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China Launches Antitrust Probe Vs. Microsoft
snydeq writes "China has launched an investigation into whether Microsoft unfairly dominates its software market, according to a state media report. A working committee of China's State Intellectual Property Office is investigating whether Microsoft engaged in discriminatory pricing and will also look at Microsoft's practice of bundling other software programs within its Windows operating system, according to the report. The probe is part of a greater sweep of operating systems and other software developed by multinational companies that cost much more in China than in the U.S. 'On the one hand, global software firms, taking advantage of their monopoly position, set unreasonably high prices for genuine software while on the other hand, they criticise Chinese for poor copyright awareness. This is abnormal,' a source said."
China isn't any more communist than for example the UK, Canada or Australia.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
No, you are wrong. I wish people would stop calling China "communist," since it is not. Their economic system is a free-market capitalism, with elements of fascism (the original definition - "authoritarian union between the government and big businesses" - not the Gowin/deathcamp definition).
Their political system is dictatorship, since they are governed by unelected representatives. Hence, the correct description for China would be capitalist dictatorship.
The reason they don't like Microsoft (or Google) is because the profits go to USA instead of to their government-endorsed corporations like China Telecom, Nuesoft, Baidu, Kingsoft, etc. And we are not talking peanuts here either: last year Microsoft alone paid about US$ 7,000,000,000 in taxes, 70+% of which came from foreign sales.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Seriously, I look at RedFlag linux screenshots once a while just to see how good my country's customized linux has become. All I see is just a customized look that looks like Windows XP. Here are some screenshots they took for their newest RedFlag desktop 6: http://www.redflag-linux.com/chanpin/dt6/.
They try to promote it on desktop computers. But see, IM is a basic part of desktop these days. And the most widely used IM in China (QQ) doesn't have an official client on Linux, nor are they that friendly to the communities that continuously try to reverse engineer their always changing protocol (to avoid alien clients). I mean, if they really want people to use Linux, make deal with Tencent and implement a client (or plugin to Pidgin etc.) on Linux. It won't solve all the problems, but it's definitely the first thing to do.
There is very little difference between fascism and communism.
Both ideologies claim that society is greater than the individual. Both ideologies condemn all actions that don't benefit society as a whole. Both ideologies support environmentalism.
The difference? Communism sees society as encompassing all humanity, while fascism sees each state as its own society. Fascism is prone to nationalist posturing, while communism isn't.
Both fascism and communism oppose free-market capitalism. Fascism refers to an ideology called "corporatism", but that has nothing to do with corporations in the modern sense; the "corporations" in corporatism are basically trade guilds. Corporatism is about both putting society under the control of a collective, and tying such collectives into the state. It fits in with the whole "society as a whole" model, with each function of society overseen by its own collective, and all the collectives are part of a larger collective (i.e. the state).
China isn't really fascist; they allow multinational corporations to do business there, which real fascists would condemn. If China was fascist, they wouldn't let even local companies practice unfettered capitalism the way they do. A fascist state wouldn't let Chinese companies pollute as much as they do, nor would they let the companies do things like put lead paint into toys.
Now, I'm not defending fascism in any way. I'm a staunch individualist, and I despise both fascism and communism. My point is that China isn't really any more fascist than they are communist. Well, they do more than their share of hyper-nationalist posturing, but that's about it. China is simply a totalitarian state that tolerates capitalism. The free market is the one exception to China's totalitarian control over their people.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
Yes, they do and it looks pretty good. See http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/02/1236237
QQ sucks raging donkey balls. I'm not surprised they constantly monkey with the protocol. When all you do is rip off others, you get really good at it, and you know how to avoid getting ripped off yourself. I would call this blatant hypocrisy, but then hypocrisy is a Western concept that has no equivalent in China. It's always been "the leader commands this" and instead of wanting to make everyone equal, Chinese just want to become the leader so that they can be hypocrites, too. Fundamental cultural difference.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
you are wrong. I wish people would stop calling China "communist"
Actually, the gp said China was run by the communist party, which is 100% correct. His error is in thinking that any given communist party has the opposite agenda as a monopoly. On the contrary, communist parties are notorious for ruling as monopolies. Meanwhile, you are correct about the self-designated "communists" but that's another matter.