Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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,'"

13 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. A mixed bag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I'm sure the slashbots will shout and cry about the virtues of linux (despite being Linspire), it sounds more like a grab for attention than anything serious. While I'm sure Carmony could make a bundle on the deal, could he really support all of South Korea? I wonder if he even has a team of translators for the major world languages to begin with!

    1. Re:A mixed bag by iamelgringo000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll be sure to brush up on how to say "RTFM" in Korean.

    2. Re:A mixed bag by Daengbo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      All my male, teen students do in their free time is play Starcraft. When I go to a restaurant near lunchtime, the TV is always on OnGameNet (AKA 24 hours CS / Starcraft). The female teens all play MAple Story (online MMORPG). The young adults that I know spend their evenings playing Kart Rider (online racing). Everybody wants to be a progamer when he or she grows up.

      As much as I want Linux to succeed here in S. Korea, HanSoft's 3.2 version is already free, and it isn't doing their market share any good.

      Not a chance of this happening in the private sector.

      --
      Put identity in the browser.
  2. I've got a better offer. by rathehun · · Score: 5, Informative

    click

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

      I've got a better offer.
      What about they try to find a local solution that will be better localised, that will have local support, that will create jobs, that will keep their cash inside the country, all this meaning that it will help develop a local well adapted independant IT which will benefit their country as a whole?

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

      We do have our own distro.

      --
      ------ http://timothylive.net
  3. In South Korea ... by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... only old people will keep using MS Windows.

  4. If you give up Windows... by MisaDaBinksX4evah · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll give you South Korea.

    Where do I sign up?

    --
    Misa no botha with yousa.
  5. no way this happens until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    they have starcraft for linux

  6. That is EXACTLY what Linux needs by RoLi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Linux needs M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G

    Just look at Mozilla and Firefox and you see what a difference a little marketing can make.

  7. In Korea, Computer = Windows PC with IE by ThreeDayMonk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's my experience, too. Even if they don't require ActiveX, very few Korean websites will actually display properly in another browser - even fewer if you use a pop-up blocker. I don't think that anyone tests on anything else.

    Korean computer culture seems to be even more homogenised than it is in other countries. Everyone uses Windows; everyone's on MSN Messenger; everyone has a Cyworld Mini-hompy[1]. My iBook received interesting responses: those that had heard of Macs thought that they were tools for graphic artists.

    In addition, there's a big limitation in that SEED, a Korean 128-bit encryption system used in online banking since the days of US 40-bit-only export restrictions, is only supported in IE; although there are moves to port it to Firefox, it hasn't been completed yet, as far as I know.

    1. Mini-homepage, a sort of personalised blog/music/photo-sharing site. They are literally miniature, too: even on a large monitor, the 'mini-hompy' is limited to a few hundred pixels in each direction in the centre of the page.

    --
    If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
  8. Replacement? by cluening · · Score: 5, Funny

    Linspire CEO Offers S. Korea To Replace Windows

    It definitely sounds like an interesting idea, but how is South Korea going to run on my machine? Plus, having the whole country installed on my drive sounds like it will take up a _lot_ of space...

    --
    Posted from the wireless couch.
  9. 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.