry units for the GCC region) have become significantly more expensive.

A an example,If you were paying OMR 3 per kilo for a A$10/kilo meat from Australia, you'll simply have to pay OMR 3.6 per kilo for the same product...

Not only has this depreciation of the OMR hurt the consumer in Oman, it has also reduced the attractiveness of the GCC region to expatriates, particularly from South Asia. On top of the spiralling cost of living, leaving less money with people to remit back home ( a large chunk of south asians do that), the depreciating currency creates further hindrance. As another example, 1 OMR was equal to almost 120 INR (Indian rupees) in dec 2006...and the current value stands at 1 OMR equaling almost 102 INR. This change of 17% in currency rates, coupled with the rapidly growing economies in South Asia (particularly India) where salaries are on an upward trend, will make it all the more difficult to attract talented people from the region. (The sporadic protests by construction workers over wages is another indication).

Looking at the data, isn't it getting obvious that if not detachment from the USD, a revaluation of the OMR makes sense? It will make imports cheaper and reduce the "imported inflation" in food items...As such, there is nothing stopping the Central bank from revaluing later should the USD appreciate again...but for the short-term, another US interest rate cut of 75 basis points (0.75%) from 3% to 2.25% is expected soon... will definitely pinch the USD even more...

Good news: Darsait roundabout will be a signalised junction soon

MUSCAT -- Muscat Municipality is embarking on another phase of improvements to the city's road network, aimed at easing traffic flows, eliminating bottlenecks, and strengthening sections of the network that were damaged during last June's unusual weather conditions. The latest initiatives are targeted at improving the road network in Darsait, Qurum, Ghala and Seeb, among other areas of Muscat Governorate. In the biggest of these projects, Muscat Municipality will undertake a series of upgrades to the road network in the Darsait area at a total cost of around RO 2.9 million.

The improvements will help address perennial peak-hour congestion at the Bait Al Falaj (Darsait) roundabout, as well as streamline traffic flows into the surrounding residential neighbourhoods. Besides converting the Bait al Falaj (Darsait) roundabout into a signalised junction, Muscat Municipality is also constructing a new link road connecting the Qurum-Darsait carriageway to the Darsait road network. Consequently, vehicles bound for Darsait will no longer have to approach the soon-to-be signalised Darsait junction, but can instead use the new link road to directly gain access into Darsait.

The link road will start from near the popular picnic area adjoining the southbound section of the carriageway, and will feed into the Darsait road network. Additionally, a new service road will be constructed from the small roundabout at the entrance to Muscat Municipality in Darsait, and will lead up towards Pakistan School Muscat. The new road will help feed traffic into the Ruwi Church/Darsait Temple area, thereby easing the flow along the Darsait road. The Al Burj roundabout near Ruwi Church will also be converted into a signalised junction as part of the road improvements in the area.

Well-known construction firm Consolidated Contractors Company Oman (CCC) will undertake the road improvements at Darsait on behalf of Muscat Municipality on a 'Design and Construct' basis. Parsons have been named as design consultants in the project. CCC will also undertake repairs to a small section of Sultan Qaboos Street at Qurum that was swept away in flooding during the unusual weather conditions last June. The contractor will use micropiling to stabilise the slopes on either side of the carriageway that suffered a breach in the flooding, and was temporarily repaired soon thereafter.

Internet Subscribers in Oman grows...but what about the level of service?

This is my first post in the blog in a long long while...now that I'm back in Melbourne, I'm reading Times of Oman more keenly and that sorta keeps me updated...here goes...

In an article published by Times of Oman (Click on the header of the post to get to the original...I wont copy-paste anything but figures), it said that the subscriber base for internet services in Oman is now just over 100,000 (102,657 to be precise)...which is still only a small fraction of our neighbours (i.e. UAE)....

However, what nobody has pointed out yet is the level of service from OmanTel...which has been less than stellar in recent (or even before recent) times...the speed on the ADSL is redundant at 384 kbps, which hardly fits the definition for "broadband" anymore...the charges are pretty high as well at OMR 12 line rent + OMR 1 per GB....

Connection drop-outs, slow response times, and sometimes the ADSL line behaving slower than dial-up is not unusual..

If anyone from OmanTel reads the blog, get this stuffed into the heads of your technical department: We need more speed AND more reliability.

(The original article is here)

Oman Air Rebranded

Just like many others, I was not impressed with Oman Air's new brand identity, I did not understand what it meant at first, and I genuinely thought that all of their teasers that ran on the newspapers for the past week or so were made by the new Al Ahli Bank.

Oman Air, or whoever did the branding for them, clearly misunderstood what the problem is, there was nothing wrong with khanjar concept or with the choice of colours, why didn't they work with they had and remastered them instead of doing something totally random. Do they really think that using gold and silver will make them 'look' luxurious? And why in heaven's name didn't they change that ugly font?!

The brand is of course not only about the logo, but it is the image of the company within the consumers mind which is created by the quality of the service, the PR, and everything the company does. Changing the logo is the first step in telling all the consumers that Oman Air is changing, that is no longer that cheap-ass-service-company with old and dirty airplanes. But did this logo tell me anything such as that? I don't really know, I can' relate to it, I don't understand it, and I think that it looks ugly. I was discussing this with a friend earlier today, and he said that he really thinks that this logo suits Oman Air, it is a horrible logo for a horrible company.

A great number of Omani companies and institutions do not understand the importance of having a brand and the impact color and typography could have on consumers perception of their service. While new Omani companies such as Omran, Nawras, Oman Oil, and Bank Muscat, seem to know how to make the most effective use of the power of branding, the same cannot be said about Oman Mobile, OmanTel or Bank Sohar, and surely not Oman Air.

Muscat University ?

I'm sure that some of you heard before about the project of Muscat University, probably two years back or so. Wasn't it just a union of some private colleges in Muscat like the Modern College of Science and Business, Muscat College and some other colleges? Since we heard of that union, did anybody hear of the project being canceled or the colleges not agreeing on the union? All I know that the last statement from the Ministry of Higher Education showed that the ministry was aiming for that project to be done and unify those private colleges together. Though, I have never heard that the project was canceled a long time ago, till today.

Apparently, the private colleges didn't come to an agreement. So the Ministry of Higher Education just canceled the project and took back the license of the university. And according to this article on Al-Shabiba newspaper, the Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry is willing to establish the Muscat University with a capital of 20 million Omani Rials. The project is still being studied and will most probably be announced during this year, 2008. The university will not have any of the private colleges in Muscat in it. It will be a new separated university with different majors (still not announced).

Surprisingly, the end of the article says that the Council of Higher Education has withdrawn the license of establishing Muscat University which was just a unity of some of the private colleges in Muscat, and the project was canceled because the colleges did not come to an agreement. That was surprising because we never got to know about that before. But it's not something strange anyways. A lot of things happening in the country are not reported hence we don't get to know about them...

Why did the colleges fail to come to an agreement after all this time? Did not His Majesty provide 17 million Omani Rials last July to support this project? Where did the 17 million Omani Rials go if the project is canceled? A lot of questions arose after reading that tiny bit information on Al-Shabiba newspaper which was mentioned in the very end of the article.

Identify the logos

Can you identify the following logos?