All of Vietnam's Government Computers To Use Linux, By Fiat

[newbie2]

"The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications has issued an administrative ruling increasing the use of Free Open Source Software products at state agencies, increasing the software's use both in the back office and on the desktop. According to the new rule, 100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009. The regulation also sets benchmarks for training and proficiency in the software. Vietnam has a population of 86 million, 4 million larger than that of Germany, and is one of the world's fastest-growing economies."
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/07/1940248
:cool:

[smoker]

more good news, this should be quite an increase in linux use :-)

[mihai.ile]

and hopefully in debugging Linux apps :D

[kpkeerthi]

and hopefully in debugging Linux apps :D

... if Vietnam's government servants are also trained on filing bug reports :P

[MisterFlibble84]

They're only doing this to get into the World Trade Organization, which requires countries to have "Intellectual Property" laws.

The WTO doesn't care if the stuff you're exporting was made by child or slave labor, it doesn't care if your workers are worked so hard they fall over and die.

All they care about is "Are you respecting foreign (United States) patents?" and "Did you pay Microsoft for that copy of Windows/Office?"

:P

[gn2]

That is an immense undertaking and it will be very interesting to watch it develop.

I wish the Vietnamese government and people every success with this endeavour.

[zekopeko]

They're only doing this to get into the World Trade Organization, which requires countries to have "Intellectual Property" laws.

The WTO doesn't care if the stuff you're exporting was made by child or slave labor, it doesn't care if your workers are worked so hard they fall over and die.

All they care about is "Are you respecting foreign (United States) patents?" and "Did you pay Microsoft for that copy of Windows/Office?"

:P

so true. WTO == USA interest

[gn2]

Wouldn't it be superb if Bill Gates' money was used to fund PC's running Linux for this project (http://www.cpv.org.vn/details_e.asp?id=BT22110857936)?

[smoker]

Wouldn't it be superb if Bill Gates' money was used to fund PC's running Linux for this project (http://www.cpv.org.vn/details_e.asp?id=BT22110857936)?

i'm sure bill and melinda won't mind, too much, if that was the case! :lolflag:

[MisterFlibble84]

so true. WTO == USA interest

Well, when China has to work under the direction of our FBI to bust a ring of "software pirates", which country do you suspect is pulling the strings of the WTO?

WTO and the WMF (World Monetary Fund) have made debt slaves out of many nations, and if they can't corrupt the government, they just have them overthrown.

They did it in Panama, Guatamala, etc., Gulf War was to teach Saddam a lesson, not to depose him (Because we installed him in the first place because we wanted a brutal dictator, and he got away from us), Saddam wasn't playing ball and 9/11 was a convenient excuse for the WTO to co-opt our military to take him out.

Hugo Chavez has survived two coup attempts backed by the United States for his repeated refusal to join the WTO or take loans his government can't pay back.

And thats also why we won't meet with Cuba or Iran.

Human life means nothing to the WTO, the WTO has infected America and it allows American companies and the bankers to run our military and bully the rest of the world into letting us write their laws.

You notice the PARSIX Linux distribution, from Iran?

Most computers in Iran run pirated Microsoft crap, and they can't afford the crushing license fees, so they're doing the same thing Vietnam is and replacing it with Linux.

In the mean time, they can continue publically executing gay teenagers because the WTO and bankers don't care about human rights.

[Nico-dk]

follow-up (http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2009/01/07/vietnam-mandates-government-adoption-of-open-source)

Also didn't the french government start a similar project a few years ago, along with parts of both the spanish and italian governments??

[Chame_Wizard]

86 million people??damn never knew that.GO TUX GO :guitar:

[Mason Whitaker]

Eh, Good luck the Vietnamese people :P

MisterFlibble84, this is supposed to be about the Vietnamese government switching to Linux, not about some crackpot conspiracy theories...

[MisterFlibble84]

Eh, Good luck the Vietnamese people :P

MisterFlibble84, this is supposed to be about the Vietnamese government switching to Linux, not about some crackpot conspiracy theories...

I was detailing why they're switching, cause the WTO won't stand for their government officially sanctioning "piracy". :popcorn:

It's not because they're some wonderful freedom-loving land.

[smoker]

this is nothing at all to do with Vietnam joining the world trade organisation, and there is nothing, as far as i can see, in any of the links about this story to do with the WTO. Vietnam has been a member of the WTO since jan 2007: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_vietnam_e.htm

imo, this is a country, like more and more in the world, that sees the benefits of promoting free and open software, good luck to them, and hope many more countries follow suit. :-)

[MisterFlibble84]

this is nothing at all to do with Vietnam joining the world trade organisation, and there is nothing, as far as i can see, in any of the links about this story to do with the WTO. Vietnam has been a member of the WTO since jan 2007: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_vietnam_e.htm

imo, this is a country, like more and more in the world, that sees the benefits of promoting free and open software, good luck to them, and hope many more countries follow suit. :-)

When they ratified the WTO charter, they agreed to be bound by it, technically the US representative could file a complaint against Vietnam and get them fines and trade sanctions.

I doubt they want to risk that.

The United States could also charge China with illegal dumping, but the companies that really control the WTO are making too much of a killing off the cheap widgets we import to let that happen.

[Rocket2DMn]

This thread is turning out to be more political debate that linux debate, so it's getting closed.