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Intel Helping Asia to Use Linux
sameerdesai writes "Seattletimes is carying this story on Intel helping major countries like China and India to help build Linux machines as an alternative to Microsoft Windows. It definitely looks like both Microsoft and Intel are using the big potential market in Asia to establish a foothold. Microsoft is using its scare tactics to warn of possible lawsuits because Linux violates about 228 patents. What do fellow slashdotters think on trends of OS and hardware in Asia will be?"
For Intel, if there is cash to be made, Intel will go for it. What will be needed is to show M$ the numbers which will be too big to ignore.
Cb..
Linux and BSD already have a strong foothold on the desktop in asian countries, and is in use on many government computers as well.
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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chr
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8954613940.h
http://www.asiaosc.org/article_54.html
I think we can all say with certainty, that any OS based on latin script, along with (still largely) latin based keyboards and paradigms, which dominates in south east asia, will lead only to a great wailing and a gnashing of teeth. Perhaps what is really needed is for south east asia to develop an OS based on their written and syntactic paradigms, rather that a latin based left to right, 26 letters, scheme.
The best thing Intel could do to win customers would be to try to develop such a solution, rather than simply hacking english OSes to suit the rest of the world.
And to preempt the responses, what are the FOSS solutions to this problem? I hear chinese language support in linux is coming along. But what about the input issue?
May the Maths Be with you!
Seriously, think about the last time the governemtns of India or China actually cared about patents that were registered outside their respective countries. Moreover, since Linux provides a very cheap alternative to Microsoft's products, I doubt if they will care about all the noise that MS makes. On the other hand, Microsoft is using what some may call 'underhand' tactics to sway the governments. Donations to government programmes is one of them. And as someone posted above, Linux SUPPOSEDLY violates 228 patents. MS has been trying to play down Linux for quite some time now and now they're saying it violates 228 patents. Yeah, I believe that.
China couldn't care less if Linux is breaking patents - their response to GM's claim of car design theft should explain that. Here's a link to Forbe's article on that http://www.google.ie/search?q=cache:DRIMvkRStB8J:w ww.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2004/09/06/ap1531296.html+g m+china+car+copied&hl=en&client=firefox-a/
If Intel's efforts will bring down the price of PCs in India, its an excellent move, and of course, with relatively cheap admins at their disposal, Banking and other firms wouldn't think twice to cease the opportunity, like AIB did. http://www.computerweekly.com/Article131652.htm/
The Chinese government runs their own distribution of Linux called "Red Flag Linux"...
What does this figure actually refer to though? the kernel? KDE, X, Gnome?
If it's just the kernel then why hasn't any action been brought? simply because the kernel team have no money to syphon off, companies like SCO would rather sue their competitors to hamper their business.
Currently Microsoft has more cases against them about patents and other alleged violations than any of the open source community.
Microsoft is using its scare tactics to warn of possible lawsuits because Linux violates about 228 patents.
Not only that, it's an outright lie. There are 220 something patents that apply to IP within Linux.
Many of those patents are already owned by Linux companies.
Saying Linux violates all those 228 patents is like saying MS Windows violates a thousands patents belonging to Microsoft. It's word play with an agenda.
Umm..
Linux supports eastern languages much better then Windows does.
Have you ever heard of TurboLinux? DragonLinux? RedFlag Linux?
TurboLinux is what China uses for most of it's infrastructure.
Linux has been working well for Asians for a long long time, and it supports various languages and such much better then Windows does in many cases.
RedFlag Linux is what it developed SPECIFICLY for a desktop operating system for it's citizens.
Think about it.
This is SOFTWARE DEVELOPED BY ASIANS FOR ASIANS.
By CHINA FOR CHINA.
You think Intel is going to any of the fucking work of translating it? Hell NO! They are going to simply open source their drivers and provide support and such for making their hardware very suitable for the operating system that Chinese/Korea/Japan/India/etc are already developing FOR THEMSELVES.
This is Open Source software, baby. This is how it works, this is why it works, and this is why it works better then closed source software in many cases.
As for the keyboards, you have to understand that the keyboards that we in the west are using are obsolete by 15 years by now. There are much more sophisticated solutions that have been developed and put into production for many years now.
Goes to show how Western + Closed source-centric your thinking is in this case.
The usual defense against patents is to obtain patents of your own, and everyone agrees not to sue each other ad infinitum (usually). Linux hasn't gone this way -- although it does get some protection, of course, from interested corporate sponsors like IBM. Linux's primary defense to date has been the lack of a defining central entity to sue. This is a different tactic -- not going after the linux providers, but simply pointing out that running linux may be legally questionable in some contexts. If MS claims 228 patent violations, they get 228 tries to make their claim stick -- and just one could be enough to be a real problem.
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
a 10 year old Buick.
The stereotype fits for my family and friends.
Here's a bit of ethnic humor.
Yes, I can see LInux easily 'winning' in China.
It's too good a bargain and the learning curve isn't that much steeper than WinDohs.
What I want to know is what Apple has in min for China and Asia markets. Are they addressing culture based aesthetics as they do in the USA? Do they even realize how many people in the USA buy Apple for aesthetic reasons?
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
I would put forth that Intel sees India and China as its major growth markets-- and they will do what they can to lower price points in order to move chips out the door. It could be that simple: remove the MS tax, and you lower the price point, which should increase volume.
China and India combine for 1/3 the Earth's population-- a population that is not saturated with machines (like the US and EU), but is just entering its wild growth phase in IT. This means demand for servers/notebooks/routers/cell phones will be double-digits for the next 15 years.
davejenkins.com |
"The usual defense against patents is to obtain patents of your own"
;) )
...
Actually this MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction)approach will not work. What does work is jurisprudence. Lets see some action in front of judges. That is the proof of the pudding (and grease for the Groklaw fires...
The question you gotta ask yourself (and the MS gorillas when they come a pounding threatening lawsuits) is why doesn't MS throw it's weight into the courtroom for all of their so-called infringed patents? Simply because they know it would be a bluf call and that the vast majority of US patents wouldn't hold up in front of any semi-literate judge.
Patents and intellectual property are important. It is a pity that they are so abused, in the long run it will cause more harm than good.
"Linux's primary defense to date has been the lack of a defining central entity to sue."
I disagree, all the coders (kernel) are known. All the commercially available products are with registered companies. If I sell you a linux system, you can sue me. Go ahead, make my day punk (and our lawyers... they will love it!).
So in the final analysis I think it fair to say that MS is simply stalling the impending demise of the OS business untill they can come up with another money maker scheme to fill the billion $ + gap they see coming. I think it is a tough call for them and I suspect their moves to dominate mail, messenging and entertainement markets are the direct consequence of this insight.
Run billy, run
-if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
So enough. Lets pet Intel a bit. Intel has long been hardly unfriendly to Linux but was on the other hand part of Wintel. Can this suggest that perhaps the Wintel alliance is not nearly as thight as some /. monkeys seem to think? (if it was explain why Intel would ever make their compiler work on linux.)
If Intel is really going to release stuff (actually more stuff they already have linux drivers of their own making) are they going to do it the opensource way? That could actually be pretty big. Almost all components of a pc can be bought from Intel. A total Intel PC with complete opensource drivers would finally end the "Linux doesn't regonize my hardware" crap.
A namebrand PC running 100% opensource software made by volunteers and the company making the hardware. Gosh, that would be nice.
Oh and if Intel releases opensource drivers then nothing in those drivers can be considered to ifringe on any patents of intel. And if Intel wants to sell their chips to Linux users they wouldn't enforce any patents against linux either. Is Intel another ally?
I think this kinda news and companies like nvidia and ati trying to support linux is actually very important. Linux share at the moment is tiny and if these companies did not try it would be even smaller. They are helping linux grow. (and if they go all the way and opensource their contributions BSD grow)
Anyone know if Intel is going all the way? Full opensource drivers and/or helping opensource developers with the specs to their hardware? Grepping through the kernel for intel doesn't tell me who wrote the code or how they found out how to write the driver.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
MS dropped the Itanium. This turned Intel's billion doallar project to saw dust, unles, Linux runs on it.
Business is business.
They cannot do that of course, they are a convicted monopoly, under close surveilance. A statement like that would open the gates of hell.
Washington bullets will simply be known as the "Bulle