[Am-info] Foreign governments seek alternative to Windows

[Gene Gaines]

In the previous eras of aggressive monopolists, the country
could be held back, but its impaired ability to compete did
not cause the country to lose significantly to foreign
competition.

Now, in the era of globalization, the bullying and juvenile
actions of Microsoft are beginning to cause our nation great
harm, in my view.  The US lead in computers is being lost.
We are starting down the slippery slope of marginalization.

See article below.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia


NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: CURRID & COMPANY'S TECHNOLOGY 
EXECUTIVE
09/15/03

Today's focus:  Governments seek alternative to Windows

By Linda Musthaler

For all the people who have long complained that Microsoft 
operates a monopoly when it comes to operating systems, there is 
news that just might cause a ripple in the Windows world. At the 
recent Asian Economic Summit, a trio of countries - Japan, China 
and South Korea - announced plans to develop an "inexpensive and 
trustworthy open source operating system" that would be based on 
a system such as Linux.

Ostensibly, the three countries are collaborating on the effort 
in order to move away from proprietary Windows-based operating 
systems and more toward a portable open sourceoperating 
systemthat could work on networked digital gadgets such as 
mobile phones and PDAs. Backed by large players in the consumer 
electronics industry, including Sony, NEC and Matsushita 
Electric Industrial, the countries are worried about Microsoft 
having too much control over the PC and electronics industries 
with its pervasive Windows-based products.

Japan's trade minister has also raised concerns over security 
flaws in Microsoft's products. The recent spate of high-profile 
and fast acting virus attacks give credence to this concern.

Cynics contend that Japan may be trying to get even with the 
U.S. and Microsoft after the U.S. pressured Japan into 
abandoning a project in the late 1980s that posed a 
technological threat to Microsoft's proprietary software 
business. Ironically, Microsoft is now crying foul over the 
current developments saying that "market forces" and not 
governments should determine what operating systems computer 
users choose.

To counter the open source movement among these and other 
Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) countries, Microsoft has 
invited them to participate in the company's Government Security 
Program. This program gives national governments and 
international organizations access to Microsoft's source code, 
as well as technical advice on security.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, this may be like putting the finger 
in the dike during a flood. While it tries to get China, Japan 
and South Korea back into the Microsoft fold, the government of 
Thailand has created great demand for Linux-based PCs. Calling 
them "the People's PCs," the Thai government hopes to deliver up 
to a million PCs to its citizens by the end of 2004. Sporting 
Intel Celeron processors and 20G byte hard drives, the basic PCs 
run Linux and sell for about $260.

Thailand's move is more economic than technological. The 
developing country is aiming to get more of its citizens online 
as inexpensively as possible. The free open source software is 
just the ticket.

In response, Microsoft drastically lowered its prices for both 
Windows and Office software in Thailand. Even so, the People's 
PC still sells for about $40 less than a comparably equipped 
Windows-based PC.

Brazil is the latest country to launch an open source movement. 
To save money, the federal government is recommending that all 
federal ministries, agencies and state enterprises install open 
source software instead of proprietary software such as Windows 
in new computers. The goal is to ensure that at least 80% of new 
computers purchased by the government next year are configured 
with open source software such as Linux. While this is a 
recommendation and not fully binding, it doesn't bode well for 
Microsoft.

Tom Robertson, Microsoft's Tokyo-based director for government 
affairs in Asia, is quoted as saying, "We'd like to see the 
market decide who the winners are in the software industry. 
Governments should not be in the position to decide who the 
winners are." Sorry Mr. Robertson, but in the case of the 
Japan-China-South Korea collaboration as well as in Thailand and 
Brazil, it looks like the national government IS part of the 
market.

Hardware and software prices plummeted about 10 years ago when 
market forces dictated that customers would no longer pay $5,000 
for a PC and $595 for a word processing package. Looks like new 
market forces may be at work now, thrusting Linux or other open 
source software into the limelight.
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