Posted on 04/20/2006 9:00:14 AM PDT by ShadowAce
The past few weeks have revealed much about the great paradox that is China. It is a nation that wants a capitalist lifestyle with centralised totalitarian rule. The past weeks have also revealed a lot about the Western World's biggest IT companies, Namely, they'll do just about anything to crack the giant fortune cookie market. Some will give away their software, others will allow their search results to be censored and others may even be prepared to help the Chinese Government track down its dissidents. The more principled ones among us may say: "IT companies beware of the Chinese trap." I say: "China, remember your 19th Century history. IT capitalism is a far more powerful drug for an emerging technology nation than Opium."
The meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates may have seemed to some a polite symbolic gesture on the part of China to show that it is serious about adopting Western standards of intellectual property and proprietary ownership. However, coupled with the $1.2 billion sweetheart deal that Microsoft just announced with China’s number one PC maker Lenovo, the intent of the leader of the IT capitalists is crystal clear: lock in.
Microsoft, which has around 90% of the global PC operating system and office productivity software market, has achieved its remarkable stranglehold through a process called lock-in. Those of us, which is most of us, who have had the Windows operating system on our desktops for more than a decade, know all about lock-in.
We Windows users know all about the files we have created in Microsoft Office over the years, not to mention the numerous other applications that have been developed for Windows by software companies such as Adobe, Macromedia, and smaller independent software vendors. We know how we have come to depend upon those applications and the data attached to them.
Our dependence has never become more apparent than when we discovered that there is a whole world of innovative and most excellent software that is freely available and collectively labelled under the banner of open source. Much of this software, such as Open Office.org, an excellent free replacement for the overpriced Microsoft Office, will run on both Windows and the alternative operating system Linux. Likewise, the increasingly popular Firefox internet browser, which is superior in both functionality and performance to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, will run on both operating systems.
However, there are many applications that will run only on Windows. While there are usually equivalent and even superior applications that will run on Linux, they are not easily interchangeable. This is what we mean by lock in. The longer you use the drug called Windows, the more you become addicted and locked in. The harder it becomes to make the break and move to a free and open environment where applications don’t cost an arm and a leg.
China is a nation with a unique opportunity. Yes there are a plethora of PCs on the market with pirated versions of Windows. Despite what anyone may say, it is a sure bet that Microsoft is happy about that. It’s the initial hit of free Opium. Eventually, as China is forced to tighten its regulatory requirements on PCs being sold into the market – it’s already happening with the no naked PCs rule – users will be forced to pay for their Windows operating system. In the meantime, they will be busily locking themselves into the plethora of Windows specific applications. The more they get locked in, the higher the price will be.
China make note. Windows is a drug that much of the world is trying to wean itself off. Look to the EU. Look to Brazil. Look to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the US. There is an alternative called Linux, which includes all of the applications you need to do business, and it costs a fraction of the price. You may want to buy an Xbox 360 if you want to play games however.
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.plannedparenthood.com
Well, now that Planned Parenthood has apparently switched to Linux, are you going to now rail against Linux like you always railed against Microsoft?
LOL... for all of GE's pontificating, you'd think he would see the parallels between communism and M$ monopolistic business practices.
Then why do they provide products and support other operating systems, like Office for Mac and paid support for Linux now?
Aw, I'm mostly kidding, you know. Most of the servers I support for a living are Micro$oft. After a couple of support calls I'm convinced the Chinese aren't really taking over and turning us all into their slaves. The Indians are.
I have on many threads that have nothing to do with software condemed China and the abhorrent policy. I am consistant where as youre more concerend with Linux than the unborn..
I don't hardly recall EVER seeing you condem china, and we talk about it all day every day. And if you cared about not only the lives of the unborn, but the rights of those already living, like me you'd never stop condeming them, because there are few if any regimes as cruel on earth.
But instead we find you fighting me, every step of the way.
Probably because you spend 99.999% of your time on tech threads starting flame wars..
and we talk about it all day every day
No I post articles about OSS and participate in tech threads, you try to bring China into it when its really not a related issue.
And if you cared about not only the lives of the unborn, but the rights of those already living, like me you'd never stop condeming them, because there are few if any regimes as cruel on earth.
You don't seem to get it, do you? The refusal by others to link two things, in this case politics and software licenses, does not indicate a support for either...
They obviuosly are tied together, as evidenced in the title of this thread.
If you can't handle political discussion, I suggest you leave this political site.
So I can fully expect to go back to the olympic threads and see you warning people about the chineese? how about the college football threads warning people about Cal-State and their leftist professors?
This site covers various topics both political and a-political if you cant deal with that maybe you should stay off of threads in the 'General/Chat' area and stay in the News/Activism section..
I don't use office software enough to justify paying $100+ dollars for it. Not only that, I never have found a need for all of those slick features in MS Office.
From what I hear, a lot of users are the same as me. I just need something to write a letter or do a spreadsheet occasionally. OO works great for that.
From one of your favorite foreign sources this morning. No wonder you love these guys, always ripping on the US.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/20/szulik_oracle_jboss/
"The US automotive industry is a good case study, in comparison to the state of the domestic US software industry," Szulik wrote.
I am. That's why I don't support them with my money. Why do you?
You post more from foreign sources than any of the people you rail against. Heck, you can almost quote word for word from Stallman.com.
Projection is a bitch, huh?
Here you are on this thread, which is all about ripping Americans as evil capitalists, and you like always on the free software side.
Look at your own profile page, an outright tribute to leftists. Stallman (who licenses 80 percent of open source) is a leftist you boast, the DNC loves Linux you like to remind everyone, Red Hat let's those lovely Chinese rename it to Red Flag, all for free, of course, on and on.
But do you ever speak out against these things? Nope, instead you and Shadow spend all your time pushing them on us, with commie propoganda just like this.
No, he doesn't
Oh, my mistake, it may only be around 75%. 80% was what antiRepublican said he thought it was. Take it up with him if you doubt his figure.
No it isn't.
80% was what antiRepublican said he thought it was.
No, he didn't.
Again--comprehension isn't really your strong point, is it?
I seem to remember you flaming others for posting links to foreign news sources.
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