The Register: Chinese take sip of Linux tea

“XTeam, a Linux software developer, will list on Hong
Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market today, as part of its bid to push
penguin-power into Mainland China.

Having shifted its focus from trying to attain market share on
the desktop level, the company is now hoping to target the
burgeoning server market in the region, using the NT$21 million
(nearly £1.9 million) raised to open an office in
Shanghai (its existing head office is in Beijing), expand its
product development and set up a training and certification
programme.

Typically, Linux has a price advantage over Microsoft software,
being free, but this advantage is lost in China where most people
either buy or download pirate versions of the software. On this
level-playing field and with Microsoft having coded better Chinese
support into its software, its applications tend to be more
popular, says Lawrence Sheed, a Shanghai-based Webmaster.”

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