[CentOS] CHINA: Donation Scheme and Quality Community Development

Tue Feb 20 17:49:12 UTC 2007
chrism at imntv.com <chrism at imntv.com>

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,