News Chinese government bans Windows 8.1

Oh, noes! What will Microsoft do when they lose their largest market of pirated Microsoft software?

 

Well, if Linux is officially supported in China form now on, the piracy rates for software (at least in the OS side) will decrease dramatically. And that's good news, right?

 

Yes because I'm sure ms and everyone else don’t give a hoot about monetising the 23% available market share of paying customers

 

25% of 1.4 billion is a market the size of the US market.

 

As far as government goes... it's probably more a case of not wanting to use an OS with NSA backdoor. Instead they will use a homerolled linux so they can be sure it's 'secure'.

 

Yup makes sense. It's what I would do if I ran a government.

 

Linux is only banned from government PCs but it can still be used on home and private business PCs. This will certainly increase the popularity of Linux in China since a lot of people that work in the government will be using it and therefore will get to know it which might have not happened otherwise (wich makes Linux users like me glad) but it certainly won't kill Windows in China.

 

No surprise really. I watched a TED documentary about the NSA threat and how a number of countries are fighting back and using an open-source OS is part of that strategy. Linux isn't as fast or well optimised as windows 8 but it has other advantages I guess. I have come to respect linux over the past year even though I don't personally use it at the moment.

 

Linux in general is faster than Windows (but you can't really compare it like that, because it varies with the desktop environment). As for optimization part, what do you mean?

 

If I were a .gov I would be doing the same.

 

They'll be in big trouble.

Let me explain the current situation:

Schools have to teach kids how to use Windows because that is what their future employers use.

Employers have to use Windows as kids leaving school only know how to use Windows.

It's a vicious circle from which there can be no escape and Microsoft makes billions on the back of it.

However if a country as large as China forces a break in that circle then it has the potential to open up the Desktop PC OS market to non Microsoft products.

 

Here in Portugal is actually quite funny, because public schools make a point of teaching Windows, Office and Photoshop, etc. to kids, but they can't afford licenses. So, not only they install pirated versions in computers at school, they give copies to the students to install at home.
And no one can be bothered to change the school program to include Ubuntu, Libreoffice, GIMP, etc. because it would break that circle you are talking about.

Imagine me, teaching my younger relatives to use GIMP because they shouldn't pirate software in one Summer, and when school starts they call me and say, "Hey, I can't use GIMP at school, we have to use Photoshop, but the teacher gave us Photoshop Portable, so it's all good!". Turns out it was a pirated version packaged with Thinstall.

 

The problem here lies is that Microsoft make more money from the Netherlands than it does from China due to the massive piracy issue over there.

As many more informed Linux users will tell you, it's not any more secure than a protected Microsoft OS but it's clearly more to do with the Chinese government wanting greater control of code that Microsoft are until now not willing to hand over.

 

As far as piracy goes... clearly they are selling it for too high a price. IF they were really serious they would sell it for cheaper/give away for free ad supported 'starter' type editions for regions with extremely low income levels and high piracy. Even if it's not the latest version of Windows... like they could give away a billion Vista starter license. It's still a supported version so can get hotfixes and they have made all the money they are ever going to off Vista by this point.