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Korea Replacing 120,000 Windows with Linux

Posted by HeUnique on from the windows->-Linux dept.

The Korean government has just signed a contract with Hancom to purchase 120,000 copies of HancomLinux Deluxe 2.0 (which is basically Red Hat OS + tweaks + korean language support + KDE localized) and HancomOffice 2.0. Thats quite a big achievement. Here is Hancom's Press Release about it.

3 of 459 comments (clear)

  1. OpenSource Korea by peripatetic_bum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just think about it,
    We know that India and China are battling it out to see who is going to be the powerhouse computer programming center and here Korea may have just pulled a coup by declaring openSource to be something that the gov't official supports. I dont know about you, but I would now look towards Korea as a contender for the place to where computer programming is acutaly done. Think of the costs savingd from using opensource

    (I know OpenSource still costs money to run, but just think of the savings Korea will experince)

    Thanks for reading

    --

    Sigs are dangerous coy things

  2. Domino Theory by crumbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    During the US-USSR cold war there was a notion espoused by the US think taks called, "Domino Theory". It postulated that once a country within a geographic region changed to a communist government, it's neighbors would be more likely to do so. Hence the US policy of containment that we have seen since WWII.

    Now, does this analogy apply to Free vs. Monopolistic Software ? We have recently seen the Chinese undertake a government program to promote free software over Microsoft. Now Korea. Is India next? Or Japan?

    Granted, geography is not necessarily a factor in this "war" but language certainly is. When can we expect this to spread to Europe or (better yet) the US?

  3. Good for Self-Sufficiency by Tadster · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It doesn't really matter what the incoming OS is, as long as it is open enough for the national IT infrastructure to develop self-sufficiency.

    Globally, IT dependence on Windows has been a blight on the evolution and advancement of computing tech by homogenizing platforms and marginalizing new, innovative, and/or different domestic manufacturers (eg Sharp's X68000, the NEC PC-980x platform).

    Good to see Korea join Mexico & China start working on self-sufficiency rather than the pernicious co-dependence of taking the easy route of being a MS shop.