Linux hot, standards not with China, Taiwan

Earlier this year, members of Chinese and Taiwanese IT associations announced broad plans to work together to jointly develop and promote Linux as well as home-grown standards for certain IT components. The idea is to match Taiwan's technology prowess with China's huge number of users as a base for a global Linux putsch, and to create new standards to compete with global initiatives from Blu-ray to CDMA (Code Division Mutliple Access). At an IT trade show in Shanghai, IDG News Service (IDGNS) caught up with Roger Liao, deputy director of international affairs at one of Taiwan's biggest industry groups, the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA), to discuss progress on both fronts, in addition to other IT developments in China.

IDG News Service: How is work on Linux progressing? What's popular and what's not in Taiwan and China?

Liao: It really depends on what kind of product you're talking about. For example, China really wants to promote Linux as an OS, because it's more stable. But Microsoft is by far the more popular OS here because people are used to it and it has a larger market share. Microsoft's recent deal with Novell is another aspect that's very interesting, but it's too early to say how that will affect Linux development and usage in China.

Linux is still mostly used in servers and as embedded software in China and Taiwan. A number of Taiwanese companies have opened Linux development centers in China for embedded software development. Although Chinese engineers are less experienced, they are not expensive to hire, and they learn quickly. Even we (TEEMA) use Chinese engineers for all of our software needs, but that's mostly our Web site and e-commerce platform.

IDGNS: What about the development of new technology standards? We've heard a lot about meetings between Taiwanese and Chinese IT associations to create new global technology standards. What's been accomplished so far?

Liao: There’s not a lot going on so far, just a lot of talking. Developing standards is very difficult, it’s actually a very political issue. It’s something we (Taiwan-China) always talk about – we even held discussions at the recent APEC meeting (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Hanoi, Nov. 18,19) – but nothing concrete has come from these discussions.

Most of our members are manufacturers, contract manufacturers, so they normally wait and see what standard wins out, and then embrace the winner. That's the way it's been for years, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

IDGNS: Speaking of manufacturing, is the growth of China really hurting Taiwanese manufacturers?

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