China setzt als Teil seiner nationalen IT-Strategie auf Freie Software. Teil davon ist die eigene Linux-Distribution „Red Flag“. Wie in den meisten entwickelten Ländern (Dort meistens die Business Software Alliance), gibt es auch in China einen IT-Branchenverband, die China Software Industry Association (CSIA). Dieser warnt nun auf einmal vor Linux und der GPL, welches in den Vorjahren von demselben Branchenverband noch gelobt wurde. Ein Schelm, wer böses dabei denkt, dass Microsoft seit 2002 dort Mitglied geworden ist. In deutschen IT-Industrieverbänden sitzt Microsoft mit seinen abgestellten Mitarbeitern übrigens auch sehr oft an den entscheidenden Stellen.
The government’s „excessive preference“ for Linux is not beneficial to the country’s software industry, says the government-backed China Software Industry Association (CSIA). The government has been a strong supporter of the Linux platform and has hoped to use the open-source software to build a robust domestic industry. The strong support for the free operating system has been detrimental to the development of software products in the country, says Zou Bian, a researcher at the CSIA. „Many people in China are under the mistaken impression that software products should be free of charge,“ Zou says. „Indifference to knowledge-based products is the major obstacle to China’s software industry as well as the major source of rampant piracy.“ The business model of Linux is flawed, the CSIA said in a report last week. The open-source software adopts the General Public Licence (GPL) scheme, under which developers can only charge users for the costs and services of the software, instead of licencing fees. This model has largely thwarted the profitability of open-source software. Sun Yufang, a Chinese scholar who has long been researching Linux software, says most Linux developers cannot make a living under the current business model. Most of these developers „either have died or have focused on other businesses in past years,“ Sun says. Chen Chong, the CSIA president , says the government should change its mindset about support for open-source software.
[via China in the News]
