linuxworld.com — The Japanese government wants to go open source, as a way to rely less on a single vendor IT software infrastructure. And plenty of vendors are lining up to help make this happen. The move by the vendors to collaborate on Linux in Japan comes from a edict from the country's government to make Linux and open source a priority for all IT procurements
May 11, 2007 View in Crawl 4
arjieMay 12, 2007
I think Governments should always use open formats, and if the public is funding development of some software then it should definitely be open source. Also, open source software ensures that the country's secrets are kept with it, I certainly wouldn't want my government to use software that has backdoors that some other country's mega-corp put in for just that purpose.
tritonxMay 12, 2007
"irrelevant ideology like only open source"If all governements around the globe would use only Open Source software, just imagine the progresses these programs would make when everyone discover they can help improve, and every citizen will be able to profit from it. Why reinvent the wheel when you can improve upon it. Eventually closed proprietary software companies will have to vanish because they won't be able to keep the pace with open-source. Open source is gaining ground every day, don't wait till it is too late to make the switch beacause the longer you wait the harder the fall will be.
mrsteveman1May 12, 2007
The government or companies in charge of the infrastructure will have the source code for their systems, and will probably be building their own binaries if not the entire system. That means they can give assurance that the system is secured against built in information leakage, something Microsoft can't do regardless of their code viewing program.It is NOT POSSIBLE to give assurance as to the security of a closed "black-box" system, and in particular, Microsoft has repeatedly shown that they believe they have a right to retain control over Windows systems even after installation. They are not deserving of any trust whatsoever.Do you not get why it would be highly improper for one companies products to be protecting the sensitive information of multiple foreign countries?
mrsteveman1May 12, 2007
We can live without Microsoft, they are FAR on the end of the "you owe us" scale, massively.The harm Microsoft does to the IT world is far worse than any amount of tax money they could possibly contribute to the US government or the economy. They do absolutely no good, they are the single largest cause of information security problems, the single largest source of vulnerable systems, the manufacturer of almost every system currently being controlled in botnets.Microsoft, quite simply, is worthless, they have broken so many laws to retain control over the computer systems being used in this country, they should be sued into bankruptcy and beaten with metal pipes.
thetankengineMay 12, 2007
Try billions.
yoyarMay 12, 2007
Never is a long time. You can't hold back the tide.
digitaljesterMay 12, 2007
dun dun dun...another one bites the dust...
phyreflyMay 13, 2007
2chan 2 the rescue!