Linux instead (forwarded) Summary: forwarded message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: +65.8709.265 (O) +65.468.8157 (H) Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------- start of forwarded message (RFC 934 encapsulation) ------- Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 18:27:22 +0800 (SGT) [Not sure if this is a true report, but it is attributed to Reuters.] Reuters BEIJING -- China will ban use of Microsoft Corp's new Windows 2000 operating system throughout the government in a bid to support indigenous software, an official newspaper reported in editions available on Thursday. Officials at several government ministries said they were unaware of such a policy, which the Yangcheng Evening News said would save the government billions of dollars. ``The country's important government ministries will not permit the use of Microsoft Windows 2000 on their computers,'' the newspaper quoted officials as saying. The ministries would instead use ``Red Flag - Linux,'' a new software platform developed by Chinese researchers and based on upstart operating system Linux, the newspaper quoted the officials as saying. Weaning China away from reliance upon Microsoft software would be the Information Age equivalent of China's invention of the atomic bomb and launch of its first ballistic missile and the satellite, it said. ``Maintaining independence and keeping the initiative over our own operating system will be the `Two Bombs and Satellite' of the new era,'' it quoted the officials as saying. Windows is still far and away the dominant operating system for personal computers in China. While piracy is rampant -- reaching a rate of more than 90 percent by some estimates -- the Chinese government has said it uses legally registered copies. Windows 2000, designed to replace Microsoft's popular business-oriented Windows NT operating system, is scheduled to hit markets in China in the first half of this year. Address of original story: http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/027531.htm ------- end ------- -- http://amlan.geektown.net -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
