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All of Vietnam's Government Computers To Use Linux, By Fiat
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Jan 07, 2009 03:52 PM
from the power-to-the-people dept.
from the power-to-the-people dept.
christian.einfeldt writes "The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications has issued an administrative ruling increasing the use of Free Open Source Software products at state agencies, increasing the software's use both in the back office and on the desktop. According to the new rule, 100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009. The regulation also sets benchmarks for training and proficiency in the software. Vietnam has a population of 86 million, 4 million larger than that of Germany, and is one of the world's fastest-growing economies."
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Fiat? (Score:5, Funny)
Man, I don't know.. they make some pretty crappy cars, I'm not sure I'd trust them to make a decent operating system distribution.
Re:They should move to OSX instead (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, someone actually typed all of that.
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Re:They should move to OSX instead (Score:5, Funny)
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Next up! (Score:5, Funny)
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer take a S.E. Asian vacation...
Chairs (Score:5, Funny)
You cannot scare Vietnam with office furniture.
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Next week article. (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft offers a new deal to Vietnam. Vietnam goes with Windows for 5 more years.
I may be skeptical. Using the Linux card is a great way to get a better deal from Microsoft. The bigger you yell the better the deal.
Re:Next week article. (Score:5, Insightful)
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reasons for moving to Open Source .. (Score:5, Informative)
Among the reasons cited [silicon.com] were:
to reduce commercial software license fees,
freedom from foreign-owned technology,
greater security,
curbing the number of infections from Windows-based viruses and
to gain technological leadership on platforms relatively free of dominance by large multinational corporations
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Re:reasons for moving to Open Source .. (Score:5, Funny)
So all Microsoft needs to do to get the deal...
Lower License Costs.
Hire Vietnam Workers to work in Vietnam
Disable Active X
Use Vista with Norton.
Give them some stock options
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Re:Next week article. (Score:5, Informative)
There is a large upfront cost of switching.
In 3rd world people are saving by switching, since Linux can be customized to run on less resources. E.g. Linux Terminal Server is much much resource savvy compared to Windows Terminal Server.
And a lot of people will not be happy that they can't do X like they did before.
I'm pretty sure that Vietnam has its own ISVs. And the move - is the huge investment into ISV sector. For government it's a huge win too: more taxes.
And if they need support on some feature you can't intimate a US Open Source Developer by saying you are from the government.
Do not be silly. US != World. Local ISVs can do it and there are lots of Linux consultancies around of world. Asia is not that backward as many CNN/FoxNews watchers might think.
This is huge chance for local business to cash in - in long term. If gov't is serious, I'm sure they wouldn't let the chance to slip.
At least with Microsoft and you are a big customer they will bend over backwards to help you.
That's big lie. They will "bend over backward" if you have enough money to pay them for that. Otherwise you are on your own.
M$ can and does something on their own - but they rarely listen to feedback. Generally, in M$ ecosystem, burden of backward compatibility is on integrators and ISVs. My friend worked for such company in past implementing features (normally using ActiveX) from new M$ products for older M$ products (and vise versa) as well as smoothing integration with 3rd party software. Imagine: huge business built around solving problems created entirely by M$ development strategy.
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!all (Score:5, Interesting)
All of Vietnam's Government Computers To Use Linux
According to the new rule, 100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009.
FTA:
by June 30, 2009, 100% of servers of IT divisions of government agencies must be installed with open source software;
I really doubt all of the Vietnam government's computers are servers. Also, Open Source does not neccisarily mean Linux. (not that BSD is a bad alternative)
Not necessarily good (Score:5, Insightful)
IMO, this is not necessarily good. Forcing free software on someone is not going to generate all good comments. In fact, forcing someone to use something, especially if they aren't used to it, usually generates more complaints - not because the new thing is actually worse, but simply because they are being FORCED to use it.
I dunno. I like using Linux and I think it's a good alternative to Windows, but forcing people to switch doesn't really show Linux to be a "good alternative," doesn't make people want to use it on its own merits, etc... it makes it look more like a financial move, not a "This is better software" move.
Re:Not necessarily good (Score:5, Insightful)
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send in the Linux attack team .. (Score:5, Informative)
under NO circumstances lose against Linux
netcraft confirms it!!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Open standards are more important (Score:5, Insightful)
I think open standards are much more important than open source software. The ability to use your favorite program to get a certain task accomplished without having to worry about compatibility problems is worth much more than wether you use open source or not. I would much rather use Pages instead of OpenOffice if it only would support ODF, for instance.
Microsoft wins the 2nd Vietnam war! (Score:5, Interesting)
If you go to any asian country, you find stacks and stacks of CDs and DVDs filled with mislabelled stuff from Microsoft to Universal studios. So, the thought of Vietnam actually paying for a bunch of Windows licenses just seems rather remote to me.
I would be willing to bet that Microsoft has been quietly watching Windows get rolled out all across Vietnam, knowing that, they don't have but a dozen licenses for the entire country, and a million copies of Windows, and just let Vietnam build all of their infrastructure on top of it.
Then, once they see the Vietnamese are hooked, they sent in a salesteam to ask them to pay for it, or they will shut the country down. Vietnam of course issues its edict, but both they know and Microsoft know, that Vietnam now belongs to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon both roll over in their graves, and somewhere, on a dark night, the leaders of Microsoft enjoy a drink to celebrate the triumph with Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney and the Bushes. "Hey, we might have f--- up in Iraq, but we finally won Vietnam."
This distro will not include a browser. (Score:5, Funny)
Why?
Charlie don't surf! [wikipedia.org]
hey, (Score:5, Insightful)
Dumbasses tagging this 'communism' - it's nothing to do with communism - more like COMMON-SENSE-ISM.
Re:hooray! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:hooray! (Score:5, Insightful)
But there is also something wrong with trying to support different operating systems and different office productivity suites.
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sovereignty (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed. This is why Peter Quinn's sovereignty argument for OpenDocument in MA was so apt. It's not about Linux, but communicating lofty ideals like Free Software to government types is difficult. When you start talking about the ancient political documents like a constitution though, and government responsibility to preserve them in a neutral format, things become a lot clearer. Add in the Peruvian arguments for an openly competitive economy based around open standards in software, and it's clear that government's absolute responsibility is to choose free software and standards. So no, Linux should not be forced, but yes, free software should. Our taxes should not prop up individual corporations -- especially when that monopolizes their power and cripples other parts of the economy.
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Not just Linux (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Emerging Solutions (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Emerging Solutions (Score:5, Funny)
Eventually all other countries will follow suit
Are you suggesting there will be a domino-effect?
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