Japanese government to use Open Source

Hi Folks:

Linux is making big strides.

Tony

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Network World's Linux & Open Source Newsletter,
05/09/07
The Japanese government looks to go open source
By Phil Hochmuth

The Japanese government wants to go open source, as a
way to rely less on a single vendor IT software
infrastructure. And plenty of vendors are lining up to
help make this happen.
From servers to storage: Virtualization saves

Oracle, NEC, IBM, HP, Hitachi and Dell are among 10 IT
equipment and software vendors that are forming a
consortium to develop and sell Linux-based servers and
computers for the Japanese market. The move by the
vendors to collaborate on Linux in Japan comes from a
edict from the country's government to make Linux and
open source a priority for all IT procurements,
starting this July. The central government of Japan
says it plans to spend around $1.25 trillion yen, or
$10.4 billion, on IT over the next year. The
government has said explicitly it wants to decrease
its reliance on Microsoft as a server operating system
platform.

The details are light in terms of what types of Linux
systems Oracle, IBM, HP, et al will produce for the
Japanese government. What is interesting about the
initial news is the absence of any major Linux
operating system distributor as part of the
announcement. It will be interesting to see if the
Linux "player to be named later" in the multivendor
effort is a commercial Linux distribution - such as
Novell or Red Hat - or system such as Ubuntu, Debian,
or CentOS. Or could the lineup of IT companies be
cooking up their own Linux version for the market in Japan?
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Received on Wed, 9 May 2007 09:14:14 -0700 (PDT)