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South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

koreaherald.com

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Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#181

What I really don't understand is why commercial stations (like burger king's, ice cream stands etc...) uses windows when all those computers do is show either videos or static images

I've seen Burger King use Linux on their displays in India...

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#182

What does 'Linux OS' mean? Various Linux desktop distros? If so, have mercy on anyone who will be using Ubuntu Desktop for the first time. I hope they aren't afraid of using Terminal, because the internet will shout them down for wanting a GUI solution. Love Ubuntu server, but could never get into linux desktop.

I've just given up on Linux again. Again. And it's the GUI that makes that decision final. There were also (and I'm still fighting 'em) serious file issues (perhaps related to file name lengths, perhaps not), but these may well have arisen from Windows/Linux interactions or even Windows not getting along with Windows. But flickering and otherwise unusable or unstable GUI features in the distributions finally did me i…

Mint Linux is the only distro with a sane UI if you ask me.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#183
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most users, "replacement" mean it can open and edit Microsoft's documents perfectly. For some users, it even means the GUI is just about the same so they don't feel lost. By that criteria (which are real criteria from real people), the only viable replacement for Microsoft Office, is the next version of Microsoft Office. The only way to break out of this, I think, is for governments to forbid themselves to use pr…

And for why that's important: business teams who generate business-critical Excel sheets never got the memo about good ideas from the software development lifecycle. And have been cobbling together undocumented tools to get work done for decades. Dealing with this at work now. And it's not like they're disinterested or incapable of learning, literally no one thought "Gee, what those folks are doing looks a lot like c…

> business teams who generate business-critical Excel sheets never got the memo about good ideas from the software development lifecycle. And have been cobbling together undocumented tools to get work done for decades.

So, business teams invented the all-too-common version of agile development even before “real” software developers, without the disadvantage of ignorance of the body of knowledge around the SDLC, got around to it.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Korea between 2010 and 2015 and I never needed the Korean version of Windows. Even my work computer was running the en-US version. Your just need to switch the default locale and codepage for the occasional poorly written software (mostly old installers), it just takes a reboot.

MS had completely separate custom builds of Windows (made out of completely different binaries) until XP at least. E.g. an English Windows and a German Windows would install completely different files and the only way tonswitch system language was a reinstall. Conponents to support CJK were not part of these installs, either. This changed with Vista or 7 (don't remember) where they were able to seperate Windows into…

Actually I believe Windows 2000 had support for language packs (MUI if I remember correctly). You _had_ to start with an en-US install to use those, so the bit about different language versions installing different files was still correct. Components for CJK support was a check box in the Language & Region control panel, which required the Windows install disc to apply.

I think the language packs might not have been available in all SKUs; not very sure about that part. The CJK support, I think, was.

The default system locale thing (MBCS) was a separate issue.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#185

What I really don't understand is why commercial stations (like burger king's, ice cream stands etc...) uses windows when all those computers do is show either videos or static images

The correct question is: Why should they use Linux? Historically, Linux struggled to display video.

The companies that make that stuff started out with Windows, they have built a workflow to manage these devices on top of Windows, why switch now? It's not cost effective.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#186

What I really don't understand is why commercial stations (like burger king's, ice cream stands etc...) uses windows when all those computers do is show either videos or static images

Might not answer you exact question, but I interned with the display team in Windows - they had loads of weird asks for interesting display topologies (and adapter modes) to be supported for media displays.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything like that on LKML.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft made major political moves after LiMux adoption began. They relocated their German headquarters to Munich, and a new mayor (Dieter Reiter) was elected after the Microsoft employees moved to Munich. Reiter initiated the reversal from LiMux to Windows, while the previous mayor (Christian Ude) refused to do so despite in-person appeals from Steve Ballmer. You might not like this line of argument, but it's not…

"There is the allegation that you as former head of the department of economy have made a deal with Microsoft to move its headquarter to Munich and in exchange you now deliver the return to their products. Does this connection exist?" - "No, definitely not." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBRh2G29NNE

I did not allege that Reiter "made a deal with Microsoft". My point was that Microsoft gained political clout as a result of moving its headquarters to Munich, which influenced the city's decision to switch back from LiMux to Windows.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#188
post #71

I doubt this will work out. They also tried that in many countries, they all go back to using Windows. I hate Windows, but I can envision how much money AND time it's gonna cost them to move out, and I'm sure that they will either run out of money before they do the transition, or machines would have already dominated the earth before they are done with this "transition"l I would believe it much more if they said tha…

Munich did it this way: 100% Linux, no compromises - they didn't even had an central Active Directory so if you required Windows due to software in your part of city government you were on your own - no central updates! They also forced everyone on an ancient OpenOffice 3.x version with KDE 4.x and KMail? That Munich migrated back has less todo with Linux or Windows or Microsoft politics (maybe..) but more with badly…

> badly run infrastructure and in-fighting and big egos

In other words, the same situation that exists everywhere.

Re: South Korean government to switch to Linux: ministry

#189
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The French police uses a custom distro based on Ubuntu 16.04: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

Why are they using a custom distro? Is it just different graphics or do they have changes significant enough that a customised Ubuntu installer wouldn't suffice?

They have some customized parts.

For example, IIRC, they use a smart card to authenticate on their workstations, and also on their web applications. For that you need to customize a bit (better out of the box support for pkcs11 devices, integrate the Certificate Authorities needed, drivers).

There are a few contributions to open source projects:

A few years back, they were contributing to a fork of Thunderbird called Trustedbird for example.

There are also a few individual contributors inside the Gendarmerie, for example Xavier Guimard creator and one of the current developers of LemonLdap (SSO portal).

Also just as a side note, this distribution is used by the Gendarmerie, which is not exactly the national Police. In France you have both a Police Nationale and the Gendarmerie National. The Gendarmerie is military personel (the Police is civilian). I'm guessing national sovereignty plays a small role in that (VS using MS Windows, which is completely controlled by a US company, bounded to the US government).

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