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Japan Considers Moving Away From Windows
dm24_99 writes "According to this article at Japan Today, the Japanese government is considering abandoning Microsft Windows in a plan to boost computer security within the government. The government is very interested in alternatives, especially Linux." Of course, like the bank reform being proposed, who knows when this will actually happen.
Because paying Microsoft is supporting a foreign nation instead of your own. Given the choice, you always want to invest in your own country. You get much better support that way, too.
Linux support for Unicode is/will be a major factor in any progress in the Asian market. Windows supports Unicode but it is (frankly) so painful to make work in applications that decent Linux support would be a major selling point.
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More significant than any possible actual system change is the fact that Japan is actually considering dropping MS. As Linux and open source is taken more and more seriously, maybe people won't fall for the same closed source propaganda anymore. Microsoft may actually have to compete on quality, rather than reliability.
I'm interested how much money will that cost MS. $100 millions for AIDS and $400 millions for fighting Linux like they did in India will certainly not be enough here. And may i add that I'm surprised how much an afternoon hobby of some of us cost that company.
However much MS say their software "builds" economies the fact is that for anyone outside the US the software is an import i.e. money leaves the country to buy it. Not good. It is also rumoured to contain back doors making it unsuitable unless you like being spied upon. Most don't.
Another possibility is that threatening to use open source encourages MS to make huge donations and be very nice to you. If bribary is normal in your country then there is also the possibility of greatly improving your standard of living by being a decision maker in a government or educational establishment. MS can then buy out all your countries government bodies and universities to make absolutely sure open source will never ever see the light of day in any place that matters.
I would hope that the Japanese government is considering open source for the first reasons in the first paragraph more than the second.
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at governments decreeing security by fiat (cough*CLipper*cough). Companies have recognised that risk management is key to avoiding many of the problems (e.g. middle office to vet orders/inventory/accounts) yet they consider hiring sysadmins who hold paper certificates as a panacea for electronic security? If you are vitally concerned with information security (e.g. trade secrets), then it is incumbant on cultivating the right culture and habits (logging off away from desk). It might be feasible to leave houses unlocked in small towns where everyone knows everyone else (social sanctions in shunning property violation offenses) but we have deadbolts, invisible IDs and security guards in cities. Similarly security is mainly a systematic process of educating users in using keys (PGP), selecting secureable devices (OpenBSD) or hiring suitable external expertise. Just expecting a single silver bullet of replacing an OS (no matter how good/badly secure it is perceived to be) seems to be on the order of Caute v the tide.
LL
I have always been amazed by how almost every country pays MS tax even if they have both the skills and the industry to make their own software. Migrating to something from your own country would indeed put the money back in your pocket instead of shipping it abroad. Localization isnt just the language, the culture has a significant part of how a computer should interact too. There are big advantages of having your own software industry. The distance from a company in the USA to EU, Japan etc. is big both in culture and in communication. Microsoft develops mainly for the american culture wich shines through the product.
Having the development in your country should atleast in theory give a much better adapted set of applications that if you buy a ironed out fit_all_suit-everything version like Microsofts products.
HTTP/1.1 400
Doesn't bother me either way. Think it through. If they are looking for the payola that means M$ will be paying every country on the planet in just another year or two. Who would want to be left off the gravy train if all you have to do is say "We might migrate" and millions of dollars flow out of Redmond And they can do it again in a year or two. Bribes only work when you are trying to prevent the appearance of a 'showcase' installation and they are a stopgap measure at best.
Eventually we will get a few governments converting simply because M$ has succeeded too well at getting the US Govt to lean on poor countries on the 'piracy' issue. Since they CAN'T pay they only really have two choices, get M$ to donate licenses or migrate.
Longterm M$ needs a better answer than paying their customers to use their product. These tactics are just to buy time to come up with a real strategy. That will be the time for fear. They are now clear of the Justice Dept and are free to act. Expect them to act as soon as Bill G and Monkey Boy come up with a plan they like.
Democrat delenda est
In industrial countries where labour is expensive, like Germany and Japan, Linux is making inroads on desktops and has already marginalized Windows on Servers:
Japan
Germany
For developing countries, the cost of hiring many people to babysit Windows computers is no problem, but where labour cost is high, the switch to Linux can pay off already in the first year.
(Yes I know, that contradicts to Microsoft "Windows-TCO-is-low" propaganda, but so is reality.)
Cool site. Apple has great computers (I'm using one now), and a operating system that is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It pleases me greatly to see any Apple growth in any market.
That said, Linux gives Japan one thing not even Apple can: a customizable operating system for all that cool Japanese hardware. Sharp has been one of the first Japanese companies to realize this, and go with it, producing the Linux based Zaurus PDA. That very same Japan Today website also contained an article about Sharp and IBM teaming up to provide some kind of wireless, Linux based, services.
Sharp's successes and this decision by the Japanese government might encourage other Japanese computer hardware makers to throw off the Microsoft yoke. Linux would give them more room to innovate (unlike Microsoft who issues yearly hardware specs on what it wants PCs to be that year) while connecting them with open standards to other versions of Linux and other operating systems from around the world.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)