[GRLUG] Russia and China going for Linux?

[Bob Kline]

A good development over all.  The result is
a better, cheaper system.  And the US then
doesn't have to M$'s bidding in the way of
forcing other countries to give M$ money.

The claim in the piece that windoz is
easier to install and maintain is bogus.
Almost every machine sold in the US
comes with windoz preinstalled, so it's
not exactly like grandma is installing
and configuring the system now.

EU has been trending to Linux for a
time now, as has much of the rest of
the world.  Which is why Linux software
comes from just about anywhere today.


   -- Bob


+++++++++++++++++++++

*Running For Linux*

January 9, 2011: *At the end of 2010, the Russian government ordered that
all government **computers** using Microsoft Windows must move to Linux (a
free operating system that is far less vulnerable to attack via the
Internet) within four years.* There are several reasons for this
switch.* First,
there is security. *Windows based PCs are most frequently attacked by
hackers, and protecting government networks from these attacks is very
expensive. There are fewer attacks on Linux PCs because there are more than
50 times as many Windows PCs out there. *Second, most of the Microsoft
software used by Russian government PCs is stolen.* Microsoft, and the
United States government, is putting increasing pressure on the Russians to
pay up. The Russians hope to avoid that by simply dropping the use of
Windows and other Microsoft software. Software for Linux PCs is much
cheaper, and often free. *But based on past experience, the Russian effort
to convert to Linux will probably fail. The main reason for that can be seen
what happened when China tried to convert.*

*For a decade now, China has been trying to get business and government
users to adopt Unix (and later Linux) as their operating system. *Yet most
Chinese businesses, and many government departments, continue to use
Microsoft operating systems. They do this because Microsoft Windows is
widely pirated in China, and there's a large amount of pirated software you
can use only on Windows systems. Another critical reason is that more games
run on Windows machines, and that is important, even in China. Finally, the
Chinese government is more resistant to complaints from Microsoft than
Russia.

*While the Chinese government continues to push the adoption of Linux, they
are finding more success mandating that government **servers** use a Unix
variant operating system, developed in China, called Kylin.* Meanwhile, the
government is increasingly eager to force all Chinese businesses to adopt a
Chinese version of Linux or Unix for their desktop and laptop PCs. All this
is nothing new, *but there is a growing sense of urgency to it.*

*The Chinese know that, while their own Cyber War forces were capable of
launching attacks over the Internet, their own computers are already overrun
with viruses and worms. *While the United States is regarded as the one
nation most dependant on the Internet, it is also the country with the
largest amount of effort dedicated to protecting it’s PCs from infection by
“malware” (viruses, worms, Trojans and the like.) China, on the other hand,
had developed an outlaw mentality when it came to software. So most users
have pirated operating systems and *applications* on their machines. While
there are pirated versions of anti-virus software available, using this kind
of protection is not popular. China is hoping to get around this by using
Linux,. But Linux does not have as much software available for it, and users
are reluctant to abandon Windows, and all the neat games and other software
that only runs on Windows powered computers. *The Windows based games, it
turns out, are a major obstacle in getting many users, even business users,
to switch. It seems that playing games on company computers after hours is a
valuable fringe benefit for workers, and costs the company little. No one
likes to talk about this form of compensation, but there it is.*

The Chinese government has found that switching to Linux is difficult for
other reasons. For example, there are not enough computer experts to carry
this out. Microsoft Windows is much easier to install, and maintain, than
Linux. Many more Chinese computer manufacturers are shipping PCs with Linux
installed, but the demand is just not there.*Microsoft has a huge head
start, and only less than five percent of Chinese PCs use Unix or Linux, and
the government represents a third of those non-Windows users.*

China has tried to get around this by subsidizing Linux training for Chinese
engineers and computer technicians. The government also subsidized the
development of the Kylin Unix based server software. Kylin is shareware, and
anyone can download it. Kylin is also designed to be very secure, much more
secure than Microsoft server software, and most other similar products.
China has had more success in getting users to adopt non-Microsoft server
software, but the real battleground is PCs.

*Russia believes they can force the adoption of Linux. But Russia has a long
history of government that order grand things be done, and eventually
settling for a compromise. Like declaring that the problem has gone away and
everything is fine*

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