[Linux-aus] Meeting with Chinese Government representatives re Linux.

[craigw-blue.net.au at mail-hub.bluenetgroup.com]

> At 8pm Sunday night, Bruce Badger, Brendan Scott, Conrad Parker and
> myself met with a delegation from the Chinese Government interested in
> learning about the open source industry in Australia.  The Chinese
> delegation was in Australia to attend the Open Source Developers
> Conference and who contacted Pia Smith to organise a meeting with local
> representatives before they flew out today.
>
> The delegation was lead by Mr Ji Zhi Yuan, Senior Engineer from the
> High-Technology Research and Development Center part of the Ministry of
> Science and Technology. Mr Ji was accompanied by Mr He Lian Yue, and Mr
> Kim Bu Wu (spelling?) who is an Associate Professor at a University in
> Southern China and who is providing advice to the Chinese Government
> on issues of Open Source and Linux, and acted as translator during the
> meeting.
>
> The Chinese Government have been investing heavily in the adoption of
> Linux within China, and have two major Chinese Linux distributions Red
> Flag and Cosix, mostly in the desktop market.  China has formed a
> strategic relationship with Korea and Japan with regards to Linux and
> the development of standards for the handling of double-byte character
> sets.
>
> Recently, Linux has started being adopted for back-end systems, and a
> particular example was the Construction Bank who have been relatively
> successfully migrated their application to Linux, but who have faced
> problems with support of older computer hardware, and the availability
> of drivers for devices like card-scanners and printers.
>
> It appears that the delegation was interested in hearing about the Linux
> development capabilities in Australia, and developing relationships that
> would allow them to draw on Australian developers to assist with Kernel
> and Driver development problems that they are facing.
>
> Kim Bu Wu indicated that the purpose of their trip was about gather
> information about individual and organisations in Australia, and to
> gather ideas.  Much of the discussion centred around Licensing and IP
> issues and who this may affect the Chinese Government's reputation, and
> how it was dealt with in Australia. Another subject of much discussion
> was how you make money from open-source, which touched on subjects
> including dual-licensing, value added services, etc.
>
> The main questions they asked were:
> 1) How do you make money from Linux?
> 2) Where has open source been used/implemented within Australia?
> 3) does the Australian government support open source desktops?
> 4) where is LotD implemented in Australian Government?
> 5) what do we think of requiring software to be licensed under the GPL?
> 6) what do we think of OSRM?
> 7) what are the IP issues with Linux vs BSD?
> 8)  does the Australian Government use an Australian Linux Distribution?
> 9) Is there a common Australian Linux Distro?
> 10) Do we have many kernel or driver developers in Australia?
>
> The delegation will now return to China and report their findings. The
> next steps may involve them outlining open-source projects of specific
> interest to them, and then approaching the Australian open source
> community via Linux Australia and OSIA to identify how these projects
> may be run, either as community projects or commercial projects or
> both.
>
> The next trip to Australia will probably be to attend Linux.conf.au in
> April.
>
> Personally, I found the meeting surreal. Conducting discussions with the
> Chinese Government about their national Intellectual Property laws and
> procurement policies was just plain  However, they seemed very
> interested in the depth of skill and knowledge that Australia, and I
> feel optimistic that this will lead to work for at least some local
> people.
>
> If anyone has any questions about the meeting please feel free to
> contact any of the attendees.
>
> Regards,
> Marc
> --
> Marc Englaro
> Principal Consultant
>
> Si2: System Integration Services International
> Level 8, 33 Berry Street, North Sydney 2060
> Ph: +61 2 9460 4533
> Mb: 0418 763 945
> Web: http://www.si2.com.au
>
>
>

Was there any discussion about the joint feasibility study into a possible
free trade agreement between Australia and China? This is in reference to
the Chapter 17 AUSFTA.

As this was recently posted to the DFAT site. After reading this
paragraph, I get this feeling that Australia is acting as 'deputy sheriff'
or defacto to enforce US laws.


http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/framework/economic_framework.html


Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights are an important component of business
activity, research and development, and their protection is key to success
in higher technology sectors and services.

The Parties recognise the importance of the protection of intellectual
property rights in providing a stable and competitive business environment
for enterprises and in encouraging research and innovation. The Parties
will work cooperatively bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally on
matters of intellectual property protection.