[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Lately there’s been rumors floating around in China which
goes along the line that the Chinese government wants to ban
Windows 2000 from computers in government department and push Red
Flag Linux as the standard platform for Chinese government instead.
At first, this rumor was easily discredited, with strong
statements from general manager of Microsoft China and Wu Jichuan,
Minister of Information Industry dismissing those statements as
‘baseless rumors’. I thought likewise. After all, Li Peng was known
to be on good terms with Bill Gates, and was seen on Chinese
newspapers being privately shown a Chinese version of Windows 2000
by Bill Gates himself. Also, this rumor came from a news report
from Yangcheng Evening News, which is nowhere near the People’s
Daily in bearing the authoritative voice of the Beijing
government….”
“One episode that has proved damaging to Microsoft in mainland
China is the resignation of Microsoft China’s general manager Wu
Shihong, who went on to publish a book during last fall criticizing
Microsoft’s business practice in mainland China. Suddenly a new
public image is given to Microsoft in the eyes of the Chinese IT
public, an image that cast Microsoft in the role of the ‘foreign
invaders’ seeking to bully its way towards dominance of the Chinese
market. It is an image that Microsoft China would rather do
without.”