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South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

koreaherald.com

121–130 of 282 posts

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#121

As I recall, this sort of public statement is used as a lever to squeeze some discounts out of Microsoft's Enterprise Sales team before the government "decides" to stay with Windows.

Whats worse is they could all pull it off if they invest in existing Distros and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need. If they rely on legacy Windowd OS' the licenses for new OS' wont matter. They need secure systems to avoid being hacked by external malicious state actors. I would love to see some countries adopting Linux for government systems and funding research and development e.g. maybe fu…

"... and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need."

There's a reason Microsoft was successful for years: they built turn-key solutions, and added new turn-key features their customers requested.

Switching from that sort of IT to a linux-based, 'we need a system architect' model doesn't happen overnight. There's organization shift, cultural shift, firing unneeded people who won't retrain, retraining people who are worth it, and hiring talent to fill gaps.

Not to mention that talent's more expensive and less easily certified (e.g. all the official MS rubber stamp programs).

Not impossible, but it's a LOT of work. With dubious chances of success.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#122

Curious if they'd roll out their own distro.

That will be too much work. Why not use well maintained existing distros?

Because "well maintained distro" won't fix issues as soon as possible and won't make necessary changes. For example, Linux is not friendly to proprietary third-patry software, but the government might need it. Or there could be bugs.Or they might need to support local encryption standards in browsers and document editors. Or support a specific hardware device.

So the working scenario is that a Korean company creates its own distribution, adapts it to the needs of government, sells it and then maintains it for the fee. This could also have a benefit of supporting a local vendor instead of sending public funds to US.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#123
post #84
post #8

I used to support our office in S. Korea. It's true they depend super heavily on ActiveX and other weird applets/software that runs only on Windows and/or IE. A lot of the communication with the government (yearly tax submission) as well as banking software would not run on our Linux or OSX devices, and so we had these 'loaner' windows 'tax machines' that got reimaged every few days that people could use to do their…

I guess running those ActiveX controls under Wine is a non starter?

Not necessarily. ActiveX controls are just plain old COM binaries (though some could be constructed with Visual Basic), Wine ought to be able to handle these just fine. But as with all things Wine, mileage may vary depending on app.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not why Munich moved back to Windows. They moved back because supporting Linux workstations for their workforce was hard and expensive. It wasn't very popular with the end-users either.

Not true. Microsoft built a huge local branch there and as a result they've moved back into the dark abyss that is proprietary, non-free software.

That is the conspiracy theory that some are telling themselves: that this is THE reason why Munich moved away. AS IF!

Here's something more likely: Munich was ready to move back because the project was expensive to maintain, cumbersome in practice, killed productivity and was generally unpopular with the end-users, and Microsoft's new branch was just a cherry on top.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#125
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats worse is they could all pull it off if they invest in existing Distros and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need. If they rely on legacy Windowd OS' the licenses for new OS' wont matter. They need secure systems to avoid being hacked by external malicious state actors. I would love to see some countries adopting Linux for government systems and funding research and development e.g. maybe fu…

"... and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need." There's a reason Microsoft was successful for years: they built turn-key solutions, and added new turn-key features their customers requested. Switching from that sort of IT to a linux-based, 'we need a system architect' model doesn't happen overnight. There's organization shift, cultural shift, firing unneeded people who won't retrain, retraining…

Basically Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This is something people forget about. OS and app licenses are likely a drop in the ocean compared to the operating costs of supporting your infrastructure (regardless of whether it runs on Windows or Linux).

[edit: TOC -> TCO]

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#126
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need." There's a reason Microsoft was successful for years: they built turn-key solutions, and added new turn-key features their customers requested. Switching from that sort of IT to a linux-based, 'we need a system architect' model doesn't happen overnight. There's organization shift, cultural shift, firing unneeded people who won't retrain, retraining…

Basically Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This is something people forget about. OS and app licenses are likely a drop in the ocean compared to the operating costs of supporting your infrastructure (regardless of whether it runs on Windows or Linux). [edit: TOC -> TCO]

TOC seems to conveniently leave out risk as a factor too. At least at the sales level. And yet the amount of failed systems migrations I've seen...

If I have a 50% chance to cut my IT budget by 15%, if I remake my org, is it worth it?

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#127
post #11
post #3

> ... as Microsoft’s free technical support for Windows 7 expires in January 2020. they are still on Windows 7? ouch!!!

Maybe I got older and life lost some color, but the difference between Windows 10 and Windows 7 doesn't feel like the difference between 7 and XP. Seems like most of the action (outside gaming and Office power users) has moved to browsers and browser wrappers.

I am using both right now. 7 in the desktop, 10 in the laptop.

The main difference so far is the shortcut used to switch keyboard layout, and enabling Wi-Fi sharing in 10 is very straightforward.

The software I use in both feels just the same.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats worse is they could all pull it off if they invest in existing Distros and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need. If they rely on legacy Windowd OS' the licenses for new OS' wont matter. They need secure systems to avoid being hacked by external malicious state actors. I would love to see some countries adopting Linux for government systems and funding research and development e.g. maybe fu…

Funnily enough North Korea runs their own Linux distro, Red Star OS

For anybody interested in a more detailed look on Red Star OS, check out this CCC talk [0]

[0] https://youtu.be/8LGDM9exlZw

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#129
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats worse is they could all pull it off if they invest in existing Distros and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need. If they rely on legacy Windowd OS' the licenses for new OS' wont matter. They need secure systems to avoid being hacked by external malicious state actors. I would love to see some countries adopting Linux for government systems and funding research and development e.g. maybe fu…

"... and hire people to build out the main infrastructure they need." There's a reason Microsoft was successful for years: they built turn-key solutions, and added new turn-key features their customers requested. Switching from that sort of IT to a linux-based, 'we need a system architect' model doesn't happen overnight. There's organization shift, cultural shift, firing unneeded people who won't retrain, retraining…

Not to mention it's a LOT of work that needs to be coordinated by someone with the vision and skill to make it happen. People like that are not exactly common in the public administration of any country.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#130
post #3

> ... as Microsoft’s free technical support for Windows 7 expires in January 2020. they are still on Windows 7? ouch!!!

> they are still on Windows 7? ouch!!! If you think that's painful, wait until you find out about Windows XP[0]. :) [0] - https://www.windowslatest.com/2018/04/04/windows-xp-is-still...

My desktop dualboots XP and 7, and it is necessary to play KoToR correctly.

In a more modern OS, KoToR doesn't render grass even running in the same hardware.

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