The World's Worst Way to Market Linux

[ Thanks to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for this link. ]

"It's estimated that China has an 82% software piracy rate. Getting businesses to go legal with a native Chinese Linux sounded like a win to me. Until, I saw the Red Flag Linux price tag: 5,000 yuan, that's $725 U.S. That's way over the line for a small Chinese business.

"Nanchang has about 600 Internet cafes for its approximately 4-million citizens. In China, for most people, Internet cafes are still the way they use to connect with the Internet. China made be home for Lenovo and many other PC vendors, but you're not going to find PCs and broadband in most homes.

"That said, no one's getting rich from the Internet cafes. They're small mom and pop businesses."

Complete Story

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