But if this takes off, I'll lose all my security by obscurity. I guess I'll have to go back to BeOS
Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
91–100 of 118 posts
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no comparison to China's Taiwan: "That should be China's attitude". Also Tibet. Clearly not a Chinese country but of course that doesn't stop them.
The government of Taiwan also thinks Taiwan is part of China... it's a dispute over which government is the rightful ruler of the geographic entity comprised of Taiwan plus the mainland. China also never killed, directly or indirectly, millions of people in Taiwan. Britain can't say the same thing about India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
I probably wouldn't pick the Taiwan dispute to illustrate the alleged repressiveness of the People's Republic of China
But then I probably wouldn't bring up responsibility for the deaths of millions of people to defend a state founded by Mao Tse Tung...
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Desktop programs are an issue, but they can be ported. The biggest problem is all the websites that serve ActiveX plugins. Web apps are supposed to be platform-independent, that's one of their biggest advantages, but Microsoft sabotaged that with ActiveX. Microsoft did a tremendous amount of harm to internet users by producing so much platform-dependent web software.
Did you really just say that it's easier to write a large number of windows-only programs than it is to either: a) fix the websites that have ActiveX dependencies b) modify a single web-browser to support ActiveX like IE6 used to If true, ... wow.
What I meant was that the large number of currently Windows-only Chinese desktop applications will not be the biggest obstacle to Chinese users adobting Ubuntu, because they can be ported, and Canonical is working with the Chinese government to port the most popular ones ahead of time.
The number of Chinese websites out there with ActiveX dependencies is probably much greater, and you can't really "port" a website. Good luck getting all those Chinese web developers to fix their sites.
If Canonical bundled a web browser that supported ActiveX, that would temporarily resolve the problem (while enabling it to perpetuate), but I'm not sure if Microsoft's licenses even allow a non-IE browser to re-implement ActiveX.
So, I think that not being able to browse many Chinese websites on other platforms is the main thing that keeps Chinese users locked into IE/Windows right now.
Perhaps, though, my knowledge is outdated and ActiveX plugins aren't as ubiquitous in China as they used to be.
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#94I take offense with the following part of the article: "Other repressive nations that have developed local versions of Linux include North Korea, which built the KDE-based Red Star OS to help wean it as a nation off of an unfortunate dependence on Windows made by the capitalists over at Microsoft." China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant inter…
The past crimes of one are no defense for the current crimes of another.
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#95I take offense with the following part of the article: "Other repressive nations that have developed local versions of Linux include North Korea, which built the KDE-based Red Star OS to help wean it as a nation off of an unfortunate dependence on Windows made by the capitalists over at Microsoft." China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant inter…
"China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant interventions to third nations?"
Yes, all true, in the past.
Decolonialisation, itself a problematic process, has occurred, and self-determination achieved to some extent for many groups.
When will the Peoples Republic grant self-determination to Tibet? That would be the action of a self-assured and mature state.
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, China is a "repressive nation." Especially when it comes to technology, e.g., "The Great Firewall." No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.
> No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation. Are we talking about the same "CCTV everywhere" nation? The same "lackeys of the united states --GW Bush etc-- policy and partners in war crimes" nation?
Google the Good Friday Agreement. The test is in how the country deals with a persistent low level civil war. We talked and accepted the need for compromise.
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you're over-estimating the amount of control the party has or tries to enforce in China. Inside Chinese border, the amount of people who fear the party is probably in line with those who trust it -- not many.
I will happily defer to those with real knowledge of China, however the basic issue seems true - the vast, "make mockery of all that has gone before" economic growth has been exclusively driven from democratic/free nations. If you want some of that growth, it seems logical you need to allow freedom. How much? How soon? How to stop it descending into anarchy? With a billion + lives on the line ... well I have a lot of…
I tend to delete when I reach minus figures...
Is this a common practice? If you do this do you avoid the existing karma hit, or is it just to avoid going more negative yet?
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will happily defer to those with real knowledge of China, however the basic issue seems true - the vast, "make mockery of all that has gone before" economic growth has been exclusively driven from democratic/free nations. If you want some of that growth, it seems logical you need to allow freedom. How much? How soon? How to stop it descending into anarchy? With a billion + lives on the line ... well I have a lot of…
> If you want some of that growth, it seems logical you need to allow freedom. Singapore.
I think Singapore is not the best example of a totalitarian dictatorship. Its an elected democracy, low coorruption, high standards of living. But yes it is "partly free" according to EIU its ranked with Hong Kong and Banglesh and a long way above Russia.
So I would still say yes, freedom does bring economic benefits. One assumes the more freedom the more benefits.
We ought to remember that at the polling stations
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely. * Tiananmen square. Murders against any form of civil disobedience. * Secret and non-secret alliances with North Korea. * Occasional acts of aggression on Japan. * Great firewall, general suppression of information from citizens. * Massive amounts of political corruption. * Human rights violations aplenty. * Causing an environmental catastrophe. Fucking up the entire planet in the process. * Tibet, Taiwan…
Unfortunately, I think most Chinese living there have bought the government's argument that if any of the stuff you mentioned above would not exist, it would "disrupt" the "unity" of their society. So everyone must stay in line for the "greater good", even if violent action is necessary against some individuals. What's the scariest thing in such situations is not one tyrant or another. If only that was the case, it w…
Let's say the TSA was a complete and total mistake, and history will prove that to be right. But how long will it take to kill the TSA? It's already been a decade, and I can easily see it last another decade..... It's country's culture right now that TSA and plenty of other "counter-terrorist" measures (including the stamping of the 4th amendment) are "needed".
This is well illustrated by the media-incited reaction to the recent relaxing of the pocketknife ban. Somehow the squawky news shows could find dozens of people prepared to worry on-camera about getting stabbed with penknives in an airplane, as if that were ever a problem anywhere ever. They even had "experts" talk about the clear and present danger of hijacking-by-threatening-a-baby-with-a-knife. (Because that's such a common method for e.g. robbing banks.) I almost suspect someone at the TSA had coordinated it with the media beforehand, but there will never be a shortage of purse-clutchers ready to affirm the status quo.
Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system
#100I take offense with the following part of the article: "Other repressive nations that have developed local versions of Linux include North Korea, which built the KDE-based Red Star OS to help wean it as a nation off of an unfortunate dependence on Windows made by the capitalists over at Microsoft." China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant inter…
Absolutely. * Tiananmen square. Murders against any form of civil disobedience. * Secret and non-secret alliances with North Korea. * Occasional acts of aggression on Japan. * Great firewall, general suppression of information from citizens. * Massive amounts of political corruption. * Human rights violations aplenty. * Causing an environmental catastrophe. Fucking up the entire planet in the process. * Tibet, Taiwan…
I agree with you for
* Tiananmen square. Murders against any form of civil disobedience.
* Great firewall, general suppression of information from citizens.
* Massive amounts of political corruption.
* Human rights violations aplenty.
These are suffered by the Chinese people, but unfortunately that's not what you really care about...
For the other points, especially the ones with foreign policies, China is much nicer (or you may even say weaker) than other countries. For me, I just hope despite all the political shows, there will be no war nor region conflicts.
Anyways, I guess he's offended by the word "repressive nation", use "repressive government" would be a little better.