All of Vietnam's Government Computers To Use Linux, By Fiat

christian.einfeldt writes "The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications has issued an administrative ruling increasing the use of Free Open Source Software products at state agencies, increasing the software's use both in the back office and on the desktop. According to the new rule, 100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009. The regulation also sets benchmarks for training and proficiency in the software. Vietnam has a population of 86 million, 4 million larger than that of Germany, and is one of the world's fastest-growing economies."

Comments

send in the Linux attack team ..

[rs232]

EDGI is a customer-focused program that is for circumstances (like the one you reference) where an education and/or government customer is going to purchase naked PC'S or PC'S w/Linux ..

under NO circumstances lose against Linux .. "

netcraft confirms it!!!!

[gandhi_2]

The Communications Ministry of Vietnam is running ASP.net on Windows Server 2003! oh the ironing!

reasons for moving to Open Source ..

[rs232]

"Using the Linux card is a great way to get a better deal from Microsoft"

Among the reasons cited were:

to reduce commercial software license fees,

freedom from foreign-owned technology,

greater security,

curbing the number of infections from Windows-based viruses and

to gain technological leadership on platforms relatively free of dominance by large multinational corporations ...

Not just Linux

[Taxman415a]

I know no one reads TFA but it doesn't actually mention anything about requiring Linux. That was your wonderful submitter that seems to have gotten that part wrong. TFA isn't even very clear if the requirement is even to change the server OS or just what apps are installed on it.

Re:Next week article.

[ThePhilips]

There is a large upfront cost of switching.

In 3rd world people are saving by switching, since Linux can be customized to run on less resources. E.g. Linux Terminal Server is much much resource savvy compared to Windows Terminal Server.

And a lot of people will not be happy that they can't do X like they did before.

I'm pretty sure that Vietnam has its own ISVs. And the move - is the huge investment into ISV sector. For government it's a huge win too: more taxes.

And if they need support on some feature you can't intimate a US Open Source Developer by saying you are from the government.

Do not be silly. US != World. Local ISVs can do it and there are lots of Linux consultancies around of world. Asia is not that backward as many CNN/FoxNews watchers might think.

This is huge chance for local business to cash in - in long term. If gov't is serious, I'm sure they wouldn't let the chance to slip.

At least with Microsoft and you are a big customer they will bend over backwards to help you.

That's big lie. They will "bend over backward" if you have enough money to pay them for that. Otherwise you are on your own.

M$ can and does something on their own - but they rarely listen to feedback. Generally, in M$ ecosystem, burden of backward compatibility is on integrators and ISVs. My friend worked for such company in past implementing features (normally using ActiveX) from new M$ products for older M$ products (and vise versa) as well as smoothing integration with 3rd party software. Imagine: huge business built around solving problems created entirely by M$ development strategy.

Re:hooray!

[swillden]

Treating Linux as a one-size-fits-all solution is almost as bad as doing the same with Windows.

I disagree. While I think OpenSolaris and the BSDs are great operating systems and arguably work better than Linux in some contexts, if you want to pick just one OS there isn't ANYTHING that fits as many contexts as Linux. From embedded systems to big iron and everything in between, Linux works, and works well.

Of course, there's more to the OS than just a kernel, and arguably the Linux kernel used in an embedded system *isn't* the same kernel used in big iron, even if it's build from the same source tree. And that argument also assumes there's value in picking just one kernel for everything. But if you do want to pick one kernel for everything, Linux isn't just a good choice, it's the ONLY choice.