the link I posted above points directly to the excel file that contains the prices of almost MS products selling in Vietnam. Only some top lines are in Vietnamese, the rest are in English.
The problem in developing countries is not that easy. As you may know, the software piracy in Vietnam is about 92% and in China is 91%. Almost everyone there, who has computer, uses Windows systems "for free" and they get used to the Windows sytems.
You said, you need source code to fix the security holes yourself, good. But I wonder do you really know how to fix it at all? It is not a matter of difficult or not, it is just a matter of time. If you have all your time to do those fixing stuff or the like, then you don't have much time to do your job. Have you ever read the source code in the linux kernel?
From my point of view, separating the kernel and drivers is good. Normal users like me can just download the driver and install it to have it work. Do you really think normal user can and want to compile the kernel?
Slashdot Mirror
the link I posted above points directly to the excel file that contains the prices of almost MS products selling in Vietnam. Only some top lines are in Vietnamese, the rest are in English.
Do you know exactly the price of Windows XP and Office suite in Vietnam? There are no discount as far as I know. The prices of Windows XP Pro and Office 2003 Pro are $351 and $486, respectively. You can found them here http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/2/4/d240b f43-7cf0-45a7-ae43-b64115d2a442/VietPriceListWebNo nAE.xls. The current GDP of Vietnam is about $300.
The problem in developing countries is not that easy. As you may know, the software piracy in Vietnam is about 92% and in China is 91%. Almost everyone there, who has computer, uses Windows systems "for free" and they get used to the Windows sytems.
You said, you need source code to fix the security holes yourself, good. But I wonder do you really know how to fix it at all? It is not a matter of difficult or not, it is just a matter of time. If you have all your time to do those fixing stuff or the like, then you don't have much time to do your job. Have you ever read the source code in the linux kernel? From my point of view, separating the kernel and drivers is good. Normal users like me can just download the driver and install it to have it work. Do you really think normal user can and want to compile the kernel?