Taiwan to Start National Push For Free Software

Andy Tai writes: "Taiwan will start a national plan to jump-start the development and use of Free (libre) Software, according to this report by the Central News Agency, the government news agency of Taiwan, Rep. of China. Due to high Microsoft license fees and also to improve the levels of software technology in Taiwan, this plan includes the creation of a totally Chinese free software environment for Taiwan users, free software application development, and training of 120,000 people for free software skills, as well as efforts at schools to provide diverse information technology environments to ensure the freedom of information. The original article is in Chinese; an English summary appears in this Kuro5hin article."

A new definition of "free"

[cascino]

Yes, that's free as in Û"Äèܽ.

Wrong way to have independence

[phunhippy]

What they should really do to win independence is the following:

Eliminate all free software, Give every citizen pirated copies of Microsoft Windows XP and Office XP plus a plethora of other programs as well.

MS & other big companies freak out over the rampant copyright violations and potential lost revenue and calculate that Taiwan owes them 500 billion dollars or so in license fees!

In light of this CHINA decides it doesn't want that headache of a bill when they re-unify and drops demands for unification of the two countrys(province & country what ever) and now taiwan is free to be their own country(and in trouble with all those licenses they now own)..

Of Course if they proceed to support open source software, china will notice how many good programs and programmers they are turning out and will want to re-unify faster and take the island by force..

See how this can work out only for the worst?

:)

Re:Dispute with Microsoft

[Qrlx]

Maybe MS has pushed too far. Better to have a few people actually pay for the SW and pirate it than the Govt. realize that they can't afford it, will get caught pirating, and thus are forced to look to alternatives.

(I remember my old man, back in the Glory Days of the Reagan Era, telling me how much pirated software was in use at the US Copyright office.)

Or maybe this sort of thing is just what MS wants. Bill Gates, in conjunction with the Bush Administration, will Release Microsoft Windows, Patriot Edition. Only Americans will be allowed to use it, and instead of phoning home to Microsoft, it will make your modem dial 1-800-ASHCROFT every night at 10PM.

Taiwan and that senator from Peru will be labeled "open source terrorists." RMS will be hung from his toenails atop the Space Needle, which is probably not such a bad thing after all. All Apache servers will be added to the target lists of Apache helicopters, as thousands of Dying FreeBSD admins learn another meaning of the term "firewall."

I don't know what to make of Microsoft's attempts to cash in on the mythical BSA "money lost due to pirates" revenue stream. Many dot-coms operated at a loss trying to establish market share, but MS already has that. Will their efforts to get everyone to pay up pay off?

Is Taiwan guilty of being an IP offender? Or are they simply willing to cop to the fact that most people can't quite see what's wrong with "borrowing" their friend's CD and installing like crazy.

Imagine how different the world would be today if Gutenberg and Martin Luther had "respected" The Church's IP claims to printing and literacy?

I believe we are living in a dark age, and that the IP revolution may bring us a new Renaissance.

Taiwan and free software.;

[Sarin]

Isn't that a country where you can buy most new software packages in stores for about $1?