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Linspire CEO Offers S. Korea To Replace Windows

Posted by Zonk on from the who-needs-an-ms-product dept.

Spy der Mann writes "Noticing the Microsoft threat to withdraw Windows from South Korea, the Linspire CEO, Kevin Carmony, just offered to license every computer in the country with Linspire, for just $5m. This would be around 10 cents / person. 'South Korea could save around a quarter of a billion dollars. More importantly, however, it would break South Korea loose from the monopolistic grasp of Microsoft, which the country currently finds itself under,'"

6 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. I've got a better offer. by rathehun · · Score: 5, Informative

    click

    1. Re:I've got a better offer. by highwind81 · · Score: 5, Informative

      We do have our own distro.

      --
      ------ http://timothylive.net
  2. Most Koreans Websites IE only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Almost any korean website seems to be made for IE, and especially things like clubbox.co.kr, those only work with ActiveX plugins ... doubt koreans are really ready to change their oses ...

  3. Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm currently studying abroad in South Korea and there's no way Koreans would give up Windows. The whole society LOVES Windows. Internet Explorer and excessive use of Active-X are king. Everybody here has Cyworld (a Myspace type deal) and you can't access about half of its content without using Internet Explorer on Windows. Plus Nespot, the nation's largest free wireless service, requires you to be running a Windows machine to use their client. PC Bangs all use Windows as video gaming is huge here and every game runs off of Windows.

    Hell, almost every machine at Space 9 (a huge technology store) comes with the latest Vista beta installed. It's going to take a lot more than offering Linspire to the whole country to make a switch like that. I agree it's just free marketing.

  4. Re:Asianux would make more sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There are several Korean distros available. Why would Koreans use Japanese or Chinese distros? Not suggesting they are in anyway worse, but I would guess Korean distros would have better support in Korean.

  5. isnt computer gaming a way of life in S. Korea?? by gejoroni · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember reading articles about the internet cafes and net culture in South Korea (check this out http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/10/07/korea .onlinegameaddic.ap/) South Koreans love playing online games. Not for nothing, but at this point, Linux just doesnt have that kind of support for games. This sort of thing would never fly in South Korea.