“Lee is effectively Microsoft’s goodwill ambassador to Beijing,
where the Windows operating system faces a growing challenge from
Linux and where the company is often regarded as a greedy
imperialist force. In an effort to establish good faith, Lee’s
research lab is sharing technology and working to incorporate
software into Windows that will make computing easier for the
Chinese.”
“Though Windows, in both legal and pirated forms, dominates the
desktop market in China, cost considerations make Linux a potential
threat. Government agencies have sponsored the development of
homegrown versions of the open-source software, including Red Flag
Linux. “The economic incentive to use a free operating system
is huge,” says Cliff Miller, chairman of San Francisco-based
TurboLinux, one of the largest Linux distributors in
China.”
“For the Chinese government, one attraction of open-source code
is the perception that a proprietary American system promotes
foreign domination. Microsoft has had to vehemently deny rumors of
a “back door” hidden in the Windows code that supposedly gives U.S.
security agencies access to sensitive information held on PCs.”