http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29188,00.html?st.ne.lh..ni <snippets> Computer use among China's vast population is projected to boom in the next few years, with an estimated 10 million computers a year being sold in 2002, according to executives at Pacific HiTech, which recently set up new offices in China. Despite the growth rate, however, the market comes with its own set of unusual circumstances that could favor Linux and HiTech in particular, at least in the short term, say analysts. For one thing, Linux doesn't require the latest cutting-edge machine to satisfy its hardware demands, Miller said. Linux will run on hoary 386 computers. The operating system itself also doesn't cost as much, even when sold by distributors such as Pacific HiTech. For another thing, TurboLinux supports the use of the huge character sets found in many Asian countries such as Japan and China. The original code of Linux is freely available and may be modified by anyone, so Chinese citizens or government agencies can modify the program to suit their own needs, Miller said. In comparison, the code in proprietary operating systems like most versions of Unix are off limits, he said. </snippets> kathy > Kathy E. Gill > DCAC/MRM Production Visibility Support -- 425.234.2004, pager 425.568.0195 > Continuous effort -- not strength or intelligence -- is the key to > unlocking our potential. > ~ Liane Cardes > Microsoft Exchange: the perfect name for its users' greatest desire! > ____________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Web Consultants Association : Register on our web site Now Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants If you lose the instructions All subscription/unsubscribing can be done directly from our website for all our lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
