Spy der Mann writes "Noticing the Microsoft threat to withdraw Windows from South Korea, the Linspire CEO, Kevin Carmony, just offered to license every computer in the country with Linspire, for just $5m. This would be around 10 cents / person. 'South Korea could save around a quarter of a billion dollars. More importantly, however, it would break South Korea loose from the monopolistic grasp of Microsoft, which the country currently finds itself under,'"Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='microsoft,linux,politics';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; Linspire CEO Offers S. Korea To Replace Windows Log in/Create an Account | Top | 258 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 258 comments 0: 249 comments 1: 198 comments 2: 119 comments 3: 41 comments 4: 32 comments 5: 22 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Even more... (Score:1, Redundant) by Skiron (735617) on Saturday November 05, @07:21AM (#13957004) (http://www.linicks.net/) ...innovation from MS :-) [ Reply to This A mixed bag (Score:5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, @07:22AM (#13957008) While I'm sure the slashbots will shout and cry about the virtues of linux (despite being Linspire), it sounds more like a grab for attention than anything serious. While I'm sure Carmony could make a bundle on the deal, could he really support all of South Korea? I wonder if he even has a team of translators for the major world languages to begin with! [ Reply to ThisRe:A mixed bag by rvw (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @07:29AMRe:A mixed bag by Cromac (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:20PMRe:A mixed bag by Guspaz (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @01:59PMRe:A mixed bag by thephotoman (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @04:03PMRe:A mixed bag by evilneko (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @05:33PMRe:A mixed bag by idonthack (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @07:16PM Re:A mixed bag (Score:5, Funny) by Frankie70 (803801) on Saturday November 05, @07:44AM (#13957064) could he really support all of South Korea? He, he could. He could direct all of Korea to Linuxnewsgroups & mailing lists, where geeks will flameKoreans to code fixes what bugs they find. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:A mixed bag (Score:5, Funny) by iamelgringo000 (928665) on Saturday November 05, @09:25AM (#13957298) I'll be sure to brush up on how to say "RTFM" in Korean. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:A mixed bag by HD Webdev (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @01:16PMRe:A mixed bag by CastrTroy (Score:3) Saturday November 05, @10:58AMDouble edged sword by JPriest (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @02:20PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A mixed bag by Antique Geekmeister (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @08:06AMRe:A mixed bag by yatt (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:08AMRe:A mixed bag by smitty_one_each (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @08:19AM Re:A mixed bag (Score:5, Interesting) by Daengbo (523424) <danielboNO@SPAMoss-in-efl.info> on Saturday November 05, @09:29AM (#13957318) (http://oss-in-efl.info/ | Last Journal: Wednesday October 26, @08:57PM) All my male, teen students do in their free time is play Starcraft. When I go to a restaurant near lunchtime, the TV is always on OnGameNet (AKA 24 hours CS / Starcraft). The female teens all play MAple Story (online MMORPG). The young adults that I know spend their evenings playing Kart Rider (online racing). Everybody wants to be a progamer when he or she grows up.As much as I want Linux to succeed here in S. Korea, HanSoft's 3.2 version is already free, and it isn't doing their market share any good.Not a chance of this happening in the private sector. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:A mixed bag by aichpvee (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:35AMRe:A mixed bag by abigor (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @01:13PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A mixed bag by FlippyTheSkillsaw (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @02:23PMRe:A mixed bag by secolactico (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @02:43PMRe:A mixed bag by thephotoman (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @04:34PMKorea turns to linux? Quite unlikely. by Small_kid (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @04:16PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A mixed bag by ObsessiveMathsFreak (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @09:12AMRe:A mixed bag by Catbeller (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:04PMRe:A mixed bag by bigman2003 (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @09:26AMRe:A mixed bag by afd8856 (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @09:48AMRe:A mixed bag by bigman2003 (Score:3) Saturday November 05, @10:42AMRe:A mixed bag by timeOday (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:11AMRe:A mixed bag by bigman2003 (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:26PMRe:A mixed bag by namekuseijin (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:19AMRe:A mixed bag by oliverthered (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:21AMRe:A mixed bag by Catbeller (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:06PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:A mixed bag by fhic (Score:3) Saturday November 05, @10:33AMDespite being Linspire by ShimmyShimmy (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:42AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re: support by FlippyTheSkillsaw (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @01:47PMRe:A mixed bag by Guspaz (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @02:03PMRe:A mixed bag by idonthack (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @07:23PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Open letter to S. Korea (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, @07:24AM (#13957012) Cool, just do it [ Reply to This I've got a better offer. (Score:5, Informative) by rathehun (818491) <gonsalves.r@gmail.com> on Saturday November 05, @07:25AM (#13957014) (http://gonsalves.blogspot.com/) click [ubuntu.com] [ Reply to This Re:I've got a better offer. (Score:5, Funny) by Spacejock (727523) on Saturday November 05, @07:33AM (#13957032) (http://www.spacejock.com.au/) I'd suggest Gentoo but they'd have to build more power stations to cope with millions of CPUs at 100% for 3 or 4 days. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:I've got a better offer. (Score:5, Insightful) by imr (106517) on Saturday November 05, @07:35AM (#13957036) I've got a better offer.What about they try to find a local solution that will be better localised, that will have local support, that will create jobs, that will keep their cash inside the country, all this meaning that it will help develop a local well adapted independant IT which will benefit their country as a whole? [ Reply to This | ParentRe:I've got a better offer. by KDR_11k (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @08:04AM Re:I've got a better offer. (Score:5, Informative) by highwind81 (862971) on Saturday November 05, @08:09AM (#13957109) (http://www.kgfamily.com/) We do have our own distro [haansoft.com]. [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.i rarely do this but... MOD PARENT UP! by koekepeer (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @08:04AMWhen you have a giant... by DavidNWelton (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @08:48AMRe:I've got a better offer. by Daengbo (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:31AMRe: local jobs by FlippyTheSkillsaw (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @01:41PMRe:I've got a better offer. by linuxrocks123 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @03:26PMThe best offer.... by jkrise (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @08:11AMRe:I've got a better offer. by rapidweather (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @12:27PMRe:I've got a better offer. by Hal_Porter (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:24AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Nice marketing stunt (Score:4, Insightful) by IdleTime (561841) on Saturday November 05, @07:29AM (#13957019) Really, that is all it is. I like Linux as much as other people, but I don't think South Korea, as a whole, is going to jump on this just as I really don't believe MS will pull out of South Korea. It's all marketing and jocking for positions. There is no way that MS will leave South Korea, one of the most advanced industrial nationas around and a lot more advanced than USA. Oh no, MS will never leave South Korea, it means too much to them. [ Reply to ThisRe:Nice marketing stunt by rtb61 (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @08:28AMRe:Nice marketing stunt by giorgiofr (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @08:52AMRe:Nice marketing stunt by Lucractius (Score:3) Saturday November 05, @09:22AM Re:Nice marketing stunt (Score:5, Interesting) by NickFortune (613926) on Saturday November 05, @08:36AM (#13957168) (http://www.nymar.demon.co.uk/) but I don't think South Korea, as a whole, is going to jump on this...It's an interesting dilemma for the S. Korean Govt. Giving in to Microsoft would be like negotiating with terrorists - if you cave in to them, it sends the message that blackmail works, and they'll do it again.Consequently, South Korea's might feel their best interests like in making the switch, trading the short term inconvenience of the migration against getting out from under the thumb of one of the planet's more rapacious corporations.This could get very interesting :D [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Nice marketing stunt by timeOday (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:30AMRe:Nice marketing stunt by NickFortune (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @02:58PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by oliverthered (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:31AMRe:Nice marketing stunt by NickFortune (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @02:37PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by oliverthered (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @05:07PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by NickFortune (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @05:36PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by Deliveranc3 (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:42PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by NickFortune (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @03:12PM[OT] Re: Your sig by orkysoft (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @05:58PMRe:[OT] Re: Your sig by Deliveranc3 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:34PMRe:Nice marketing stunt by sambira (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:23AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Nice marketing stunt by johansalk (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @12:22PM Crippled Linux? (Score:3, Funny) by trepidation_i_am (868811) on Saturday November 05, @07:29AM (#13957022) (Last Journal: Saturday March 19, @08:51AM) Is that a typo on the head line? Is it suppost to be...Linspire will replace crippled Windows with Linux - cheap [ Reply to This Re:Crippled Linux? (Score:4, Interesting) by RicktheBrick (588466) on Saturday November 05, @08:21AM (#13957137) Linspire has a service called cnr(click and run). This service costs 49.95 a year. So are they going to charge all the Koreans that fee after the first year? I tried to download BOINC and install it but according to their bulletin boards there is a problem with installing it. It has been 10 months since this program has been released. Wine just went into beta and I am wondering if they will take a year or more to get that version into cnr. They will sell you win4lin for about the same cost as going out and buying a version of windows so they do not have much of an incentive to get the new wine out to its subscribers. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Crippled Linux? by mrscorpio (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:30AMRe:Crippled Linux? by Burz (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:45AM Re:Crippled Linux? (Score:5, Funny) by NickFortune (613926) on Saturday November 05, @08:59AM (#13957222) (http://www.nymar.demon.co.uk/) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/22/register_t ariff/ [theregister.co.uk]Just because it's funny doesn't mean they're joking. [ Reply to This | ParentYeahm by hackwrench (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:38AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Certainly.... (Score:2, Funny) by taskforce (866056) on Saturday November 05, @07:29AM (#13957023) (http://www.pyroenvydesign.com/) ...This is about as close to a Linux port as WoW is gonna get I think... [ Reply to ThisRe:Certainly.... by nath_de (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @07:58AMRe:Certainly.... by bugbeak (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @10:15AMRe:Certainly.... by c_forq (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:17AMRe:Certainly.... by yatt (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @11:23AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Support? (Score:5, Interesting) by mukund (163654) on Saturday November 05, @07:31AM (#13957028) (http://www.mukund.org/) He's going to provide support for 50 million computers at 10 cents each? Would be quite tough.If there is no support involved, I'd like to provide South Korea with Linux for 50 million computers in the form of either CentOS [centos.org], Fedora [redhat.com] or Ubuntu [ubuntulinux.org] for free and free with "community support".What's the deal? [ Reply to This Re:Support? (Score:4, Insightful) by canuck57 (662392) on Saturday November 05, @08:44AM (#13957187) He's going to provide support for 50 million computers at 10 cents each?Poor journalism, it was for licensing not support.Microsoft pulls stunts, why should not Linspire. Who knows, it might work. If it does not it is free publicity. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:Support? (Score:5, Funny) by swillden (191260) <shawn-sd@willden.org> on Saturday November 05, @09:04AM (#13957233) He's going to provide support for 50 million computers at 10 cents each? Would be quite tough.Wouldn't be hard at all, if he's just going to match the support Microsoft provides. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Support? by Lucractius (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @10:04AMRe:Support? by ClamIAm (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @12:27AMRe:Support? by porkThreeWays (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:43AMRe:Support? by robotoverflow (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:55AMRe:Support? by Dilaudid (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @10:08AMRe:Support? by Small_kid (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @04:21PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Most Koreans Websites IE only (Score:4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, @07:34AM (#13957034) Almost any korean website seems to be made for IE, and especially things like clubbox.co.kr, those only work with ActiveX plugins ... doubt koreans are really ready to change their oses ... [ Reply to This In Korea, Computer = Windows PC with IE (Score:5, Interesting) by ThreeDayMonk (673466) on Saturday November 05, @08:24AM (#13957143) (http://po-ru.com/) That's my experience, too. Even if they don't require ActiveX, very few Korean websites will actually display properly in another browser - even fewer if you use a pop-up blocker. I don't think that anyone tests on anything else.Korean computer culture seems to be even more homogenised than it is in other countries. Everyone uses Windows; everyone's on MSN Messenger; everyone has a Cyworld Mini-hompy[1]. My iBook received interesting responses: those that had heard of Macs thought that they were tools for graphic artists.In addition, there's a big limitation in that SEED, a Korean 128-bit encryption system used in online banking since the days of US 40-bit-only export restrictions, is only supported in IE; although there are moves to port it to Firefox, it hasn't been completed yet, as far as I know.1. Mini-homepage, a sort of personalised blog/music/photo-sharing site. They are literally miniature, too: even on a large monitor, the 'mini-hompy' is limited to a few hundred pixels in each direction in the centre of the page. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:In Korea, Computer = Windows PC with IE by stuntpope (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @08:43AM2 replies beneath your current threshold.Re:Most Koreans Websites IE only by Mistshadow2k4 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:58AMRe:Most Koreans Websites IE only by Deliveranc3 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @12:39PM In South Korea ... (Score:5, Funny) by El_Muerte_TDS (592157) <elmuerte@drun[ ]ipers.com ['ksn' in gap]> on Saturday November 05, @07:36AM (#13957039) (http://elmuerte.com/) ... only old people will keep using MS Windows. [ Reply to ThisAnd in Massachusets.... by jkrise (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @07:55AMIt's a mean game by NickFortune (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @09:54AMOld people using Windows - Koreans love MS by palladio (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @08:16AMStarcraft Windows-only? by Jerry Smith (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:22AM ROI (Score:1) by Kroc (925275) on Saturday November 05, @07:39AM (#13957050) If this goes through all sorts of new fact bending ROI ads are going to turn up. [ Reply to This Sounds like... (Score:1) by shatteredsilicon (755134) on Saturday November 05, @07:40AM (#13957051) ... idle sensationalism to me... But then again, I am known to be cynical... [ Reply to This If you give up Windows... (Score:5, Funny) by MisaDaBinksX4evah (889652) on Saturday November 05, @07:41AM (#13957057) I'll give you South Korea.Where do I sign up? [ Reply to This hmm?! (Score:1) by akurashy (827693) on Saturday November 05, @07:43AM (#13957060) (http://davidgonz.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday November 02, @05:46PM) I don't think that will even work, as far as I know korea people like to play a lot, so I doubt they will just drop windows, yet someone should introduce linux to korea :) [ Reply to ThisRe:hmm?! by Mistshadow2k4 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:41AMStarcraft by Egregius (Score:2) Saturday November 05, @11:56AM Bah (Score:4, Insightful) by bugbeak (711163) on Saturday November 05, @07:52AM (#13957075) Korea is too tied to MS for anything like this to happen any time soon. Ironically, with the exception of the Xbox, and MS Office, just about everything else Microsoft has a strong grip here. Major websites are designed for IE, Palm is hardly popular, Apple is only used by some 20K people, etc etc etc. There will be repercussions if MS has to back out of the OS market. [ Reply to Thishumbug! Free software blows M$ away in Korea. by twitter (Score:3) Saturday November 05, @12:16PMRe:humbug! Free software blows M$ away in Korea. by Shaklee39 (Score:1) Saturday November 05, @09:21PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. no way this happens until... (Score:5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, @07:55AM (#13957082) they have starcraft for linux [ Reply to This Insightful, not funny (Score:4, Interesting) by Froobly (206960)