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

Next week article.

[jellomizer]

Microsoft offers a new deal to Vietnam. Vietnam goes with Windows for 5 more years.

I may be skeptical. Using the Linux card is a great way to get a better deal from Microsoft. The bigger you yell the better the deal.

Re:Next week article.

[Greyfox]

Yeah, it's not like we haven't seen this story before. It's cropped up in South America and Africa. Microsoft always jumps in offering a steep discount and the organizations in question end up quietly changing their mind. It seems like the best way for a government organization to get a huge discount from Microsoft is to mandate Linux usage.

Re:Next week article.

[Anonymous Coward]

If they're bluffing M$, they just made a quick buck. If they're for real, they made a very wise investment.

Re:Next week article.

[wumingzi]

There's an issue that a lot of developing countries have.

When you're at Vietnam's level of development, the piracy rate is astonishing. 99% of the software is pirated. All the software used at home is pirated. Most of the software used in government offices is pirated. Most of the software used in companies is pirated. Sometimes some do-gooder will wind up buying legitimate software, but that's really rare.

MS knows this. Everyone knows this. In a country with a per-capita income of $1000 a year, there's simply not a dollar at the end of this conversation. Yell, scream, protest to the World Court. Nothing will happen. There's no money to take.

So nothing happens.

Development moves along. Cheap furniture and rattan baskets turn into power tools. Christmas lights turn into consumer electronics. Power tools become CNC machines. Consumer electronics become silicon fabs.

Suddenly, you're not a dollar-a-day country any more. You've got real money. Moreover, your money comes from exports.

At this point, Microsoft comes back again. This lax attitude towards intellectual property? Beggar countries are allowed to slip by. Middle-to-high income countries? Uh-uh.

Your legislature is given a modest proposal. Produce intellectual property laws and enforce them, or the export-driven capital party comes to a grinding halt.

You now have a nascent IT infrastructure in your government offices which was built on pirated MS software. What was winked at for years is winked at no more.

Your IT managers now have a very expensive problem. Purchase licenses for every machine in government use, or retool for open source. Your choice. Both options suck.

By starting on OSS early, Vietnam is making a smart choice which will save a lot of pain down the road.

Emerging Solutions

[mfh]

Penguins?!? in Vietnam? It's a cold day in hell boys!!!

Also, this bodes well for Open Source everywhere. Eventually all other countries will follow suit and the people will have government systems that work best for their diverse cultures, tailor made UIs and logic, that can also extend inventive solutions.

Also knowing what is in the source code helps identify potential threats to national security.

Re:Emerging Solutions

[Presto Vivace]

Also knowing what is in the source code helps identify potential threats to national security. I have been thinking the same thing, that has to be one of the biggest selling points of open source.

Not necessarily good

[CannonballHead]

IMO, this is not necessarily good. Forcing free software on someone is not going to generate all good comments. In fact, forcing someone to use something, especially if they aren't used to it, usually generates more complaints - not because the new thing is actually worse, but simply because they are being FORCED to use it.

I dunno. I like using Linux and I think it's a good alternative to Windows, but forcing people to switch doesn't really show Linux to be a "good alternative," doesn't make people want to use it on its own merits, etc... it makes it look more like a financial move, not a "This is better software" move.

Re:Not necessarily good

[0racle]

The company you work for most likely dictates many of the tools you use. This is no different.

Re:hooray!

[TheRaven64]

No, but there is something wrong with requiring Linux. There are other open source operating systems, and some are better for some tasks than Linux. Treating Linux as a one-size-fits-all solution is almost as bad as doing the same with Windows.

Open standards are more important

[tsa]

I think open standards are much more important than open source software. The ability to use your favorite program to get a certain task accomplished without having to worry about compatibility problems is worth much more than wether you use open source or not. I would much rather use Pages instead of OpenOffice if it only would support ODF, for instance.

Re:hooray!

[maddskillz]

But there is also something wrong with trying to support different operating systems and different office productivity suites.

sovereignty

[CarpetShark]

Agreed. This is why Peter Quinn's sovereignty argument for OpenDocument in MA was so apt. It's not about Linux, but communicating lofty ideals like Free Software to government types is difficult. When you start talking about the ancient political documents like a constitution though, and government responsibility to preserve them in a neutral format, things become a lot clearer. Add in the Peruvian arguments for an openly competitive economy based around open standards in software, and it's clear that government's absolute responsibility is to choose free software and standards. So no, Linux should not be forced, but yes, free software should. Our taxes should not prop up individual corporations -- especially when that monopolizes their power and cripples other parts of the economy.

hey,

[toby]

Dumbasses tagging this 'communism' - it's nothing to do with communism - more like COMMON-SENSE-ISM.

Re:hooray!

[Smauler]

These are governmental departments. They should be working to open standards. They have a _duty_ to not use closed standards that require their citizens to pay a company half way around the world some fee just to read.