Taiwan to Require Linux Compatible Hardware
Jason Tan of the Taipei Times reports “Government says all new PCs must be Linux-friendly.”
From the article: “The government-run Central Trust of China has mandated for the first time that all desktop computers purchased from now on must be Linux-compatible, demonstrating the government’s desire to widen the nation’s usage of open source software.
“It is a global trend that Linux is gaining wider adoption due to its lower costs and better adaptability,” Mike Lin (???), a consultant at the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), told the Taipei Times yesterday…
About 120,000 desktops will be procured during the 11th and 12th tenders, the report said.
“In the past, some of the procured computers did not support Linux, therefore this new mandate signifies the government’s push to reduce reliance on the Windows operating system,” Lin said.”
Not bad, but there is more:
“In the legislative session held late last year, legislators reached an additional consensus that there should be a 25 percent cut of procurement budget on Microsoft’s products across all government agencies, citing that the solutions — which monopolize the market — are too expensive.”
It looks like Taiwan will be introducing a lot of open source, or else Microsoft will blink and drop their prices to delay FOSS’ incursion for a little longer.