Microsoft says government officials make sudden visits to

(Reuters) - Chinese government officials have made sudden visits to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) offices in China, a spokeswoman for the company said on Monday, but declined to give any reason for the inspections.

Microsoft says government officials make sudden visits to China offices | Reuters

 

[Nuccii]

Paranoia, perhaps or general distrust. Anyone know what they are using presently?

 

[visruth]

The Chinese government is attempting to develop an alternative to Windows, based on Linux, in order to reduce reliance on foreign imports.

More: http://www.ibtimes.com/microsofts-troubles-china-continue-government-investigation-1641008

 

[SIW2]

The Chinese government is attempting to develop an alternative to Windows, based on Linux, in order to reduce reliance on foreign imports.

There have been rumours about that for a long while. No evidence they are actually doing much.

We will have to hope they do start to take it seriously. If the Chinese govt throws it's weight behind the idea, we will finally have a serious contender. They would be doing the whole world a favour.There would be huge advantages for China as well of course. We will have to keep our fingers crossed.

 

[visruth]

With all the recent developments, that's certainly a thing to look upon isn't it?

 

[vrosa]

The Chinese government is attempting to develop an alternative to Windows, based on Linux, in order to reduce reliance on foreign imports.

Let's hope it's true !

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Nothing new in that -- the FBI in the USA have been known to visit offices of very well known and prestigious Firms on WALL ST. and have led people away in handcuffs in full view of Staff and bemused spectators on the street outside.

Nobody should be surprised at what Govt offices come up with (or even the private companies themselves). Could be something simple like the correct bribery hasn't been paid or something much more serious as a violation of State / Govt Law (on either side).

These things always get sorted out in the end.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[visruth]

It all get sorted at last, but it depends on which ideologies are controlling the enforcement laws & state laws.. Isn't it?

 

[alphanumeric]

Paranoia, perhaps or general distrust. Anyone know what they are using presently?

The general consensus seems to point to Windows XP Pirated edition. Soon to be replaced by Windows 7 Extreme Edition by Jonny.

 

[Nuccii]

The general consensus seems to point to Windows XP Pirated edition. Soon to be replaced by Windows 7 Extreme Edition by Jonny.

Yea, but what about Windows 8 Prolific

 

[alphanumeric]

The general consensus seems to point to Windows XP Pirated edition. Soon to be replaced by Windows 7 Extreme Edition by Jonny.

Yea, but what about Windows 8 Prolific

The way I read it is, they are pissed because Microsoft finally ended support for XP. Now they have to replace their pirated editions of XP with something else. That's the rumor anyway. The Windows 8 ban is just a stick it in your face ploy to try and piddle Microsoft off. Something like that anyway. Who knows what is really going on?

 

[SIW2]

Huh?

They don't like foreign countries getting hold of their govt and commercial secrets. Why is that surprising.

 

[alphanumeric]

Huh?

They don't like foreign countries getting hold of their govt and commercial secrets. Why is that surprising.

It could be as simple as that. Lots or rumors and innuendo floating around is all. I personally find it hard to know who to believe.

 

[Superfly]

Yes, it's a government lockdown - the Chinese poeople outside of that sphere are free to use what they like....

Don't be surprised if they develop something along the lines of Munich's LiMux.

One way to solve this dilemma is through transparency and honesty. Unfortunately, as long as governments use closed-source software, it is hard to audit and trust the actions

Source: Ubuntu saves Munich millions -- should all governments switch to Linux?

That stemmed from M$ dropping support for NT 4.0 apparently.

 

[jimbo45]

The general consensus seems to point to Windows XP Pirated edition. Soon to be replaced by Windows 7 Extreme Edition by Jonny.

Hi there

Do you mean THIS edition of Windows !! - The Chinese XP edition I think is based on what's known "in these circles" as The Black Edition. !!

Aren't the CIA themselves the largest single user of "Torrent Sites" in the world too -- presumably they need to know what others are doing. If I were running that type of agency I'd certainly want my operatives to keep up with what people are getting up to - both good and bad.

@Superfly -- A lot of people are really pissed off with UBUNTU now they are going all corporate with UNITY and CANONICAL. People have switched distros in droves to LINUX MINT - while DEBIAN is still an old favourite -- OPENSUSE also gets a decent mention too.

(Loads of others out there but these are the "Usual suspects" that probably encompass the majority of Linux users).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Superfly]

@Jimbo,
It seems Canonical's focus has shifted from the "common" desktop user to a more broadly based enterprise philosophy - corporate and touch devices specifically - however, as long as they continue supporting Mint's backend, I'm not really pissed off.

The revenue obtained from the aforemoentioned activities will go a long way in giving them a fighting chance against M$, Google and Apple... long way still to go though, if Ubuntu Edge is anything to go by.

 

[Nuccii]

Maybe they should look in their backyard also:

"Chinese government-backed hackers recently broke into computers at Canada's ‎premier scientific research outfit, the National Research Council, Ottawa says."

Chinese hacked government computers, Ottawa says - BNN News

 

[SIW2]

Now you are being silly. Most governments do that kind of thing. The NSA are in a league of their own

They also all try and prevent the others from doing it to them.

Obvious.

 

[Nuccii]

Now you are being silly. Of course all governments do that kind of thing. Some much more than others.

They also all try and prevent the others from doing it to them.

Obvious.

Of course governments do. What is so silly or wrong about pointing out a current documented fact amongst others?

 

[SIW2]

a) Too obvious to even bother mentioning.

b) Irrelevant if they are doing it themselves. "Looking in their own backyard" is not going to deter them from trying to prevent American spying.

I am quite surprised they haven't done more about the commercial side.