For quite a while now, I've followed the growing web of open source-related products, development efforts, government initiatives, and other developments in Asia. Most of the high-profile action is happening in China, where the government is pushing a "buy local" technology agenda that relies heavily upon Linux and other open-source technologies.

A few weeks ago, the Chinese political leadership pressured Beijing's municipal government to drop a proposed deal with Microsoft—evidence that the government is taking a renewed interest in promoting home-grown technology. Microsoft still has plenty of irons in the fire throughout East Asia, and losing the Beijing deal won't amount to a rounding error on the company's balance sheet.

Beijing Gives Microsoft The Boot

As a symbolic gesture, however, the canceled Beijing deal could spell long-term trouble for Microsoft. East Asia is already a hotbed of open-source development efforts, including the PalmSource-China MobileSoft deal that will soon produce a Linux-based version of the Palm OS. Both Intel and IBM are also getting into the act, launching efforts to promote, service, and support their respective hardware platforms among Linux developers.

Penguin Power Hits The Road

Will IBM 'Power' Spark Chinese Open-Source Innovation?

The Chinese government also promotes work on localized Linux distributions, including a project launched as a joint Chinese, Korean, and Japanese effort. Besides the technological benefits this project will deliver, it also represents one of the few times these countries have worked on anything that didn't involve shooting at one another.

Under the circumstances, Steve Ballmer's recent veiled threats about suing Asian open-source users (which he later denied) makes more sense. Microsoft's obscenely high margins and unbelievably effective marketing strategies may soon flounder in a market where the company faces two unpleasant choices in order to stay competitive: Learn to live with rampant, endemic piracy and price its products accordingly; and accept that the Chinese government will want to pick over every last line of Windows code as a potential espionage risk.

Matthew McKenzie
Editor, Linux Pipeline
mattcmp@sonic.net
www.LinuxPipeline.com

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