[Ecommerce] Tech daily on support for open source

[Manon Ress]

Technology Daily
International Roundup: September 3, 2003
by William New

SNIP

Japan, Malaysia Restate 'Open Source' Support

The governments of Japan and Malaysia separately have restated their 
support for the use and development of "open source" software, which 
allows users to view and modify the underlying code, CNET reports.

The Japanese government issued a report in August stating that 
unnecessary fears about using Linux, the most popular open-source 
software, in Japanese products could mean "a huge loss of opportunities 
for the software industry" and that a lack of government access to it 
"could hurt the lives of the people." Japan also is working with China 
and South Korea to develop new software that is not dependent on 
products made by Microsoft.

A top Malaysian official touted open-source software as a tool for 
boosting developing countries' economies that should be encouraged by 
the government.