Bloomberg: Linux Challenge to Microsoft’s Grip in China Finds Few Takers

[ Thanks to Phillip Brown for this link.
]

“Yu Kai, a salesman at one of Beijing’s biggest computer stores,
is all in favor of using homegrown software to break Microsoft
Corp.’s dominance in China – – if only someone could show him how
it works.”

“At Yu’s shop in suburban Zhongguancun, Chinese-made computers
from Legend Holdings Ltd. and Great Wall Computer Co. use one of
two competing operating systems: Microsoft’s Windows or a local
version of Linux — named Red Flag Linux to stir national pride —
written by a company controlled by President Jiang Zemin’s son,
Jiang Mianheng.”

“So far, computers with the Windows software installed are
selling briskly, even though they are 80 percent more expensive, Yu
said. Customers with Linux-installed models, meantime, are asking
to swap for Windows.”

“Nobody knows how to use Linux,” Yu said. “All our customers
have asked us to change Linux back to Windows because they don’t
know how to use it. Linux doesn’t provide handbooks, discs or
training classes.”

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