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The Empire Strikes Back - in China
jaymzter writes: "Reuters is reporting that Microsoft is dumping $750 million into China over the next three years. According to MS CEO Steve Ballmer, "What's good for the local industry in every country is good for Microsoft", especially when that other country is actually promoting and developing home grown Linux. From the article it looks like MS is willing to overlook China's legendary software 'sharing' as long as the government stays tight with Windows."
Some would say considering China's human rights record.... that M$ and China would make a good team.
With active promotion of Linux in China, Microsoft has to be realizing that it's better to let rampant piracy of their products continue and make some profit from those who do buy than to allow the creating of a large incubator for Linux - something that could potentially threaten their market share in countries with more enforced IP laws.
Why?
Hey Steve-O--
my friends and I pirate MS software too, give us $750,000,000 too. What's good for us is good for the net economy...
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
The Good News:
China gets an even bigger IT infrastructure.
The Bad News:
They spend most of it on hardware upgrades. Forever.
The Good News:
More technical knowledge of computers in the country.
The Bad News:
It's all directed at creating anti-Pallendrome mod chips.
The Good News:
More people in China get onto the Internet!
The Bad News:
All they can get is MSN, and only if they use Internet Explorer.
The Good News:
China gets to upgrade their military computers.
The Bad News:
The first BSOD launches WWIII.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Seems that Microsoft finally noticed that not everybody is equal and although Europe and US are already hooked on their drugs, China is still not and so they just need to back up a little, distribute for free a little while longer, before they will collect. And China is a potential market of the size of Europe and US together. So be sure they will collect eventually.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Depends on how they are "spending" it. Are they giving away licenses to Windows? If so, what is the cost to them - $0.
Lets see them really donate $750mil by going to CompuUSA or something, buying $750mil copies of WinXP and shipping it over there.
Hell...I can give you $4BILLION worth of RedHat...buy one cd for $69 amount and print up a certificate saying you can copy/install it 5.7million times.
It's like the case a bit ago where they were gonna help everyone out by giving them their software which'll cost them minimal cd costs.
It does so matter.
A windows open relay will have more downtime. Yippee!
good point. I wonder if that means that they get to write off 750mil...
....
Kramer: Jerry, just write it off.
Jerry: what? what do you mean write it off?
Kramer: big companies do it all the time.
Jerry: you dont even know what a write is, do you?
Kramer:
Agreed with your points, but there are a few more things to consider:
Microsoft really is lagging in the Chinese market (200:1 copies of licensed Linux to Windows according to some estimates). This is because the only competition to pirated Windows at the moment comes from Linux.
Also, Gates at one point make a comment to Money magiazine (in 1998) where he stated that they need to get the Chinese addicted to software, so they will start paying for it. This has seriously hurt Microsoft's image in China (can you say Opium War?)
Finally, the major anti-piracy cases Microsoft has tried to bring in China have been ill-timed and seriously backfired.
So Microsoft is coming in from behind in the fight against Linux in China, and it is trying to make up for past blunders...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I get the queasies when I see any Western companies kissing the Chinese govt's butt, be them Open Source or anything else. But M$ is special:
Chinese PM: Linux secure, Windows dangelous. Fuck off.
Ballmer: But Mr. Chairman, Linux promotes freedom, while we promote tyranny! It's us who are you natural allies!!!
Chinese PM: Zounds, you're light! Let's make a deal.
Now I see that I have been right all along!! I'm not really pirating MS software, I'm helping MS to maintain their dominant user-base! What's good for me is good for Microsoft!!
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
This is what they did as a test run in Mexico. They know these countries are poor and by throwing a few million bills at them, they sucker them into the Microsoft Windows upgrade cycle. Linux can only offer reliable, secure, and inexpensive software while Microsoft just plain pays them to use Windows.
;)
Wasn't it Microsoft who paid $5billion for AT&T to used MS-WinCE on a few hundred thousand set-top boxes? And then they couldn't provide the backend software to run it so AT&T walked away with $5billion.
When you have $40+billion in monopoly money and billions still streaming in, you can start paying people to use your product when you know they will not be able to move off it in the future.
Ask any drug dealer how this works......They'll tell you it a sure thing.
I hope China asked for cash too.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
This is very funny for anybody who knows how the linux china market works.
Before you start, you have to understand that there are a number of Linux Distribution companies in China, most of the started small and rode the tech bubble there, raising capital on the hope of following companies like Redhat etc.
The difference in china is that prior to getting listed, they had to be 'blessed' by the powers that be - The communist goverment. - due to rampant quasi corruption, this usually means that if the cardres that added their blessing usualy buy in personally - and stay in (due to the chinese habit of sticking with the family).
What this means is that all the major Linux companies have very prominant central party members on their board. - imagine George Bush's son on the board of Redhat. - with no accountability stuff..
Basically the top guys are so tightly into the idea they can make money from their connections using linux, that microsoft is fighting a battle that it lost a few years ago...
Taking PHP to the next level: phpmole, php codedoc, php-gtk pear installer, DataObjects for php, ldap schema viewer and
Please try and understand. China isn't a communist country. China is a country full of people who are possibly even more capitalistic than we are here in the good ole' US of A - but they just happen to have a corrupt oligarchy of a government whose only goal appears to be staying in power, and are unfortunately not blessed with a strong constitution and separation of powers that we (and other parliamentary democracies) have.
Remember, there's no history of democracy in China. Ever. Most Chinese people I've met would like to have it, but many are skeptical that it would work.
This atmosphere helps nourish Linux and the Open Source movement in China - there are large numbers of talented and engaged software engineers, many of whom have little or no money to spend on expensive (and mostly bullsh*t) software licences and hardware. Open Source fosters innovation, and it's better than piracy because no one can prosecute you for pursuing it, and you get the source, whereas pirated commercial software is rather opaque in that regard.
Personally, having worked at MS in my past, I would hope that China can grow their own OS's. I hope that MS fails there - it would be a huge help to the Open Source cause if they fail.
... can we have your liver, then?
I used to think that World War III would start in the Middle East, but now I know better. The Chinese will think all the Microsoft bugs and security loopholes are a cyber-attack from the United States, when it's really just the products behaving as designed.