China Dismisses Report of
Microsoft Windows Ban
BEIJING (Reuters) - China forcefully
denied on Friday it had banned
Microsoft's (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news)
Windows 2000 operating system from
government computers.
The Ministry of Information Industry said it
was making 'this special announcement to
set the record straight' after an official
newspaper said on Wednesday the
government had barred Windows 2000 to
support the domestic software industry.
Zhang Qi, the top regulator of the
software industry, said in the statement
published on the ministry's Web site that
her office had never issued a ban.
``My department has never made such a
decision, much less made any demands,'
Zhang, the ministry's director of the
Department of Electronics and I.T.
Products, said in the statement, which she
read to Reuters by telephone.
Michael Rawding, Microsoft's regional
director for greater China, said senior
officials at the Public Security Bureau and
other ministries also had dismissed the
report in the Yangcheng Evening News.
``It's a completely baseless rumor,'
Rawding said in a telephone interview.
Rawding said government ministries were
strong customers of Windows NT, the
operating system Windows 2000 is
designed to replace. Windows 2000 is
scheduled for release in China in March.
``We have several government agencies
that are very active users of Windows NT
and are looking very closely at ...
Windows 2000 and are very excited about
that product,' he said.
The Yangcheng Evening News said
government departments would be
ordered to use ``Red Flag-Linux' -- a new
operating system developed by a
government think tank and based on
upstart operating system Linux -- instead
of Windows 2000.
Microsoft has faced a stream of negative
publicity in China, fuelled by a book
written by its former Chinese general
manager accusing the company of
arrogance.
A piracy lawsuit by Microsoft against a
small local firm last year unleashed a
nationalist backlash from some Chinese
who perceive the U.S. software giant as a
monopolistic bully.
Sun Yufang, an official overseeing the
Red Flag software project at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, said government
offices had expressed strong interest in
scrapping Windows, citing concerns
Microsoft had the ability to access their
computers over the Internet.
Microsoft said it was impossible for it to
track Windows users on the Internet or
access their computers.
This is the second time in three months these stories have surfaced, I don't believe for nothing, especially at the "official" news agency. I think heads are rolling for running the story, but I believe in essence it's true.
If you as a Nation had a choice between spending Billions (then hundreds of Billions) to a foreign software company for a closed proprietary product or spending nothing for a free open product that could be the basis for your own multi-Billion dollar industry, which would you choose?
Anyone who doesn't believe that story is both blind and ignorant of Chinese Style. Of course they are going to do that, as they should, they just don't want to talk about it
especially in the face of ongoing trade talks, membership in the WTO etc.
mowa |
