The government-run Central Trust of China has mandated for the first time that all desktop computers purchased from now on must be Linux-compatible, demonstrating the Chinese government's desire to widen the nation's usage of open source software. "It is a global trend that Linux is gaining wider adoption due to its lower costs and better adaptability," Mike Lin, a consultant at the Taipei Computer Association, told the Taipei Times yesterday. Note: This article is about the Republic Of China (Taiwan) and not The People's Republic Of China.
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Member since:2006-01-21
Ähm, this might be news for you, but a machine capable of running a Linux based Distribution is (as long, as we do not talk about exotic hardware platforms, that only UNIX like OSes are known to support properly today) is perfectly capeable to run Operating systems made by Microsoft.
My guess is, that "Linux capable" was choosen as a kind of benchmark for newly purchased computers, because other open source / free software alternative OSes (the BSD's , Haiku, .... ) are either very close in terms of supported Hardware spectrum (the former) or are not far enough developed to be considered an alternative to *both* Linux and Windows based Systems.
The capitalizing of your last sentence doesn't make your argument imho any more valid, since this isn't a one way ticket, it is basically one way to keep a maximum of valiable options available (e.g which operating system to run on your purchased hardware, purchased by taxpayer money, btw.), since nowhere is stated, that this machines must come with a particular OS installed (If so, please point me towards that sentence in the article, thanks).
Example: If I want to buy a car today, it might be wise to think about my martial status (and my perhaps then soon-to-be-there children) and enviromental / cost factors when actually making a descicion. Excluding sport cars from the options *I* (as in 'I, the one who is paying the money, aka customer') consider to be valiable is no assault to companies, who specialize on sport cars, but merrely my descision what (again) I want to spend money on.
Or (to put it in a little less car-analogies-for-operating-system-discussions-are-flawed-from-the-ver y-beginning-on way) : One way to minimize the TCO hurdle when planning to make an OS switch, is to buy new hardware wisely, something that seems to me a rahter obvious step.
Member since:
2005-07-06
"It says that from now on, all desktop PCs purchased by this particular Taiwanese government agency must be *capable* of running Linux. "
That's setting a precedence. They can specify security measures that are required, the can specify applications used and methods of transmitting data... but to specify that ONLY such machines be used is basically setting a trend for their society to follow.
Even our US gov't, which does dictate a ton of stuff, does not say precisely what machines can and cannot be used in relation to given OS's. That would be like them saying "well, it's O.K. for US to endorse a given OS, but manufacturers of a given OS cannot attempt to monopolize a market."
THAT'S HOW I EQUATE IT!