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Thread: Canonical and China

  1. #31
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by mr john View Post
    Maybe. I think North Korea already have their own Linux Distro called Red Star OS.
    just from memory,---
    • Brazil
    • Google
    • China
    • city in Germany ...


    i'm not sure folks are going to be all that fond of a main computer set up like a phone and that could also push a few more folks over to Linux...

    the Core of the matter is in the kernel of course.... it appears Mr. Tannenbaum has most like lost his argument with Mr. Torvalds, QED, essentially

    all of which leaves me wondering just what were RING1 and 2 for, anyway ??

  2. #32
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    Re: Canonical and China

    I think that it is a good news helping Linux, and Ubuntu especial, getting the critical mass for spreading out.

    There are still many people who don't know that there exist something else then M$ and apple.
    And many of them who already heard about Linux the only thing they know about it is that it is
    "difficult" and " complicated" and nothing for them.

    And if Linux gets more users it will be also more interesting for companies producing HW and SW,
    which will make Linux more user friendly.

    Therefor, this decision can be one small (but maybe important) of many steps in the marathon trying to establish Linux on the market.
    Last edited by doja; March 28th, 2013 at 08:00 PM.

  3. #33
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by doja View Post
    I think that it is a good news helping Linux, and Ubuntu especial, getting the critical mass for spreading out.

    There are still many people who don't know that there exist something else that M$ and apple.
    And many of the them who already heard about Linux the only thing they know is that it is
    "difficult" and " complicated" and nothing for them.

    And if Linux gets more users it will be also more interesting for companies producing HW and SW,
    which will make Linux more user friendly.

    Therefor, this decision can be one small (but maybe important) of the many steps in the marathon trying establish Linux on the market.
    I think the Office Desktop Workstation, aka the "Classic PC" -- is the last gasp for the chair-throwing O/S . I think I read someplace the chair-throwers are working on porting their Office Suite to Linux . The Old Chair Thrower is hit and he's going down . Like all monsters, a bit too slowly and way too painfully .

  4. #34
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by mike acker View Post
    I think the Office Desktop Workstation, aka the "Classic PC" -- is the last gasp for the chair-throwing O/S . I think I read someplace the chair-throwers are working on porting their Office Suite to Linux . The Old Chair Thrower is hit and he's going down . Like all monsters, a bit too slowly and way too painfully .
    This is the point. A company that has 90% of the market decide. Break the monopole is difficult. I like Ubuntu because it is easy and helped me understand Linux. I don't claim it is the best distribution, but in my opinion Linux needs one distribution for desctop PC that is user friendly and spread out to set some sustainable standards on which anybody can rely. It will help also all other distributions.
    Last edited by doja; March 26th, 2013 at 06:34 PM.

  5. #35
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    Re: Canonical and China

    My feelings about this are mixed.

    First of all I think it's extremely positive that China wants to use more FOSS software, and move away from proprietary software that often is pirated! If Canonical managed to do this without sacrificing any principles, then I would be all for this. I mean, if this is solely a Chinese version of Ubuntu with some add-ons tailored for the Chinese marked, I see nothing wrong with this.

    However, I'm still kind of worried. I mean, who are we kidding? China has a history of censorship and surveillance of it's own citizens, and given what we know about the way things work over there, it is reasonable to be suspicious about this. Basically China wants to roll their own official distro and they want to base it on Ubuntu and use the expertice of Canonical in order to pull this off. So how do we know that they won't add proprietary blobs containing spyware? I can imagine they would be interested in programs detecting proxies or VPN's; keyloggers, etc.

    Such software would obviouosly not "make it upstream", yet it is still hugely problematic if Canonical decided to use their expertise to help the Chinese government if they also knew that they were planning to implement such features.

  6. #36
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by Dry Lips View Post
    My feelings about this are mixed.
    China has a history of censorship and surveillance of it's own citizens, and given what we know about the way things work over there, it is reasonable to be suspicious about this.
    I agree with you, but try to see it in positive way.

    It is like a censorship for the internet. There are some countries that try set a censorship on the internet. But there are always many ways how to overcome such restrictions or use the internet in a way you need. It would be worse if there would be no internet at all in this countries.

    If a country set an open source OS as a standard there will be always a way to modify it. Nobody says you have to use only the end distribution chosen by the government. You should be suspicious (and not only against a country) and open source gives you better possibility for surveillance.

    Separation from an enemy is worse then be in dialog with him, because then you have the chance to influence him.
    The question isn't if me or nobody, rather if me or someone else.
    Last edited by doja; March 26th, 2013 at 07:04 PM.

  7. #37
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    Re: Canonical and China

    China provides a great opportunity and I applaud Canonical for making it "in". Many companies are trying to make a "go" at it there and even the big-guys are not having an easy time.

    Canonical and Ubuntu makes sense for this because of their commercial/open source relationship. Both Red Hat and Fedora, SUSE and openSUSE do not have the same exact code-base or commercial support of the open source variant. For servers, they have their commercial arm and for desktops openSUSE is better but still not as user-focused as Ubuntu is.

    I hope that this is a financial windfall boost Canonical needs to not only make it to the black and sustain it, but to supply growth so development can do even more awesome things!

    I can understand China's point of view of not wanting to be reliant on western companies such as Microsoft or Apple. It is a security issue compared to if the government is not happy with Ubuntu in the long run they have the option of forking Ubuntu and creating/running their own version. There is also likely a cost savings (license costs of proprietary software vs. support costs to Canonical).

    This isn't just on PCs either. This can extend into the cellular market as well and considering the current "top dogs" are all of questionable control by China (Apple, Google & Microsoft), and Ubuntu phone, and eventually tablet, likewise would be more manageable/controllable.

    Any dealings like this will be tricky, though I do think Mark S. may be able to handle it. And if one country benefits from this move, others may come as well.

    Good Luck Canonical!
    Friends don't let friends wear a red shirt on landing-party duty.
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  8. #38
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Would be awesome if all countries migrated to linux.

  9. #39
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by WhaleVPS View Post
    Would be awesome if all countries migrated to linux.
    Come on, let us start!!!

  10. #40
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    Re: Canonical and China

    Quote Originally Posted by doja View Post
    Separation of an enemy is worse then be in dialog with him, because then you have the chance to influence him.
    The question isn't if me or nobody, rather if me or someone else.
    That's a concept you often hear many different settings. However, if you ignore things you know are wrong in order to seek to influence someone positively, you've silently consented to their position. And how can you get someone to change their ways by silently accepting their position and offering to assist them in carrying out their plans? I don't think Canonical thinks of this as anything beyond a market opportunity, and even if they had planned to use this partnership in order to propagate the western ideas of information freedom, they would still be a small company with a very limited sphere of influence.

    In other words, instead of managing to influence someone to change their ways, there is also the possibility that you're the one who end up being influenced.

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