Related News
PC Makers Voluntarily Supply Web Filter in China
Several PC makers were including controversial Internet-filtering software with computers shipped in China on Thursday despite a government decision to postpone its plan to make such a step mandatory.Beijing's decision this week to delay the requirement that the filtering software -- known as Green Dam -- be pre-installed or supplied on disk with all computers sold in China averted a possible trade clash with the United States and Europe. But the move by some makers to include the software anyway could re-ignite complaints by Chinese Web users.Also Thursday, a government newspaper said regulators will revive the plan to make Green Dam mandatory at some point, a move that would disappoint opponents who hoped the government would drop the effort.Taiwan's Acer Inc. -- the world's No. 3 PC maker -- Sony Corp. and China's Haier Group said they were shipping Green Dam on disks with computers for sale in China. China's Lenovo Group, the No. 4 producer, said it would offer the software pre-installed or on disk. Taiwan's Asus Inc. said it was preparing to supply Green Dam disks with PCs. Taiwanese laptop maker BenQ Inc. said the system was on the hard drives of its computers.Acer was supplying Green Dam because disks were already packed with PCs before the government postponed the plan, that had been due to take effect Wednesday, said a company spokeswoman, Meng Lei. Lenovo said it also was going ahead with plans made before the Green Dam order was postponed.Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top PC manufacturer, said it was working with the U.S. government to get more information and declined to comment further. No. 2 Dell Inc. said it was not including Green Dam with its PCs.Chinese authorities said the software is needed to shield children from violent and obscene material online. But experts who examined...
Commentary:
I have been loosely following the Google case where Google stated or did not state that they are withdrawing from China or at least closing down google.cn and as a result probably has to close the office totally as Google is vocally opposing the Chinese Government's Internet regulation and policy.. I am not sure what Google wants to achieve or think they can achieve but I am 100% confident that the Chinese will not back off; particularly when been 'attacked' openly. There are a few points to this story that I think is important to understand. For Google, privacy and confidentially are at the forefront of whatever they do. Consumers need to completely trust Google given that vast information that Google collects, analyze and monetize through various source (searches, clicks, gmail and so forth). If consumers starts to believe that Google may start censuring information on government demands (e.g. patriotic act), sharing data with intelligence bureaus to catch criminals, consumers may very quickly abandon Google services. Consumer confidence would be the key priority to protect the business. However, the Chinese representatives made an interesting point. Why did Google filter off search results for American military bases (based on US Government directive) but not Chinese directives? If this turns out to a trade-war, China will never back and it will not only hurt Google's interests in China but also other american interests in the region. And that brings me to another point that successful American companies often seems to struggle with in China - patience and understanding of how to deal with the Chinese market. Look at Qualcomm and Microsoft. Two highly successful American businesses with strong leaderships (Dr Jacobs and Gates/Ballmar) but struggled for years to break into China. Qualcomm and Microsoft fired their Country Managers on a yearly basis due to the lack of progress. And of course, the issue was not local management but how the Corporate were working and what they were expecting. Qualcomm promoted Frank Meng and Microsoft recruited Tim Chen (an old Motorola China-hand) that managed to bridge and work between the local government and headquartered. Tim told me the other day in a closed room conference that the key to success for him was to sign off a China Strategy that was taken to the Board for approvals. Tim left Microsoft after 4 years successful putting MIcrosoft on the map in China. Frank is still in charge, 6 years after promotion, where Qualcomm has developed decent business in China. In the Google case, where key biz dev managers and Country Managers left on a regular bi-annual basis may point to one of the problems for Google's China problem. I think Google was taken off-guard about the effect from their initial announcement. China Unicom blocked the launch of Motorola's and Samsung's Android handsets. Will China Mobile be challenged as well with their OPhones (based on Android)? Can Google maintain R&D and sales of ads? For China, the case must be a bit annoying and this could be the starting point for massive internal complaints and discussion. Not only is it high profile international case and it will cause problems for how to attract and keep innovative R&D to China if this goes on. But the internal discussion are more about filtering and censuring content, public and private discussion and that can turn out to an avalanche as at the same time, MIIT has enforced SMS screening of all SMS sent in China to monitor and blocked sensitive content (in this case, pornographic material). What's causing the debate is the screening, the filtering and why the Government should decide what is acceptable or not. The Green Dame project were supposed to have the same effect but after heavy objections, the government withdrew. Can the same result happen for Google and the SMS filtering? "We made a strong decision that we wish to remain in China," [Erik] Schmidt said. "We like the business opportunities there. We'd like to do that on somewhat different terms than we have." (AP) http://tr.im/M3yZ Google.com is now blocked. You can not connect to google.com from phones nor from computers. Google states that they wanna stay in China but can they?read more
China Backs Down on Installing Blocking Software
Facing a barrage of international criticism, the Chinese government is apparently backing down from its earlier announcement that all PCs sold in the country must have censoring software installed.According to an anonymous official in the government's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), it's "misleading" to say that China is requiring PC owners to use the software."PC makers are only required to save the setup files of the program in the hard drives of the computers, or provide CD-ROMS containing the program with their PC packages," the official said. "The government's role is limited to having the software developed and providing it free."Flawed SoftwareThe software package, known as Green Dam-Youth Escort, has been fiercely criticized by human-rights and free-speech groups around the world. Although ostensibly designed to block pornography, the software also is designed to limit access to Web sites containing material critical of the Chinese government.Software researchers in the United States and elsewhere have asserted that the Green Dam software contains numerous security holes that could permit the installation of malware on PCs that install the program, or even permit a remote user to gain control of the computer.On top of everything else, software manufacturer Solid Oak, publisher of the well-known Cybersitter software, is threatening copyright infringement litigation against the Chinese government, Jinhui Computer System Engineering (which produced Green Dam), and any PC manufacturer that installs the censorware. Solid Oak alleges that significant portions of its code was stolen by Jinhui. Others allege that chunks of open-source code were incorporated into Green Dam without credit.Troubling TrendThe Green Dam controversy is seen by many as part of a troubling trend of censorship, with both eastern and western governments going to greater lengths to control online activity. Many argue that the companies that manufacture personal computers (such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell)...
Green Hills Software Supports Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor N270 (Broadcast Newsroom)
SANTA BARBARA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/25/08 -- Green Hills Software, Inc., the technology leader in device software optimization (DSO) and real-time operating systems (RTOS), today announced the immediate availability of its embedded software development solution for the Intel® Atom(TM) processor N270. The Green Hills Software solution includes the INTEGRITY® real-time operating system, MULTI® ...
Google
While the entire tech world seemed focused on Apple during the iPad rollout, Google just kept serving in silence, keeping the innovation engines running without distraction.I sure enjoyed the iPad rollout. Although I was a little underwhelmed, I enjoyed watching the presentation and reading about it and enjoyed some good editorials by friends on Facebook. [...]Related posts:Google Apps: The Missing ManualGoogle App Engine: CTOs should check it outGoogle Surprise: A change in intent regarding Chinaread more
Download SmartRSS Plugin
Loading ...