Slashdot Mirror
Japanese Government to Move to OSS
An anonymous reader writes "Linuxworld has up an article on the Japanese government's plan to reduce its reliance on a single IT vendor by moving to open source software. 'Oracle, NEC, IBM, HP, Hitachi and Dell are among 10 IT equipment and software vendors that are forming a consortium to develop and sell Linux-based servers and computers for the Japanese market. The move by the vendors to collaborate on Linux in Japan comes from a edict from the country's government to make Linux and open source a priority for all IT procurements, starting this July.' The government has said explicitly it wants to decrease its reliance on Microsoft as a server operating system platform."
No wonder Microsoft is scared and trying to pull FOSS patent issues out of their sleeve. They really do need to hang on to their existing customers with their bare teeth... competing with products seems to be something they are unable to do these days (well, ever, really).
That explains the timing of Microsoft Saber rattling. One thing they forget is that it is 50+ times harder to get a patent in Japan compared to a patent in the US and many of those patents do not hold there. Unless they have decided to stop contesting the ATT verdict and turn it to their gross advantage. Hm... If a quick settlement of the ATT case follows it will definitely get curiouser and curiouser...
The other curious point is that some of the usual OSS Japanese suspects are strangely missing. Sony and NTT have many years of history of BSD investment. Both of them do not appear on the list and there are quite a few "foreign devils". Curiouser and curiouser...
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Microsoft should now list exactly which patents it is referring to, and how the Linux kernel infringes upon them. At worst, the Linux team can then rewrite the offending code so that it no longer infringes.
However I am deeply sceptical of this whole claim, and find it very suspicious that Microsoft has not given any details but prefers to stick to vague sabre-rattling. Until specifics are published, we will have to conclude that Microsoft is merely bluffing: trying to frighten off the weaker and less determined Linux users by the threat of legal action.
At a technical level, it is always possible that any given piece of code infringes upon someone's patents. But how likely is it in this case? Consider that Linux is essentially a clean-room rewrite of Unix, whose design dates from 1970 and the following years. Now recall that, after the original Windows turned out to be too unreliable a foundation, Microsoft hired some ex-DEC software engineers in the early 1990s, leading to the creation of Windows NT - whose similarity to OpenVMS is overwhelmingly obvious and quite undeniable. All subsequent versions of Windows have been based on the same core infrastructure inherited from NT.
So, how likely is it that an OS based on designs that go back to 1970 copies anything from an OS written in the early 1990s, and which borrowed heavily from a third OS written in the late 1970s?
In closing, I have a couple of other questions.
1. How much brass neck does it take for a company like Microsoft to accuse anyone else of infringing on its patents, given Microsoft's own track record of systematically taking other people's ideas and incorporating them in its products without payment or even acknowledgement? One could accurately sum up Microsoft's history as a process of taking ideas whose inventors have failed to capitalize on them, and turning them into revenue.
2. When can we hope for HP, which has presumably inherited DEC's patents and copyrights, to threaten Microsoft with legal action?
Unfortunately both of these questions are purely rhetorical.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
A survey conducted just one month ago showed that barely one percent of public sector employees used Linux, despite the Japan Information-technology Promotion Agency spending untold millions on feasibility studies over the last two or more years.
Kudos to the Japanese. I find myself asking if America could stage a conversion of this sort at this time? Hmmm... probably not.
How about another sort of conversion... say trying to implement an affordable healthcare system? Hell, I would love to be able to afford health insurace.
How about a more thouroughly reviewed/reviewable patent system, not just for software, but across the board?
Most other 'first world' nations have these things. Their implementations differ. Some work better than others.
All of these issues are related.
If you can cite a reason that America lacks these things other than special interest profit motive I would love to hear it. Maybe you could also apply that reason to my governments consistent resistance to acknowledging human influenced environmental change (many highly placed officials deny it exists!)
Congratulations to the Japanese for joining the ranks of countries taking measures to fortify and secure their information systems through diversification. Not to be unpatriotic or anything, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that this move and others like it will do serious harm to certain American companies, and force some true competition for government contracts here in the states.
Regards.
But once they decide, it is done, they don't look back.
I once worked for Fujitsu, so I know. Once the Japanese government and major companies embark on the open-source bandwagon, they will become sharp warriors against Microsoft. It may bring Microsoft Japan down by sheer popular pressure. The people go with the government there. This decision may become even a new theme for the comic books (manga) that they read on their way to work, so the people will learn quickly about the new status quo.
'Oracle, NEC, IBM, HP, Hitachi and Dell are among 10 IT equipment and software vendors that are forming a consortium to develop and sell Linux-based servers and computers for the Japanese market.
With the possible exception of IBM... all the other vendors above are the worst offenders when it comes to NOT promoting choice, adherence to standards, avoiding vendor-lockins etc. which is what the Open Source philosophy is all about. These vendors have Linux offerings and Open Source partnerships more as a PR exercise, than to promote the Open Source philosophy. Even IBM still maintains separate Linux and AIX offerings... and still maintains ambivalence over it's future... whether it will have 2 separate OSes or just AIX or Linux.
Does not bode well for Open Source in Japan, I guess. RedHat might've made a big impact, but it's not listed.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
For the last 6 years, the federal gov has pushed Windows throughout and this was dictated from above. They have worked hard at keeping software companies on Windows. If EU, China, Russia, Japan, And South Korea port to Linux, then they will establish a market, while the Americans will miss it. Sadly, you would think that America would have learned their lessons from what happened in the move from DOS to Windows. Many companies OWNED the dos world, but would not port to windows. When they did, it was too late. They had already lost the market.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.