Slashdot Mirror
Korea Replacing 120,000 Windows with Linux
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.
Why would anyone buy 120,000 copies of Linux? Does buying 120,000 copies entitle the users of each machine to a year or two of service? If that's the case, then maybe.. If not, then why not simply buy 1 copy and install it the 120,000 machines?..
why not just download them all, and copy them thousands of times, thats what i would do, but i am not them looks like i got 5th post
If more countries start doing this, MS is going to get mad.
They will contact their friends in the American government, who will also get mad.
They will be mad because of an infringement on their "sovereignty." Remember that the government considers its trade and communications channels part of its sovereign territory, even if it's outside the borders of the United States.
The protection of the MS monopoly is definitely our sovereign right, when it's construed that way.
Will there be an invasion of Korea? Not likely, but I could see some OS requirements being put into international trade regimes such as the W.T.O.
Goat sex free since 2001
What's that supposed to mean? If you're insinuating that only communist governments support "free" software, then I suggest you open up a fucking map.
Remember, there are 2 Korea's: North and South; and for ignorant ass people like you, the former being Communist and the latter being a Republic. Big fucking difference.
Though I don't blame the editor as much for not being more specific about which government the article is referring to, I DO blame your ignorant ass for not reading the article where it actually states which one: South.
Nice try at being witty, dumbass.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That's 120,000 machines that won't have MS Windows, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Money, MSN, .Net, IIS, IE, ANY MICROSOFT!
That's step 1. Step 2 is that now you have some economic motivation for people to actually DEVELOP Linux apps. Hey, even if it's proprietary, they're developing on the platform. [So how much you wanna bet more Linux games will be coming out of Korea than anywhere else in the world?] So is more proprietary stuff bad? NO! The people developing proprietary software on Linux will likely use AND HELP IMPROVE open source tools.
They'll be using Gnome as their wm (or that other one), gimp to edit graphics, Kword to edit docs. There is now MOTIVATION OTHER than the religions of OSS or anti-MS.
In the real world, this is the kind of government endorsed monopolies that changes the course of technological development.
Step 3, presumably, the 120,000 licenses will be for DESKTOP WORKSTATIONS, not servers or developers. Now that there's money to be made in the Linux world, development shops will pop up all over the place, further expanding the reach of Linux and associated OSS tools.
Step 4, all these office workers working day in and day out with Linux will go home and want their home machines to look/act like the ones at work. And since Linux is free, no reason for them not to try it (ed: except that no average office worker could install Linux in less than 3 months).
Step 5, repeat 2-4 a few times and you get a huge rise in the user base.
Step 6, all of this means there will be more installations of Linux in S. Korea than any other country in the world. [You heard it here first!] Pretty soon, we'll be using software that's named K-*#$%@. We won't know what it means (being Korean), but we'll know it's the best damned OSS DVD player out there.
And all this because the S. Korean government standardized on a Linux based proprietary office suite. We've all said that as soon as there's an office suite that rivals MS Word, then maybe Linux will have a chance at displacing Windows.
PEOPLE, THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!
[Hey, anyone need a UI designer to help break into this market?]
passetspike!
My that'll be drafty.
This of course points only to the evil cabal of insulation manufacturers, electricity generators, and natural gas producers, all of whom will clearly benefit by the transition from hermetic glass membranes to the newer & not yet proven cd-rom membrane technology.
Thank god I live in America, where you can pry the Windows from my warm, vibrant home over my dead body!
:)
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL