On the Japanese government’s alleged Linux plans
Last week, the Seeking Alpha blog pointed to the news that “a consortium of major IT firms including IBM, NEC and Oracle plan to sell servers and systems running Linux in Japan, following a measure by the government to promote use of the open-source OS within agencies from July.” In the comments (and also on the Mozilla in Asia blog), Gen Kanai expresses his doubts about this development and links to my 2005 post about the ever recurring Japan-switches-to-Linux stories. (thanks, Gen!)
Reading a rehash of the same news on LinuxWorld today, I am pretty sure this is indeed another Linux non-story. The following paragraph proves the government’s so called “plans” are just chit chat:
The details are light in terms of what types of Linux systems Oracle, IBM, HP, et al will produce for the Japanese government. What is interesting about the initial news is the absence of any major Linux operating system distributor as part of the announcement.
Of course, the reason why there is no vendor yet is because the deal will probably never happen. Microsoft will simply give in to the government’s pressure and offer its software at a lower price point. And be sure then that Japan’s Linux plans will be put in the fridge for another while.
Previous coverage:
- 2005-10-15: Japanese government eyeing Linux? Quick deconstruction of a non-story.
- 2006-12-26: FFWD 2007
- 2007-03-08: That Linux story again
Supposedly it is Red Hat. But I reserve the right to remain skeptical.
» Gen Kanai on May 14th, 2007 at 08:46
[...] numerous government announcements regarding Linux initiatives, little real progress is being made, with the official English web pages describing the project in [...]
» Japan’s public sector still not moving to Linux, OSS » 世論 What Japan Thinks on December 15th, 2007 at 22:28
Good for people to know.
» Phiala on April 23rd, 2009 at 01:15