中國於2001年簽訂 wto 後要落實打擊電腦軟件翻版活動. 在以前 micosoft 是最常用的軟件, 但為了落實知識產權, 國家機關大部份都轉用了Linux系統, 而且政府亦投入資源發展更多的開放軟件.
可見 wto 的結果不一定是單向的跨國企業入侵問題, 中國政府的做法已給 micosoft 一個很強的 signal, bill gates 無法以原有的經營方法進入中國, 難怪 bill gates 最近頻頻向公司員工發出 memo 說要轉型為服務業.
開放軟件的做法, 對於發展中國家來說, 貢獻很大, 因為這些國家可以發展出適合自己國家語言和使用習慣的軟件, 價錢又平...
----------------------------
節錄自zd net
Until China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, pirated copies of Microsoft software were in common use in the country, including in government agencies.
Now it's part of the WTO, China must replace unlicensed copies of Microsoft software. It is likely to replace at least some of these Windows installations with Linux.
Chinese local and national governments have started installing open-source software, and those migrations involving Linux have been given the most publicity.
National government agencies using Linux include the National Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Statistics and the National Labour Unit. Local governments using Linux include the municipal government of the Chinese capital, Beijing, which is using 2,000 Linux desktops.
Aside from Linux, other open-source products are supported by the Chinese government. These include NeoShine, a Chinese variant of OpenOffice.org, which is on the Chinese government's preferred list for government office productivity products. ...
The Chinese government has spoken of its support for open source on numerous occasions and has funded a number of open-source initiatives and research projects. Last year, the Chinese Ministry of Information founded the Open Source Software Promotion Alliance to encourage the development of China's open source software industry. The government is also working with a number of other countries on open-source projects. For example, it is working with the South Korean and Japanese governments to develop open-source alternatives to Microsoft Windows, and is working with the French Atomic Energy Commission to develop a Linux-based platform for online services and communication applications.
The Chinese government's enthusiasm for open-source software is partly due to lower cost and partly to benefit the local industry, DiMaio of Gartner said. But, there are also cultural and political reasons for its pro-open-source policy, Redmonk analyst James Governor said.
"There is a lot of distrust of American imperialism in China," Governor said. "As Linux is not owned by an American company, it appeals to them. China also has communitarian instincts, which open source plays into"
There is also concern among some members of the Chinese government that Microsoft software contains secretly embedded code that the U.S. government could manipulate, which would allow the U.S. to bring down China's computing infrastructure.
Madanmohan Rao, a research director at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre agreed that anti-Americanism is a factor in China's promotion of open source. "The Chinese government is a bit paranoid about having proprietary code; it is worried about a back door into its systems," he said.