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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."
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer take a S.E. Asian vacation...
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.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The Communications Ministry of Vietnam is running ASP.net on Windows Server 2003! oh the ironing!
THL phish sticks
You cannot scare Vietnam with office furniture.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
The company you work for most likely dictates many of the tools you use. This is no different.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
If you go to any asian country, you find stacks and stacks of CDs and DVDs filled with mislabelled stuff from Microsoft to Universal studios. So, the thought of Vietnam actually paying for a bunch of Windows licenses just seems rather remote to me.
I would be willing to bet that Microsoft has been quietly watching Windows get rolled out all across Vietnam, knowing that, they don't have but a dozen licenses for the entire country, and a million copies of Windows, and just let Vietnam build all of their infrastructure on top of it.
Then, once they see the Vietnamese are hooked, they sent in a salesteam to ask them to pay for it, or they will shut the country down. Vietnam of course issues its edict, but both they know and Microsoft know, that Vietnam now belongs to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon both roll over in their graves, and somewhere, on a dark night, the leaders of Microsoft enjoy a drink to celebrate the triumph with Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney and the Bushes. "Hey, we might have f--- up in Iraq, but we finally won Vietnam."
This is my sig.
On a MacBook Wheel, no less!
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.