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CHINA: EMERGING FOSS DRAGON, WITH LOT TO GAIN FROM AND SHARE WITH THE WORLD
Report compiled by Frederick Noronha
China is recognised as an important country that will determine the growth
and potential of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), not just in Asia but
beyond. FOSS in China draws support from the government, and is also gaining
from local initiatives, and some ventures to promote it are helping build
bridges with China's neighbours.
The China-Japan-Korea cooperation has been working on issues like Linux
Standardization, FOSS Education and Training Research and Development.
Some of the challenges seen to be facing FOSS's growth in China include its
standardisation, its possibility to build alliances (such as the China Open
Source Software Promotion Union), and the need to spur on the deployment of
FOSS in crucial sectors like education and training.
Currently, FOSS is being deployed in major products in fields such as
embedded systems, the server and at the OS (operating system) level. Reports
emerging out of China suggest that projects have been launched to research
on the Linux standards architecture, and for Linux application programming
interface specifications, apart from a project for technical requirements,
and another for Linux System User Interface Requirements. The Chinese
government has been undergoing technological programs such as the 863
program and the 973 program, Also being looked at are FOSS's relevance for
the small business.
DR Lin GAO of the China Electronics Standarization Institute lists some
issues facing FOSS in China -- at http://www.asia-oss.org a useful site for
links to FOSS in different parts of China. He says that from 1999, GNU/Linux
grew rapidly in the Chinese markets, with both the operating system and
GNU/Linux-based applications prospering greatly. But he lists some of the
problems encountered as (i) different interfaces provided by different
GNU/Linux products (ii) large differences in functionality and performance
among different GNU/Linux products (iii) different usage habits for
different products. This results in difficulties in the development of
applications, poor compatibility and poor usability, he noted.
Work is underway on standardisation of GNU/Linux, under the Ministry of
Information Industry, the SAC (Standardization Administration of China) and
the CESI, Gao said. Research work was begun in 2001, and a Linux
Standardisation Working Group (CLINUX-WG) was set up.
Below is a listing of FOSS software products from China, a listing of user
groups, other resources, important players and links to them within the
country, and FOSS distros from China, apart from other details.
China-related software products
-------------------------------------
There are a growing number of globally-visible products emerging from China.
It is quite likely this these are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg,
with a number more being aimed primarily at the domestic market, and not so
visible outside the Chinese language.
Below is a listing of some China-related FOSS products. There would
obviously be many more that deserve to be included, but aren't; mainly
because of language barriers and communication gaps. One of the major needs
for FOSS to grow in China might be a better showcasing of the achievements
of that country, at the global level
Some links to China-related FOSS products:
ThizOffice
An OpenOffice-based suite specially designed for the Greater China region.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/thizoffice/
Author: Thiz Technology Group Limited
guanxiCRM
A comprehensive CRM solution for doing business in Asia.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/guanxcrm/
Author: wjue
JFox - J2EE Application Server
JFox is an Open Source, standards-compliant, J2EE based application server
implemented in 100% Pure Java, It comes from China Enterprise Open Source
Community. http://www.huihoo.org
http://sourceforge.net/projects/jfox/
ERP5 from China
ERP54CN is a software internalization project mainly for using the ERP5
project in China. Quote: "We will do the hard work of translation,
experimenting, and customizing the well designed projects into Simplified
Chinese."
http://sourceforge.net/projects/erp54cn/
freepy
A GNU Chinese character input method. It is based on win32 system,
provide more choice for people in China to make a ime by themselves. It
compiles under microsoft visual c++, mainly on win2k/xp platform.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freepy/
hicmpp
A java based CMPP implement: A java based CMPP (China Mobile Peer to Peer)
compatible implement
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hicmpp/
Xoops China Development and Documentation for the Xoops Project dedicated to
the Xoops China Community.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoopschina/
qqbdc
QQBDC is a software to recite word for Chinese Tencent users. Tencent is a
peer to peer Chating software and broad-wide in China. QQBDC has 20 books of
word such as Toefl or GRE and CET4 or CET6.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/qqbdc/
YelTapan Messenger System
YelTapan is a messaging system aimed to be similar to Yahoo Messenger in
functionality. It is primarily developed for Uyghur (an ethnic Turkic
nationality living in north-western China) users for lack of such messaging
software available in Uyghur lang
http://sourceforge.net/projects/yeltapan/
Super Board
To Setup A Board For Users To Discuss and Exchange Computer Experience, i.e.
Software Programming, Web Programming, Hardware Choosing, Boardband
Building, etc. It is mainly for users in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan or any
other Chinese.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hksboard/
SGIP API
SGIP is a popular SMS transfer protocol between a SMSC and a SP in China,
used by a number of major telecom carriers. Intended to make the API to be
Win32 / Unix family portable, and easy to use for C/C++ programmers.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sgipapi/
EReport
A report component of Delphi&C++Builder.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ereport/
QQAnywhere
QQ is the most popular chat tool in China. But Tencent Corporation, QQ's
provider, only provides the tool on Windows platform. This project's goal is
to provide a similar chat tool on all platform for all users work on various
platforms.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsinghua/
The9 Trainer
The9.com is one of the most famous entertainment web sites in China. The9
Trainer is a full featured program that can do a lot of work. The9 Trainer
promises a new experience of surfing in The9.com.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/t9tr/
China Web Portal
To build a web portal http://www.zhonghua.com that serves the daily lives of
mainland and overseas Chinese.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/china/
CMPP Java API CMPP
China Mobile Peer-Peer Protocol is an SMPP-like protocol widely used in
China to interface with Short Message Entities. The project aims to develop
a Java API for CMPP.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmppapi/
FlapMap
FlapMap a light-weighted web-based topology visualization tool. Developers
say they "hope to make it a more user-friendly and flexible visualization
tool than previous works". It is developed at NM Group in network research
center of Tsinghua Univ, P.R China.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/flapmap/
Robocup Agent Framework
A robocup agent framework and the cilent used by the China University of
Mining and Technology RoboCup team.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/robocupagent/
Webtools
http://www.sw-linux.com/en/scripts/main/catitem.php?catid=webtools&showid=products
Webtools is a comprehensive package of systems and applications designed to
optimize production and communication efficiencies for all users. Catering
to the demands of the market, Webtools provides five types of solutions to
meet all needs.
* Cascade - a comprehensive collaborative develpment platofrm for
project management
* Maxenger - flexible and easy to manage email client
* Firebeast - advanced firewall system to safeguard all pertinent data
* Groupware X - a well-rounded intranet facility to maximize
performance
* SchoolwareX - an educational management application integrating the
best standards, framework and experiences
Projects open-sourced from Sun Wah
https://liberate.sw-linux.com/app
Below are the projects that open-sourced by this Chinese firm. You need to
login prior to going to any project.
RAYS installer: The RAYS installer is the graphical system
installation program for the Debian-based RAYS Linux distribution.
SchoolwareX: SchoolwareX is a management system for primary and
secondary schools. Teachers and the administration office of a
school can be benefited from it. It has cool features such as
sending notification SMS to parents' mobile phones.
swGUI: swGUI is a graphical user interface library for Linux-based
embedded devices.
swEAP: swEAP is a suite of applications for embedded devices, which
includes a web browser, an email client, SMS applet and a phone
module.
User groups
-------------------------------------
For the most populous country on the planet, China appears to have a limited
number of easy-to-locate Linux User Groups, Free Software User Groups, or
GNU/Linux User Groups. This lack of visibility in the outside world could
well be because of the predominance of the Chinese language in technical
discussions in that part of the globe. Or, as argued below, it could be due
to the deployment of other forms of networking among the FOSS community.
Kenneth Wong <kenneth.wong@gmail.com> writes (personal email, Fri May 20
2005): "Formal groupings, especially those that meet in person, are rare.
Mailing lists are active though, and bbs extremely popular.... The Beijing
LUG is a strange beast -- more than 50% of its members are foreigners who
are working or studying in China. Still a good resource. Its president is
Michael Iannini <lamigra00@yahoo.com>."
Whatever the case, both China itself and the outside world could gain
immensely from a higher profile for such user groups. Listed below are some
links, sometimes in Chinese:
China Linux Forum - http://www.linuxforum.net/
http://www.linuxforum.net/ is a forum discussing FOSS in Chinese.
GNU China -- http://www.gnuchina.org
Linux Fans -- enthusiasts who built their own Linux, Magic Linux
http://www.linuxfans.org/
Nanjing GNU/Linux Users Group GNU/Linux users group in Nanjing China.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/njlug/
GNU/Linux users group in Nanjing China. Says the group "holds weekly
meetings". Its intended audience includes developers, end users/desktop,
system administrators, customer service personnel, education, information
technology. Focuses on all POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes), OS Independent
(written in an interpreted language), Linux. Programming Language: C, Perl,
PHP, Scheme, Unix Shell Translations: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese
(Traditional), English. This group seems to have been active around 2001-02.
http://www.linux.org.hk/ Hong Kong Linux User Group
Site in Chinese, Trad and English versions.
Hong Kong Linux User Group (HKLUG) describes itself as "a non-profit
organization by some Hong Kong [GNU]Linux lovers". It says it is aimed to
gather GNU/Linux users in Hong Kong, providing chances for them to exchange
experience on GNU/Linux, helping new users, promoting GNU/Linux in Hong
Kong and promoting communication with GNU/Linux users and User Groups in
other geographic areas; in order to help the community. HKLUG is Hong
Kong Registered Society No. 21299 under Societies Ordinance.
Contact: Hong Kong Linux User Group G.P.O. Box No. 11731 Hong Kong History
Says this LUG: "In 1990s, several HKLUG or similar organizations have been
established by different groups of people. However, most are stopped due to
some problem. In October 1997, some Hong Kong Linux users discussed in
StarZine starforum.comp.unix that they want to have a local LUG in Hong
Kong. They met on IRC and vote for the EXCO team re-establishing the HKLUG."
HKLUG team (elected in April 2005) includes chairman Roy Hiu-yeung Chan (aka
voidoo), secretary Leo Hau (aka ocake), treasurer Element Cheng, exco member
Bryan Chiu and exco member Adrian Sai-wah Tam (aka Alienz).
City: Shanghai
Website: http://www.linux.org.cn/
Email: webmaster@linux.org.cn
Guangzhou Linux Consortium
City: Guangzhou
Website: http://www.gzlinux.org
Email: contact@gzlinux.org
Beijing Linux Club - A site for Chinese users of Linux
GNUCTT.NET - Based on GNU Chinese Translators Team.
http://gnuctt.net ( http://www.gnu.org/software/chinese/gnuctt.cn.html )
China Java User Group Cnjug (China Java User Group) provides some util
packages.Includes some latest technology such as Spring,Hibernate ,etc.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cnjug/
FSSG, HUST
FSSG, HUST was founded by Hong Feng on Dec 20, 2004. Currently there are 30+
members in the group. On Dec 20, 2004, Hong Feng gave a speech to the HUST
students, on the topic "What is a Hacker?". The students in HUST, as in
other most Chinese univerisities today, learn the Windows based tools, which
Hong pointed out, it is little helpful to grasp the nature of computing
science. Anyone who needs to master computer science, has to hack the source
code. Free software, comes out with fully complete source codes, provide the
possibility for the students to understand the nature of the computing, thus
it is the best choice for the students to become professional software
engineers, or hackers.
http://groups.google.co.in/group/sci.electronics.design/browse_thread/thread/87c9a41c84e45511/470b2e84c5996cb6?q=China+Linux&rnum=3&hl=en#470b2e84c5996cb6
Other resources
-------------------------------------
These are initiatives that have the potential to spur on the growth of FOSS
in China.
http://www.linuxworldchina.com/ For links to LinuxWorld in Shanghai and
Beijing.
Quote: Linux is going to be one of the main stream operating systems in
China. With the objectives to develop a major operating system for the
country and to strength the software industry in China through developing
Linux, the Chinese government has strong initiatives to promote the
development and deployment of Linux and related applications in both the
government and commercial sectors.
LinuxWorld Shanghai 2005
April 27-28, 2005 / Shanghai JC Mandarin Hotel
LinuxWorld Beijing 2005
August 17-19,2005 / The Kerry Center Hotel Beijing
Linux CDs or Distro Provider serving China http://www.cdhouse.biz -- Find
and buy cheap computer software cd-roms online including GNU/Linux, Freebsd
and various other application softwares
China Based Mirrors of open source software
Apache - http://apache.linuxforum.net/dist/
Hong Kong Based Mirrors of open source software
Apache - http://apache.inframatrix.com/
Apache - http://www.zentek-international.com/mirrors/apache/
FreeBSD - ftp://ftp.cn.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/
Red Hat - ftp://ftp.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/pub/redhat/
Red Hat - ftp://sunsite.ust.hk/pub/redhat/
Localization: Obliquid - provides a search engine for Traditional Chinese KDE
translation messages
http://dev.obliquid.com/index.php?page=core_msgshow
TUG 2005 International Typesetting Conference
August 23-25, 2005
WuHan, China P.R.
http://www.rons.net.cn/tug2005.html
TUG 2005, the 26th annual meeting of the TeX Users Group, is being held in
China in August 2005. The conference is supported by CTUG (the Chinese TeX
User Group, founded in 1999), in the birthplace of ancient typography, and
TUG (the TeX Users Group, founded in 1980).
Free Software Magazine.
http://www.free-soft.org/FSM/english/issue03/
An international magazine published from China. Site suggest the latest
issue, its third, was due in March 2002. FREE SOFTWARE magazine (FSM for
short) is a free (the free in "freedom") monthly periodical devoted to the
global free software community. It is published in on-line electronic form
on the world wide web -- http://www.rons.net.cn/english/FSM/online -- and in
printed paper copies by RON's Datacom Co., Ltd., with the direct support of
Free Software Foundation, and FSF, China Academy.
GNOME Hong Kong
For Chinese people who are mainly using Traditonal Chinese. GNOME HK aims to
maintain the Traditional Chinese translation for the GNOME desktop. With
help, Gnome HK hopes to implement usability testing on Chinese GNOME
desktops. http://www.gnome.hk
Similarly, there are other institutions for Debian in Hong Kong.
http://www.debian.org.hk
Hong Kong Linux Industry Association [HKLIA]
http://www.hklia.org/
Hong Kong Linux Industry Association (HKLIA) is a united initiative among
Linux vendors, service providers and companies who want to extend, promote
and support the adoption of Linux to companies, organisations and the public
sector in Hong Kong and beyond. It was founded voluntarily by enthusiastic
Linux vendors, service providers and companies in late 2002 . Its primary
goal is to represent the Linux industry in Hong Kong to propagate the new
development of Linux to members and the general public as a business
opportunity.
It argues: "The use of Linux thus results in increased productivity, lower
total cost of ownership and extended product life cycle of your IT
resources. Its open source nature also gives developers the opportunity of
obtaining free technical resources and freedom of development. We believe
Linux is not just beneficial to developers but also adds value to users and
all sectors in the society. In the past, Linux promotion and encouragement
was done by voluntary (and often uncoordinated) community effort. The
establishment of HKLIA is to consolidate both industry and community effort
to promote the adoption of Linux from a more marketing and technical
perspective. We are confident that this will benefit the industry and
economy as a whole."
Mozilla China
Mozilla China was launched in March 2005. It is hosted by the Institute of
Software of Chinese Academy of Science. Co-founding sponsor is Sun
(China) Engineering and Research Institute. Its mission is to provide a
central point of contact and community for those who are interested in
using or improving Mozilla Technology in China
[Source: Mitchell Baker President, Mozilla Foundation March 2, 2005 in a
talk titled The Mozilla Project:A Global Effort]
Important players
-------------------------------------
General
o CoSoft
http://cosoft.org.cn/html/ev/index.php
Its full-name is Co-Create Software Branch of Chinese Software Industry
Association and it is generally called Co-Create Software League. The
English abbreviation of this association is CoSoft. Initiated, legally
registered and established in February 2000 by institutions and individuals
determined to revive Chinese software industry, it is a non-profit
software technology league. It is made up of members, the council and
executing bodies.
Objectives of this Association (1) to become one of the key R&D means for
Chinese foundation software and provide enterprises or users developing
application software and systems with low-cost common foundation software
and high-quality technical services; (2) to become the incubating
environment to optimize open source software (OSS) so as to provide an open
environment for innovative software technologies to rapidly develop and
grow, provide software developers with an arena to share achievements and a
channel to cooperate and exchange information and promote the development
environment for OSS technological services; (3) to become a new reference
system for software evaluation and participate in shaping related domestic
software standards for the purpose of promoting advanced software
technologies; (4) to launch international cooperation on OSS and assist in
promoting domestic OSS integrated to the world.
Services listed below are projected to be undertaken: Publishing (1) Promote
and publish open source foundation software and assist enterprises in
promoting related open source foundation software and value-added
development and application achievements based on demands from CoSoft member
enterprises. (2) Compile teaching materials on OSS and spread OSS-related
knowledge.
Following are co-sponsors for CoSoft (arranged in Chinese phonetic
alpahbetical order):
Beida Jade Bird Group
Computer Department of Beijing University
Network Management Research Center of Beijing Jiaotong University
Computer Department of Beijing University of Aeronautics. & Astronautics
Boshi Fund Management Co., Ltd.
Powerise Group
NeuSoft Group
Computer Department of Fudan University
Dept. Of Computer, National University of Defense Technology
National Multimedia Software Engineering Center
Computer Department of Harbin Industrial University
Computer World
Jiangsu NANDASOFT COMPANY LIMITED
Langchao Group
Department of Computer Science and Technology of Nanjing University
Computer Department of Tsinghua University
Tsinghua Unisplendour Investment Consultation Co.
Computer Department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Sichuan Top Group Scientific & Technolog
Shenyang Neu-Alpine Software Co., Ltd.
Wuhan Da Meng Database Ltd.
Wuhan University Software Base
Wuhan Wuda huaruan(Huoju) Industries Co. Ltd.
Hope Group
UFsoft Group
Computer Department of Zhejiang University
CS&S
Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Science
CASS International Inc., Chinese Academy of Science
Software Engineering Center, Chinese Academy of Science
Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Science
o Hong Feng, Free Software activist
http://www.rons.net.cn/hongfeng.html
Hong Feng, born in 1968, in HuNan Province, China. Founder of RON's Datacom
Co., Ltd. with other two partners in the May 1995. Quote: "Since then, I
have been exploring how to build a successful business model on the basis of
free software ... Free software is so interesting, I have been
enthusiastically promoting it in China for years."
Hong Feng says he has "a baby named 'MNM Project' (MNM's Not a Million), who
is four years old now. I am taking care of him to protect my freedom! A
large part of the project is Hackerdom Training Program (HTP) going on now."
He is a freelance writer, the author of four books, including "Free
Software: New Game Rules". He has also been the publisher of "free SOFTWARE"
magazine (fS). It was the only free (the "free" in freedom) monthly
periodical devoted to the global free software community in 2002 (when it
was first published), coming out with both a web and paper version, both
free to copy and redistribute.
To publish the free books in Chinese, Hong Feng says he needs a set of nice
free fonts. He has written on his website: "I am designing the high quality,
free (as in freedom) Chinese fonts with the wavelet transformation skills.
Since Chinese has thousands of interesting characters to design, this
project is still undergoing. Because the typesetting is so fun, I founded
the Chinese TeX User Group (CTUG) in 2000, which aims to promote Prof.
Donald Knuth's TeX system for the community."
As a programmer, he has been working "heavily" with Scheme for hacking and
training. Says he: "Scheme is a modern dialect of Lisp created in 1975,
quite small yet very powerful indeed (I shall say it is RMS who showed me
the power and elegance of Lisp). Maybe you like it too and are interested in
joining my MNM Project?"
Postal address listed on site: Suite 3-3, WuZhong Street 200, DongXiHu
District, Wuhan, HuBei Province, 430040 China P.R. info@mail.rons.net.cn
Important players
-------------------------------------
Commercial
o Sun Wah Linux Limited
http://www.sw-linux.com/
Sun Wah Linux Limited is a high tech company specializing in the provision
of comprehensive and effective high availability open-source platform
solutions to corporate clients. Sun Wah Linux offers a complete range of
services relating to Linux system consultation, systems integration, network
infrastructure; Linux embedded systems, Linux professional training, and
software and application development. All of these technologies are
dedicated to the delivery of open-source enterprise commerce that enables
technology for the enhancement of business performance.
Quote: "As the largest Linux solutions provider in China, Sun Wah Linux has
had a long history of helping to bridge the gap between Chinese and Asian
open source communities.... Over the past year, Sun Wah Linux became the
first Linux distribution in Asia to comply with the global Linux Standard
Base (LSB) 2.0. Already this year, Sun Wah Linux has co-sponsored China OSS
Week 2005, which included the first Asia Debian Mini-Conf 2005 and Asia
CodeFest 2005. This was tremendously successful in connecting open source
leaders and developers from all around the world to foster collaboration and
exchange knowledge with the local communities. In the near future, Sun Wah
Linux will actively continue a series of initiatives to lead the promotion
of OSS."
Sun Wah Linux' new community website is https://liberate.sw-linux.com
o Open-Source Alliance (Formed, Aug 2004)
"Open-source software alliance formed in China." IDG News Service (11 Ag
2004). <http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/08/11/HNopensourcechina_1.html>
Cited at http://incommunicado.info/node/68 Alliance with IBM, HP, and others
aims to promote open-source development and application in China A number of
Chinese software companies have joined forces with overseas vendors such as
IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp, and Novell Inc. to form the
China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance, China's first open-source
software organization, several Chinese media reported.
Exoweb
http://www.exoweb.net
Exoweb based in Beijing, provides web technology solutions using the
FOSS -based Zope application server and framework.
Chinese Based FOSS Distributions
-------------------------------------
o Red Flag
o Magic Linux
o OpenDesktop
o Hiweed Linux
o Asianux
o Red Flag Linux is a famous GNU/Linux distribution funded by the Chinese
Government.
http://www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html
Red flag currently has a look similar to Windows XP.
Red Flag Linux is seen as being able to boast of significant sales. However,
Red Flag in March 2003 was made to look as close as possible to Windows XP,
so it's clear that the effort is getting Microsoft users to migrate. Source:
http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/page/China.html
Redflag says the tenet of the training program offered by Redflag lies in
setting up its own certification and education system, with the aim of
offering excellent training services to large numbers of users of Redflag
Linux. Redflag, driven by the goal of providing user-oriented services of
top-notch quality, will dedicate great efforts to offering training on
application skills as well as comprehensive follow-up technical support,
rendering as a result little efforts to be made by users to get command of
Redflag products with high efficiency after going through the said training.
While basing itself upon the requirements of users, Redflag will bend over
backward to register remarkable achievements on the strength of its
well-developed teaching management system, professional and meticulous
teaching style, a high-profile trainer team, uniform and authoritative
training materials and a substantive evaluation system as well as a team of
technical agents boasting many years of field experience.
http://www.redflag-linux.com/peixun/eindex.html
Redflag is currently in the middle of promoting franchised Redflag training
program in China and in neighboring Chinese-spoken areas in the
Asian-Pacific Region, in the hope of bringing about training programs of
international standard both at home and abroad and consequently galvanizing
to a large measure the development of Chinese software industry.
Contacts: Red Flag Software Co.,Ltd
Add: 6/F. Zijin Building, 68 Wanquanhe Rd., Haidian Dist., Beijing
100086, P.R.China
Tel: (8610) 82656655
Fax: (8610) 82658096
Email: Website related: webmaster@redflag-linux.com
Operation Cooperate: partner@redflag-linux.com
Sales: sales@redflag-linux.com
Cooperate Embedded: emb@redflag-linux.com
ISV Operation: isv@redflag-linux.com
Education&Publish: edu@redflag-linux.com
Hardware Test: test@redflag-linux.com
Support: support@redflag-linux.com
o Magic Linux
From http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/page/Magic_Linux.html
Magic Linux is a Chinese based GNU/Linux distribution, built by enthusiasts.
It features a KDE desktop and used the RPM package system. It is based on
Red Hat Linux. Magic Linux 1.1 is the fourth version of this non-commercial
distribution. It is totally free and open. It offers: CD1, Installation.
CD2, Source. CD3, Tools. Magic Linux says it "is designed to be the best
distribution to support Chinese, from input and display to printing. It is
an easy-to-use desktop and it contains the latest version of KDE and GNOME.
Fcitx (Free Chinese Input Toy for X, see fcitx.org) is used as the input
method." Source : http://www.gudanglinux.com Home Page
http://www.magiclinux.org Also see the portal http://www.linuxfans.org
o Asianux: On March 2, 2005, Miracle Linux Corporation (Tokyo Japan,
President: Takeshi Sato), Red Flag Software Co., Ltd. (Beijing China,
Executive President: Chris Zhao) and Haansoft, Inc. (Seoul South Korea, CEO:
Jong Jin Baek) jointly announced that Asianux 2.0 to be generally available
at the end of July 2005.
Asianux 2.0 will deliver enhanced Kernel 2.6 with dramatically improved
performance, scalability and more powerful RAS functions which are required
to establish enterprise and mission-critical infrastructures and easily
migrate from enterprise UNIX to Linux. In addition, the
graphical-user-interface (GUI), management and configuration tools have been
enhanced for reducing operation and maintenance cost.
In particular, OSDL (Open Source Development Labs, Inc.) Carrier Grade Linux
(CGL) Requirements Definition will be implemented to improve reliability and
availability.
Takeshi Sato, President of MIRACLE LINUX said that, "In Japan, Linux is
being introduced in various industries including financial, manufacturing,
distribution service sectors, and in governmental and public offices. We are
aiming for Asianux to be the common and standard OS platform in Asia, and
are developing it that enhances the various functional requirements in
Japan, China and South Korea. The concept of Asianux 2.0 is to enhance the
function regarding Reliability, Availability and Serviceability. We really
expect that Asianux will be introduced into mission-critical systems, the
scope of Linux will increase dramatically in the future."
Chris Zhao, Executive President of Red Flag, said, "Now, Asianux is the only
one Asia local unified Linux distribution across China, Japan and South
Korea. The enterprise customers can get instant and highly qualified local
technical support from Red Flag, MIRACLE LINUX and Haansoft. For ISV/IHV
partners, Asianux can reduce the certification and support cost greatly.
They can just certify Asianux once and 'Red Flag DC Server 5.0, MIRACLE
LINUX V4.0 and Haansoft Linux 2005 will all get certification because these
products are all based on Asianux and 100% compatible. We believe Asianux
will become the most important Linux distribution in Asia soon"
Jong Jin Baek, CEO of Haansoft, said, "South Korea has a very unique market
situation such that Unix is dominant platform for public sector and Windows
for private sector. Haansoft will change this unusual market structure by
various Linux solutions and Asianux. Asianux project, which is formed by
major Linux companies from South Korea, China, and Japan, have made fast
development and valuable outputs so far. Asianux will be an unprecedented
collaborative model for common and standard operating system development.
Haansoft will also try its best for the success of Asianux 2.0 project"
Asianux 2.0 delivers the following key technical benefits :
1 Enhanced RAS (Reliability/Availability/ Serviceability)
Asianux 2.0, which is designed to work under the most demanding enterprise
environments, offers high level of Reliability/Availability/ Serviceability.
In particular, stability under high loads has been dramatically improved.
Further, as a part of RAS enhancements, Asianux 2.0 conforms to CGL, and
most features defined in CGL2.0 priority 1 are implemented to deliver
reliable support to carrier grade applications. In addition, a wide range of
diagnostic tools is provided for analyzing problems.
2 Enhanced localization
Asianux 2.0 supports Japanese, Chinese simplified and traditional, Korean
and English, and provides the optimum environment for using these languages.
UTF8/EUC/SJIS/GB18030 locales are supported.
3 Enhanced usability
ReFineD is a KDE (K Desktop Environment)-based desktop environment that has
been used in Red Flag client OS. Asianux 2.0 can enjoy the benefit of
GUI-based usability delivered by ReFineD, which has been acknowledged by 1.5
million users worldwide. Moreover, a wide selection of GUI management and
configuration tools is provided to meet demands of the market.
4 Supported platform
* Intel 32bit Xeon processor: to be released at the end of July 2005
* Intel 64bit Xeon processor: to be released at the end of July 2005
* Intel Itanium 2 processor: to be released one by one
* AMD Opteron Processor: to be released at the end of July 2005
* AMD Athlon Processor: to be released at the end of July 2005
* IBM Open Уï£÷£å£ò : to be released at the end of July 2005
Asianux 2.0 will be marketed and commercialized under the brand name of each
Asianux participant -- Haansoft Linux 2005 Asianux Inside by Haansoft in
South Korea, Red Flag DC Server 5.0 Asianux Inside by Red Flag in China, and
Miracle Linux V4.0 Asianux Inside by Miracle Linux in Japan. All three
companies will use the Asianux Inside mark in their product names.
http://www.iosn.net/country/hong-kong/
Hong Kong Linux Industry Association (HKLIA) is a united initiative among
Linux vendors, service providers and companies who want to extend, promote
and support the adoption of Linux to companies, organisations and the public
sector in Hong Kong and beyond. Hong Kong, China Debian GNU/Linux Hong Kong
Debain community resource for Hong Kong Hong Kong, China Open Standard
Support Organization
A community organization that evangelizes the use of Open Source software
Hong Kong, China Gnome HK Association
Timeline of FOSS growth in China
-------------------------------------
July 1999 - The OSS concept was officially brought into China by the
Ministry of Information Industry(MII) of China
June 2000 A a number of Chinese software vendors together to form the
Co-create Open Source League [http://cosoft.org.cn/html/ev/index.php ]
2001 - the 863 Project
2002 - the Set Sail and Sailing pproject to promote Linux research and
development
2003 The Linux Public Development Platform project and LLinux 1+1+1
education project to recruit and train Linux talents
2004 - Beijing Software Testing Centre (BSTC) becomes the member of OSDL
April 2004 - China-Japan-Korea (CJK) OSS Promotion Forum
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quotes: China uses [GNU]Linux to form an independent and open development
system for its software industry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A major beneficiary of these technologies is the less developed economies,
whose national development depends on the awailability of low-cost computing
devices on which [F]OSS are able to function very well."
-- The Fifth Asia Open Source Software Symposium cited at
http://www.asia-oss.org/march2005/overview.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
China is a market of opportunity and it has given indications that it is
Linux-friendly. -- Steve O'Grady of the research firm Red Monk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When China announced that it would migrate government departments to Linux,
many expected a Linux boom. But the country still lacks a sufficient number
of technicians who can work on open-source systems. The money is in
maintaining Windows-based systems, and in China, you go where the money is.
That Red Hat waited until late 2004 to open their China office should tell
us a lot about Linux's progress in China.
http://www.cw.com.hk/computerworldhk/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=149424
