[fsug-calicut] ZDNet UK News: China's WTO entry boosts Linux
- From: ajith@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: fsug-calicut@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 04:11:44 GMT
This ZDNET UK News story has been forwarded to you by ajith@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
They have added these comments:
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China's WTO entry boosts Linux
The Linux operating system is gaining ground in China at the expense of
Microsoft's Windows, according to a new report from Gartner Dataquest. A
recent contract awarded by the Chinese government, which favoured Chinese
software vendors over Microsoft, shows that even with China's entry into
the World Trade Organisation multinationals will still find it difficult
to gain entry into China's potentially vast market.
The Beijing city government last month awarded contracts to several
vendors to supply software for PCs acquired without copyrighted software.
The move is part of China's renewed drive to use legal software on all
PCs -- instead of the traditional practice of relying on low-cost pirated
software. This drive might be expected to give Microsoft a better
foothold in China, since black-market versions of its products already
dominate the market, but the awards all went to China-based firms. These
included Red Flag Linux, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The award shows that even while moving toward legitimate software, China
prefers to support local firms and to find the lowest-cost option,
according to Gartner.
"Gartner believes that Microsoft's failure to win this particular bid is
indicative of the challenges that multinational companies face when doing
business in China -- issues such as unique deal negotiation processes,
and the criticality of building ongoing relationships with key parties,
such as the Chinese government," said analyst Louisa Liu in a statement.
GNU/Linux, usually known simply as Linux, is based on an "open source"
development model, which means that any improvements to the software are
made freely available to other developers. The open source model allows
Chinese organisations to develop their own distributions of the operating
system without requiring ties to foreign firms. Linux is seen as the only
credible competitor to Microsoft's Windows monopoly, because of its solid
design, its wide use in the Web server market and its low cost.
But low cost, stability and government support alone will not necessarily
make Linux a success in China, Gartner says. The same issues that have
kept the operating system from becoming a mass-market desktop platform in
the West also apply in China, including the availability of
mission-critical applications, support and training capabilities. "For
mission-critical functions, Linux still needs to catch up, and Chinese
enterprises should ensure that applications running on Linux can meet
their business requirements," Liu stated.
In the shorter term, Gartner recommends that Chinese firms lobby for
greater discounts from Microsoft in return for switching to legitimate
software.
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