Commentary: Linux is moving closer to monopoly—will it become a second Microsoft?
2002-10-28 19:44:00 Blog China
By Cao Zengguang
The shadow of Linux moving closer to monopoly
When Microsoft Windows system security problems have been criticized until they are riddled with holes, and it is meeting with doubt, resistance, and opposition in China, the government has placed its only hope on open-source Linux. Linux has become the weathervane for ministries, bureaus, and commissions in government procurement when choosing products. Policy guidance and industry encouragement have tilted across the board toward Linux. From the standpoint of information security, the strategy of establishing Linux's image in China is obviously correct, and is also a strategic decision concerning the lifeline of the information industry.
First of all, the government's original intention is good. At present, Linux is seeking a commercial model to break free from questions about profitability, and this is still in its embryonic stage worldwide; that is to say, there is still no stable and recognized model. With no commercial operating model, and under the premise that technology is in short supply in China, Linux naturally plays the role of establishing a new continent for OS software. When domestic Linux operating system software can hold up its own sky, Linux can build a truly independent platform in China, a new world completely detached from the Microsoft Windows system. But can everything go as wished?
The world economy is changing, and Linux is also constantly evolving. Between freedom and commerce, Linux is gradually abandoning the noble open-source model. Under the favor and praise of commercial software giants including IBM, SUN, HP, and others, the commercial flavor Linux has picked up is becoming stronger and stronger. After IBM and SUN frantically married their own technologies and standards to Linux, what was grafted out was a low-cost Linux product “variant,” and the most critical point is that their products, services, and solutions bear the Linux imprint. And this happens to fit China's national conditions.
The Linux concept is becoming an object coveted by the IT industry giants. Database and management software vendors such as IBM, ORACLE, and SAP have all ported their products to the Linux platform, and are penetrating China's big Linux market, which advocates freedom. This will be a strategic adjustment and shift, a bet on future trends. On the one hand it caters to the domestic call to use Linux, and on the other hand it quietly builds a new monopoly. Under the cover of Linux's concept of freedom and free-of-charge, anyone can take it and use it, and make it part of his own product.
Will Linux in China become a new “Microsoft”? While the domestic government and industry experts are trying to build a domestically independent flagship system, and extend it to the level of application software, database software, middleware, and general software, the keen noses of foreign multinational giants have already sniffed out business opportunities. By comparison, domestic Linux vendors are muddleheaded and struggling half-dead. Even in the promising field of Linux servers, very few have shown their mettle.
Not to mention application software, database software, and middleware built on the Linux system platform. When related foreign IT enterprises are all getting involved in Linux platform development and recommending Linux products to target customers, their domestic counterparts blanch at the mention of Linux. Apart from gritting their teeth and developing Linux versions in order to cooperate with government policy, how many enterprises take the initiative? Where is the reason? You are not smart enough; what is lacking is strategic vision and decision-making in grasping the prospects. In the future when Linux is prevalent, foreign vendors will still rule the domestic Linux market just like Microsoft rules the world.
Domestic Linux vendors seek external breakthroughs
Recently, there has been news that IBM will strongly support the Linux operating system, preinstall the Linux operating system on all PCs, and that IBM will also air advertisements promoting Linux during prime time on American television programs next month. IBM said: the huge advertising expenditure will make Linux become a common name, just like Microsoft Windows.
Although not long after, IBM came out to refute the rumor, and said that for the time being it would not consider launching PCs with Linux installed in China, it is obvious that IBM's throwing itself into Linux's embrace is not in the hope of achieving something in the Linux desktop field. But its intention to strengthen its own image and position in the Linux market is self-evident. Just as IBM expects, it wants to make Linux into a name in the same position and just as important as Microsoft Windows, and IBM naturally covets the throne of Linux leader, because this means the emergence of a new monopoly overlord.
On October 9, 2002, a memorandum closely tied to the fate of China's Linux development was signed among the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Beijing Informatization Office, and IBM. IBM will join hands with the Beijing municipal government to jointly promote the development of the local Linux industry.
For IBM, this will be a crucial move in the battle for China's Linux market. Joining hands with the government to build a domestic Linux industry chain not only consolidates its own position in the Linux field; more importantly, it can extract profits from it. On this point, the media have had many criticisms, and some have even expressed deep concern with headlines saying domestic Linux vendors are encountering a life-or-death calamity. In fact, this is not the same concept. What the government values in cooperating with IBM is IBM's solutions and services built on Linux, and domestically there are almost none that have achieved anything in this field. The government, having no alternative in looking for a partner, can only settle for IBM.
According to sources, after IBM and the government signed the memorandum of understanding, domestic Linux vendor Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been itching to make a move, repeatedly throwing out the embroidered ball to IBM, trying to gain benefits from it and get a slice of the pie. Some experts also believe that IBM has long since begun comprehensive cooperation with Red Hat, the world's largest Linux vendor, including Red Hat providing IBM with a Linux operating system based on IBM servers, while Red Flag Linux's Linux system happens to be a Chinese-localized version built on Red Hat. Therefore, if Red Flag of the Chinese Academy of Sciences forms an alliance with IBM, IBM's voice in the domestic Linux market will surely be strengthened; after all, Red Flag Linux is the representative figure of the government's army.
Some people hold different views. In the field of Linux industry applications, Red Flag Linux clearly lacks confidence, and cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Red Hat. Whether in funding, technology, or in key points such as industry applications and cluster computing, these are all weak links. Joining hands with Red Flag to expand the market is very likely to ultimately turn into a burden for IBM. Red Hat's influence and technical maturity in the Linux field are beyond reproach; forming an alliance with Red Flag again would be somewhat superfluous.
When will China's two major Linux vendors shake hands and make peace?
There is no doubt that the government supports the development of Linux in China, but this has caused domestic Linux development to follow a unique route. Indoctrinatory, compulsory development has become the theme of Linux's progress in China. However, there are very few vendors that truly understand the government's difficulties and actively cooperate. Blindly clinging to the Linux desktop field will only lose opportunities.
After Beijing's tender adopted Linux, it improved Linux through the “Yangfan” and “Qihang” projects, for example Chinese support, interface, ease of use, device drivers, and so on. The “Yangfan” system is a hybrid of the two products Red Flag Linux and ChinaSoft Linux. The government's intention is to unify the current mainstream domestic Linux system vendors and establish new industry standards; for the two domestic Linux systems, it obviously cannot favor one over the other.
But a compromise choice is not beneficial to the establishment of Linux industry standards. A friend at ChinaSoft Linux said that after all, Red Flag and ChinaSoft Linux still have very big differences, including many aspects such as hardware support and software settings. Complete integration and unification requires a great deal of energy and funding. It is also necessary to find a balance point satisfactory to both sides in technology, scale of capital investment, and distribution of benefits.
Looking at it from another hidden crisis, Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux are still competitors fighting to the death in the market. The result of government mediation will be that the two sides simply piece together a system to cope with it. For a government intending to establish standard, unified domestic Linux system software, satisfaction with “Yangfan” will be greatly discounted. After all, a melon forced off the vine is not sweet.
The attitude of one expert seems even more radical. The establishment of a domestic Linux system platform requires stable R&D and sufficient funding. If the bottom-level platform foundation is not stable, how can application software based on this platform be structured later? The most perfect combination would be to merge Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux into one. Only this would be true integration, and it would also avoid the buck-passing and wrangling phenomenon of each side shirking responsibility. However, how to integrate the two systems involves conflicts of interest in different areas, and the difficulty will be great.
After contact with people from ChinaSoft Linux, the reporter found that standard unification for domestic Linux systems is unavoidable. This can be seen from a simple example: the system platform needs to obtain the cooperation of hardware vendors' drivers in order to ensure that hardware conflicts do not occur. This is only the tip of the iceberg in establishing a stable system. Therefore, there was the emergence of United Linux led by Turbolinux. Domestically, true cooperation is likewise needed.
Domestic Linux development must reject impetuousness
The development of Linux in China requires a persevering attitude, but domestic Linux R&D is much more impetuous. When government procurement listed Linux development as the preferred system, in last year's government procurement, Red Flag of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux both won bids. But up to today, other application software based on Linux systems is still rarely seen supporting the Linux operating platform.
China needs enterprises with courage like IBM to stand out and form a Linux industry alliance including hardware and software. If the domestic Linux market is developed merely by selling desktop editions, it can be said to be a childish act. Things like the surfing platform once popular in China could only maintain life with money raised from the stock market. This also illustrates the essence of the problem.
It is reported that a certain office software vendor that won a bid in government procurement has long since terminated development of its for Linux version, and the explanation given was to avoid wasting funds. This shows that using Linux in government procurement must avoid degenerating into formalism. Linux development must be placed at a strategic height, and the government should also increase urging and supervision to ensure that Linux can truly play a role and be popularized on a large scale.
According to a certain media report, “The Linux operating system is quietly heating up, and demand for Linux talent is also warming up. According to statistics, within the five years after our country joins the WTO, demand for Linux talent will exceed 1.2 million people.” The development of Linux requires a pragmatic attitude. Encouraging development does not mean bombast divorced from facts.
Impetuousness has always existed in the domestic software industry, from the pursuit of the software blue-collar concept, to the situation where software institutes sprang up everywhere, to the magnification of the gap in demand for software talent. I hope Linux will not repeat the same mistake.
Closing words:
For domestic Linux, waiting and watching, and tentative probing, should not continue. First establish system platform standards, then devote efforts to the enterprise application market, developing application software, database software, solutions, and management software based on the Linux platform. Waiting is not the answer to solving the problem, and the government should also give full support in funding and public opinion guidance, and establish training and policies matched to Linux. Otherwise, what awaits in the future will be a new round of monopoly.
2002-10-28 19:44:00 Blog China
By Cao Zengguang
The shadow of Linux moving closer to monopoly
When Microsoft Windows system security problems have been criticized until they are riddled with holes, and it is meeting with doubt, resistance, and opposition in China, the government has placed its only hope on open-source Linux. Linux has become the weathervane for ministries, bureaus, and commissions in government procurement when choosing products. Policy guidance and industry encouragement have tilted across the board toward Linux. From the standpoint of information security, the strategy of establishing Linux's image in China is obviously correct, and is also a strategic decision concerning the lifeline of the information industry.
First of all, the government's original intention is good. At present, Linux is seeking a commercial model to break free from questions about profitability, and this is still in its embryonic stage worldwide; that is to say, there is still no stable and recognized model. With no commercial operating model, and under the premise that technology is in short supply in China, Linux naturally plays the role of establishing a new continent for OS software. When domestic Linux operating system software can hold up its own sky, Linux can build a truly independent platform in China, a new world completely detached from the Microsoft Windows system. But can everything go as wished?
The world economy is changing, and Linux is also constantly evolving. Between freedom and commerce, Linux is gradually abandoning the noble open-source model. Under the favor and praise of commercial software giants including IBM, SUN, HP, and others, the commercial flavor Linux has picked up is becoming stronger and stronger. After IBM and SUN frantically married their own technologies and standards to Linux, what was grafted out was a low-cost Linux product “variant,” and the most critical point is that their products, services, and solutions bear the Linux imprint. And this happens to fit China's national conditions.
The Linux concept is becoming an object coveted by the IT industry giants. Database and management software vendors such as IBM, ORACLE, and SAP have all ported their products to the Linux platform, and are penetrating China's big Linux market, which advocates freedom. This will be a strategic adjustment and shift, a bet on future trends. On the one hand it caters to the domestic call to use Linux, and on the other hand it quietly builds a new monopoly. Under the cover of Linux's concept of freedom and free-of-charge, anyone can take it and use it, and make it part of his own product.
Will Linux in China become a new “Microsoft”? While the domestic government and industry experts are trying to build a domestically independent flagship system, and extend it to the level of application software, database software, middleware, and general software, the keen noses of foreign multinational giants have already sniffed out business opportunities. By comparison, domestic Linux vendors are muddleheaded and struggling half-dead. Even in the promising field of Linux servers, very few have shown their mettle.
Not to mention application software, database software, and middleware built on the Linux system platform. When related foreign IT enterprises are all getting involved in Linux platform development and recommending Linux products to target customers, their domestic counterparts blanch at the mention of Linux. Apart from gritting their teeth and developing Linux versions in order to cooperate with government policy, how many enterprises take the initiative? Where is the reason? You are not smart enough; what is lacking is strategic vision and decision-making in grasping the prospects. In the future when Linux is prevalent, foreign vendors will still rule the domestic Linux market just like Microsoft rules the world.
Domestic Linux vendors seek external breakthroughs
Recently, there has been news that IBM will strongly support the Linux operating system, preinstall the Linux operating system on all PCs, and that IBM will also air advertisements promoting Linux during prime time on American television programs next month. IBM said: the huge advertising expenditure will make Linux become a common name, just like Microsoft Windows.
Although not long after, IBM came out to refute the rumor, and said that for the time being it would not consider launching PCs with Linux installed in China, it is obvious that IBM's throwing itself into Linux's embrace is not in the hope of achieving something in the Linux desktop field. But its intention to strengthen its own image and position in the Linux market is self-evident. Just as IBM expects, it wants to make Linux into a name in the same position and just as important as Microsoft Windows, and IBM naturally covets the throne of Linux leader, because this means the emergence of a new monopoly overlord.
On October 9, 2002, a memorandum closely tied to the fate of China's Linux development was signed among the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Beijing Informatization Office, and IBM. IBM will join hands with the Beijing municipal government to jointly promote the development of the local Linux industry.
For IBM, this will be a crucial move in the battle for China's Linux market. Joining hands with the government to build a domestic Linux industry chain not only consolidates its own position in the Linux field; more importantly, it can extract profits from it. On this point, the media have had many criticisms, and some have even expressed deep concern with headlines saying domestic Linux vendors are encountering a life-or-death calamity. In fact, this is not the same concept. What the government values in cooperating with IBM is IBM's solutions and services built on Linux, and domestically there are almost none that have achieved anything in this field. The government, having no alternative in looking for a partner, can only settle for IBM.
According to sources, after IBM and the government signed the memorandum of understanding, domestic Linux vendor Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been itching to make a move, repeatedly throwing out the embroidered ball to IBM, trying to gain benefits from it and get a slice of the pie. Some experts also believe that IBM has long since begun comprehensive cooperation with Red Hat, the world's largest Linux vendor, including Red Hat providing IBM with a Linux operating system based on IBM servers, while Red Flag Linux's Linux system happens to be a Chinese-localized version built on Red Hat. Therefore, if Red Flag of the Chinese Academy of Sciences forms an alliance with IBM, IBM's voice in the domestic Linux market will surely be strengthened; after all, Red Flag Linux is the representative figure of the government's army.
Some people hold different views. In the field of Linux industry applications, Red Flag Linux clearly lacks confidence, and cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Red Hat. Whether in funding, technology, or in key points such as industry applications and cluster computing, these are all weak links. Joining hands with Red Flag to expand the market is very likely to ultimately turn into a burden for IBM. Red Hat's influence and technical maturity in the Linux field are beyond reproach; forming an alliance with Red Flag again would be somewhat superfluous.
When will China's two major Linux vendors shake hands and make peace?
There is no doubt that the government supports the development of Linux in China, but this has caused domestic Linux development to follow a unique route. Indoctrinatory, compulsory development has become the theme of Linux's progress in China. However, there are very few vendors that truly understand the government's difficulties and actively cooperate. Blindly clinging to the Linux desktop field will only lose opportunities.
After Beijing's tender adopted Linux, it improved Linux through the “Yangfan” and “Qihang” projects, for example Chinese support, interface, ease of use, device drivers, and so on. The “Yangfan” system is a hybrid of the two products Red Flag Linux and ChinaSoft Linux. The government's intention is to unify the current mainstream domestic Linux system vendors and establish new industry standards; for the two domestic Linux systems, it obviously cannot favor one over the other.
But a compromise choice is not beneficial to the establishment of Linux industry standards. A friend at ChinaSoft Linux said that after all, Red Flag and ChinaSoft Linux still have very big differences, including many aspects such as hardware support and software settings. Complete integration and unification requires a great deal of energy and funding. It is also necessary to find a balance point satisfactory to both sides in technology, scale of capital investment, and distribution of benefits.
Looking at it from another hidden crisis, Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux are still competitors fighting to the death in the market. The result of government mediation will be that the two sides simply piece together a system to cope with it. For a government intending to establish standard, unified domestic Linux system software, satisfaction with “Yangfan” will be greatly discounted. After all, a melon forced off the vine is not sweet.
The attitude of one expert seems even more radical. The establishment of a domestic Linux system platform requires stable R&D and sufficient funding. If the bottom-level platform foundation is not stable, how can application software based on this platform be structured later? The most perfect combination would be to merge Red Flag Linux of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux into one. Only this would be true integration, and it would also avoid the buck-passing and wrangling phenomenon of each side shirking responsibility. However, how to integrate the two systems involves conflicts of interest in different areas, and the difficulty will be great.
After contact with people from ChinaSoft Linux, the reporter found that standard unification for domestic Linux systems is unavoidable. This can be seen from a simple example: the system platform needs to obtain the cooperation of hardware vendors' drivers in order to ensure that hardware conflicts do not occur. This is only the tip of the iceberg in establishing a stable system. Therefore, there was the emergence of United Linux led by Turbolinux. Domestically, true cooperation is likewise needed.
Domestic Linux development must reject impetuousness
The development of Linux in China requires a persevering attitude, but domestic Linux R&D is much more impetuous. When government procurement listed Linux development as the preferred system, in last year's government procurement, Red Flag of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ChinaSoft Linux both won bids. But up to today, other application software based on Linux systems is still rarely seen supporting the Linux operating platform.
China needs enterprises with courage like IBM to stand out and form a Linux industry alliance including hardware and software. If the domestic Linux market is developed merely by selling desktop editions, it can be said to be a childish act. Things like the surfing platform once popular in China could only maintain life with money raised from the stock market. This also illustrates the essence of the problem.
It is reported that a certain office software vendor that won a bid in government procurement has long since terminated development of its for Linux version, and the explanation given was to avoid wasting funds. This shows that using Linux in government procurement must avoid degenerating into formalism. Linux development must be placed at a strategic height, and the government should also increase urging and supervision to ensure that Linux can truly play a role and be popularized on a large scale.
According to a certain media report, “The Linux operating system is quietly heating up, and demand for Linux talent is also warming up. According to statistics, within the five years after our country joins the WTO, demand for Linux talent will exceed 1.2 million people.” The development of Linux requires a pragmatic attitude. Encouraging development does not mean bombast divorced from facts.
Impetuousness has always existed in the domestic software industry, from the pursuit of the software blue-collar concept, to the situation where software institutes sprang up everywhere, to the magnification of the gap in demand for software talent. I hope Linux will not repeat the same mistake.
Closing words:
For domestic Linux, waiting and watching, and tentative probing, should not continue. First establish system platform standards, then devote efforts to the enterprise application market, developing application software, database software, solutions, and management software based on the Linux platform. Waiting is not the answer to solving the problem, and the government should also give full support in funding and public opinion guidance, and establish training and policies matched to Linux. Otherwise, what awaits in the future will be a new round of monopoly.
我完全同意设想建立DOS组织“DOS联盟” ，也就是说和Wengier、以及“起步”站长莫老师等DOS战友一起来建立这个“DOS联盟”，以发展我国自主OS（操作系统）的高度去完成我们共同的愿望。
------党委书记
------党委书记
