China To Veto Government Use Of Windows

Newspaper reports today from China indicate that the Chinese
government will ban the use of Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 2000 operating system by government offices in a bid
to support indigenous software.

However, according to a Reuters report today, an official newspaper
reported in Thursday editions that officials at several government
ministries said they were unaware of such a policy, which the
Yangcheng Evening News said would save the government billions of
dollars.

The Reuters report states, "The country's important government
ministries will not permit the use of Microsoft Windows 2000 on
their computers." Government ministries instead would use "Red
Flag -- Linux," a new software platform developed by Chinese
researchers and based on the Linux operating system, the
newspaper quoted officials as saying.

Windows still dominates PC operating systems in China, the report
said; and while piracy is rampant, reaching a rate of more than 90
percent by some estimates, the Chinese government has said it uses
legally registered copies. Windows 2000, meant to replace
Microsoft's business-oriented Windows NT operating system, is
scheduled to hit Chinese markets in the first half of this year,
the report said.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.