Linux is an attractive proposition for a quarter of the world's
population. Venetia Thompson finds out why
Microsoft products are "expensive, arrogant and unstable", says
Juliet Wu, the former general manager of Microsoft in China, in her
book Against the Wind: Microsoft, IBM and Me. The book criticises
Microsoft's high prices and its approach to piracy in China.
Wu's book has fuelled the growing debate about Linux in China. For
a quarter of the world's population desktop computing is in its
infancy, so one billion desktop PCs would represent a mighty
revenue stream for Microsoft, whose Windows operating system would,
by normal calculations, be on 90% of those desktops.
Wu is not the only person in China to consider an open source
alternative to Microsoft: the Chinese government is actively
pursuing a Linux strategy, the user community can see real benefit
from it, and a whole generation of software start-ups can see the
possibility of seizing global advantage in backing the
platform.
"There is an opportunity for China to play a significant role in
the Linux world," says Dan Kusnetzky, analyst at IDC. "I think it
is a chance for [software start-ups] to add significant value. That
certainly could allow China to take its place on the world stage as
a software-producing country."
Yang Junh, who heads the Shanghai Linux group and runs his own
network integration company, feels that China's corporate networks
will eventually be dominated by Linux.
In January 2001, a Kwangchow newspaper, Yangcheng Evening News,
said that the Chinese government had decided to reject Windows 2000
and embrace Linux. That decision, in effect, means that Microsoft
could be shut out of a big part of the market in China.
John Hall, executive director of Linux International, a non-profit
group which distributes information about the operating system,
indicates that it is now Chinese government policy to use Linux
across all government ministries and that about 25,000 people are
familiar with the system.
"The fact that they don't have to tell some US company what they're
doing is reason enough for them to use Linux," Hall says. Beijing
is now quietly pursuing the Linux agenda.
The political aspect is crucial: it is a question of control. China
cannot control Microsoft or its operating system, but it can
control a Chinese-originated version of Linux. This makes the
official adoption of Linux understandable and reasonable. The fact
that Chinese people can participate in the development of the
system and use Chinese characters merely increases its
appeal.
As China constitutes a quarter of the world's population the
advancement of Linux in China at the expense of Microsoft operating
systems would be significant.
Wall Keller of GraphOn, a California-based provider of client
tools, says, "As a country, you really have to be in control of
your own destiny. It [China] wants to localise the product and its
security issues."
GraphOn says China will embrace Linux because it can develop,
market, sell and support Linux from within China. Microsoft's
pricing and licensing policies and US control are all seen as
disadvantages.
US foreign policy has also sharpened the Linux debate: the US/China
stand-off over a downed spy plane in April 2001 led to a wave of
anti-American feeling. Meanwhile, US president George Bush,
publicly marked a foreign policy shift from seeing China as
"strategic partner" to a "strategic competitor".
According to Chinese developers, the benefits of Linux are marked.
Economically, Linux would make the cost of building an IT
infrastructure much cheaper than if proprietary products were used.
Sun Yufang, chairman of a Chinese government-funded Linux
distributor Red Flag, emphasises that China must look for its own
software.
"China is still very poor. Without our own operating system, we are
at the mercy of Microsoft. The Chinese obviously worry that they
might be held captive to Microsoft's commercial priorities," says
Yufang.
Alex Huang, regional director of Microsoft Greater China, responds
to the Linux claim by saying, "Like the other Linux distributions,
Red Flag Linux is one of our competitors, just like Sun or Oracle.
"We do not believe that there is a uniform position of the Chinese
government in favour of Linux: this is proven by the success
Windows 2000 has met within departments such as the Ministry of
Railways, Ministry of Inspection, Beijing Public Security Bureau,
Ningbo Digital Port, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China
Telecom and China Unicom."
He adds that Microsoft respects the Chinese government's
requirement to protect its national security. "We are committed to
providing the Chinese authorities with guarantees that Microsoft
software is safe and secure. We are working with the Chinese
government to build a mutually beneficial thriving software
industry," says Huang.
Subjects include delicate issues such as intellectual property
rights and encryption. Intellectual property rights protection and
reducing the piracy rate will be the most important way the
government can foster the growth of the indigenous software
industry and encourage more foreign investment in China.
Another key issue is language. Chinese software house Bluepoint
spent five months developing a Chinese character Linux in 1999 and
sold 330,000 copies in 2001.
The overwhelming advantage of Linux, particularly Chinese Linux, is
that most people are not familiar with English and Bluepoint
co-founder Yu Deng emphasises that the company has localised the
Linux kernel and applications package to display, input and print
Chinese characters.
Also, China is a major manufacturer of electronic products and
Linux could be a key factor. The next generation of consumer
electronics will have embedded operating systems, and Linux can
function as an embedded OS. This huge manufacturing base, with its
many export-oriented factories, could soon yield a significant
take-up of open source.
But there is a danger that a Chinese government-backed Linux could
actually diverge from the open source kernel maintained by Western
developers. Rick Lehrbaum of Linuxdevices.com believes that China's
role in the Linux world can be profound, provided it plays by the
rules.
"The Chinese developers need to play it right to be a real member
of the open source community. Having control of the operating
system and its source, being legally able to make changes and
recompile and use it - makes it much easier to support yourself,"
says Lehrbaum.
A recent article in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post claimed
that China's developers were unwilling to give back to the Linux
community the changes they had made.
Bluepoint responded to this allegation by stating, "We distribute
all the changes we make. Anybody can download the source code on
our Web site or buy CD-Roms. Whoever claimed that the Chinese Linux
distributors are violating GPL terms is inaccurate."
Finally, Lehrbaum feels Chinese users will take to Linux more
easily because it can be tailored to meet their needs.
"I suspect they would prefer an internationally-supported, rather
than US Microsoft-only operating system. Just think of Linux as
'the peoples' operating system'," he says.
How Bluepoint's Linux got started
Bluepoint is the
brainchild of Yu Deng, Miaoshen Laio and Ling Li who are known in
the Chinese computer world as Devin, Samuel and Hahalee.
1997
- Deng worked with Laio on Linux
1998
- Co-founded the openunix.org Network Studio which registered
more than 3,000 users in one year
- Developed CXwin 0.5, the Chinese Windows environment for
Linux
- Decided to develop a real Linux operating system to support
Chinese from the kernel level and called it Bluepoint
Early 1999
- Li became a certified program engineer before leaving college
and joined the development team
July 1999
September 1999
- To expand the business, they founded Shenzhen Bluepoint Linux
Software. The three founders are recognised authorities in the
Linux/Unix community and the company is well placed to become one
of the dominant players in the Asian Linux market.
Top 10 Linux benefits for China
Linux has many
significant advantages for China. These are:
- Since 1992, Linux has made a name for itself with 20 million
users globally. It has non-commercial roots with the aim that its
system should be free, open and public. Chinese business computing
is in its early stages and can still choose a path other than
Windows. "There is a mass market out there that still isn't
computerised," says Avneesh Saxena, an analyst at IDC
- It has no rumoured back doors that let people in to disable the
systems. "With Windows, we have no way of knowing what is inside,"
says Sun Yufang, researcher at the Chinese academy of science
- The high cost of Windows makes more businesses willing to use
Linux
- The Chinese government likes working with multinationals, but
not with Microsoft
- For policy-makers, Linux offers more affordability and
security
- Politics is also a factor. "Some Chinese people think that the
US is not very friendly in China," says Danny Zheng, founder of the
Beijing user group
- Economic development - China will never own a big slice of
Windows software but could play a bigger role with Linux and this
is an opportunity for it to catch up
- National pride - it gives China an equal footing in the
software industry
- Source code availability - users can modify, but more
importantly, use the source code to support themselves. This latter
point is especially significant due to language and timezone
barriers as well as visibility
- Can be distributed with very little overhead.
Linux starts long-haul
Linux will wear away the
dominant market share Microsoft has enjoyed in Greater China by
2004, according to a study by Strategic Research reported in Hong
Kong's South China Morning Post in July 2001.
A combination of economics and negative feelings about Microsoft
will carve a niche market with 9% of corporate users. The report
states that fewer than 1% of the 289 chief information officers
surveyed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China presently use
Linux. China, with a projected adoption rate by businesses of just
under 3%, lags behind Taiwan's 6% and Hong Kong's 7%.
Chief analyst Rob O'Neill says China is the only place in the
region where Linux seems to be pushing Microsoft back. In companies
with more than 500 PCs, 9% planned to use Linux in three years.