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Vietnam Going Open Source

Posted by michael on from the seeing-the-light dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Great article today on SiliconValley.com about Vietnam's solution to software piracy: eliminate Microsoft. Government tech officials are promoting a plan that would require all state-owned companies and government ministries to use open source by 2005. And they would require all computers assembled in Vietnam to be sold with open-source products installed on them."

2 of 617 comments (clear)

  1. More information on Vietnam open source efforts... by tcopeland · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...can be found on the AsiaOSC Vietnam page.

    There's a interesting presentation linked to from there also.

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  2. Perspective by Mr_Silver · · Score: 4, Informative
    Microsoft Windows and Office cost at least $140 in Vietnam -- way out of reach for most people, where the per capita annual income is roughly $420.

    In other words, Windows and Office costs a third of your annual income. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis the per capital annual income of the US in 2002 was $30,832.

    Therefore, Windows and Office would cost you a staggering $10,277. It is not surprising that piracy is rampant!

    Also assuming Thailand has the same per capital annual income as Vietnam, then even when Microsoft reduced the price down to $40 it still would cost slightly a nasty $3,083 in the US.

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