Richard Ford wrote:
G'Day All,
We have been supporting linux as a side business for a while (because we use that skill set in our own value chain internally) and we are now going to start targeting the wider local Chinese market and not just the foreign companies and joint ventures.
I don't know how representative I am of the real world, but I use Linux, in general, and CentOS, in particular, in our China operations and for development purposes. I've also seen Linux (which mostly seem to be illicit copies of RHEL) in use at a lot of "blue chip" companies in the telecom, media, and Internet space. So it's out there.
I will agree completely that the overall mantra with respect to OSS is "take whatever you can get for free and let other people worry about giving back." However, you'll also see that same dynamic with the larger state owned enterprises when they interact with 800lb gorilla software and hardware vendors. It's usually a "you'll give us XYZ because otherwise we'll do business with your competitor and they'll have access to our market. You'll make it up on sales down the road (which sometimes happens, but just as often is just a hollow promise)." Welcome to China. So I think this scheme to "seed the market" would be unlikely to succeed.
Shoot me your coordinates offline and I'll give you a buzz next time I'm in Beijing (approximately bi-monthly).
Cheers,