Asia aims to open source to get rid of Microsoft

Outside the United States and Europe, cost is a big incentive for governments to switch to open source software. However, that is not the only reason.

Mr. Rishab Ghosh, head of the open source research project of the Maastricht Institute of Economics, the Netherlands recently conducted a comparison of software licensing costs with a country's GDP per capita.

As a result, even after the software has been discounted, the cost of purchasing legitimate software in developing markets is still too high. The price of Microsoft Windows XP and Office XP at Amazon.com in the US is equivalent to 3 months of GDP per capita in South Africa, and more than 16 times of GDP per capita in Vietnam. In the US, imagine that you have to pay up to USD 7541 or USD 48,011.

In short, even if Microsoft is "generous" claiming that it has reduced software prices for preferential markets, these are still luxury products and there is no guarantee that this discount policy will lasts forever.

In developed markets, when deploying open source, businesses, state and individuals have to spend a lot of money to replace new systems, update relevant applications and retrain employees. But in developing markets, all three phases do not happen, and their openness to "open source" is also inevitable.

Moreover, an outstanding advantage of open source is that it allows developing countries to tap into the domestic IT industry. This is an especially important issue, because often these countries do not have the software industry, or if it is very poor.

" Indigenous companies are bundled with proprietary software and services. Deep support, patching, customizing or integrating with other software - that's what they don't can do it with Microsoft, "Ghosh said.

And yet, with open source, countries can also develop operating systems using their own local languages, thereby widely spreading information to remote and backward areas. For example, the South African government has funded an OpenOffice.org transliteration project into 11 languages ​​being used in the country. This project is about to be completed, while Microsoft Office 2003 only supports one language, English.

" From the perspective of a developing country, open source is extremely effective in localization. Meanwhile, Microsoft only gives incentives after considering how big the market is and occupying its position. how strategic, "said Red Monk analyst James Governor.

1. China: internal software user

The Chinese government intends to supply more than 140,000 Linux computers to elementary and junior high schools throughout Jiangsu Province. The deal was announced in the Sun Wah Linux conference in October 2005 and is considered to be Asia's largest desktop Linux deployment campaign ever.

Under the commitment to join the WTO, China is forced to replace previous pirated software versions with legitimate software. However, to reduce the degree of dependence on foreign proprietary products, China has decided to replace at least a few Windows programs with Linux.

Many local and central government agencies began installing open source software, from the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Statistics, the National Labor Commission until the Beijing Party Committee. This switch to Linux campaign was reported heavily by the media.

In addition to Linux, the Chinese government also supports many other open source products. Among these are NeoShine, a Chinese variant of OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice itself is also included in the list of government priority office products by China.

The strong support for domestic software is recognized by analysts as a decisive factor in the rise of open source in China, although there is no rule prohibiting the use of Microsoft products.

A series of open source initiatives and research projects have received funding from the government. Last year, the Chinese Ministry of Information established the Alliance to Promote Open Source Software to encourage the country's open source software industry to grow. International partnerships in the field of open source are also promoted, with partners such as Korea, Japan and France's Atomic Energy Commission.

According to Gartner analyst DiMaio, the salty sentiment that the Chinese government gives open source is divided equally for two reasons: Cheap and beneficial for the domestic software industry. In addition, there are some cultural and political reasons that motivate the country to pursue an "open source" policy.

2. India: Speak in your way (and language)

Focus projects:

The Indian government has funded an initiative to distribute free CDs containing open source software. About 3.5 million CDs containing open source applications in Tamil and 3.5 million CDs in Hindi have been released to the community.

However, according to the plan, the government will also distribute software CDs in 22 languages ​​that are being used officially in the country.

Source: Linux-mag.com

It can be said that in this South Asian country, open source software is being widely installed in both central and state governments. A special feature is that the states seem to be more open and bold with the idea of ​​open source, while the Government maintains a "more neutral" attitude.

India, the third largest state in India, has installed OpenOffice.org on thousands of desktops and uses Linux in managing treasury and local land.

Meanwhile, the state of Kerala uses open source software in many e-government initiatives. Many schools in the state are also using Linux computers completely.

A center called Open Source Software Research has been established by the government to develop open source software and training programs with those software. They also created a website to share government experiences in the open source campaign.

President of India, Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam did not hesitate to voice open source on every possible occasion. Last year, he called on the country's military to use open source to combat cyber security risks. Last year, he concluded "unfortunate" when proprietary software like Windows was so popular in India.

However, according to analysts, the Indian government still has to pursue a relatively neutral policy on open source, because they do not want to lose the heart of the biggest customer - the US. The rough outsourcing industry has a vital role to play in the Indian economy, as the country's top 20 IT service providers generate up to $ 5.77 billion in export value in 2004.

Observers added that this policy is also strongly influenced by continuous "lobby" activity from Microsoft. The software giant has generously collaborated with many Indian rough outsourcing companies, among them Infosys.

However, if India is determined to pursue open source, Microsoft will have real trouble, because India has a large, highly qualified and professional software engineering team than any other country. any development. Moreover, everyone wants to control their own technology instead of being a customer.

3. Move from Microsoft

Facing a series of governments that decided to drop Windows and Office to open source software, Microsoft decided to revive the situation with a new strategy for the government IT market. This is a region that is under intense competition and it seems that open source is gaining the upper hand.

Microsoft's goal is to help governments to build less expensive IT systems but still serve people better.

Under the plan, the new strategy, called Public Services and e-Government, will focus on the "core" capabilities of government IT governance, including: Managing identity, identity, and governance. customer relationship management, single letter management, documents, etc.

This is part of the Connected Government Framework, which Microsoft is trying to build, with the aim of helping governments to build less expensive IT systems that serve people. people are still better.

In order to implement the new strategy, Microsoft will join hands with WiSeKey in digital identity management, with Accenture and Avanade in replacing single paper with modern electronic and automated technologies.

Thien Y