"Asia is emerging as a key battleground for the open-source movement. The Japan-China-Korea (JCK) partnership, announced last month in Osaka, is the latest in a string of initiatives to promote Linux. Two weeks earlier, Singapore hosted the second annual Asia Open Source Symposium, where 20 Asian countries discussed closer collaboration in standardization, localization and interoperability of Linux software.
"Announcements of major Linux initiatives have become a daily occurrence in Asia this year. Governments in the region see open-source software as a fast track to the development of a domestic software industry, one that is not beholden to foreign licenses.
"The pacesetter seems to be China, which looks set to become the Middle Kingdom of the Linux revolution. China embraced Linux in 1998 and now has a thriving Linux industry. Nearly all major Western IT players--among them HP, Intel, Sun, Oracle and IBM--have teamed up with Chinese partners to get a slice of the growing Linux pie..."
