Asian Windows alternative 'would raise competition issues'

08 Sep 2003 09:13

Japan, China and South Korea's plan to create a rival to Windows would go against free-market principles, Microsoft argues

A plan by Japan, China and South Korea to develop an alternative operating system to Microsoft's Windows software would raise concerns over fair competition, the world's No. 1 software maker said on Friday.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, made a proposal at an Asian economic summit this week to build an inexpensive and trustworthy open-source operating system that would be based on a system such as Linux, which can be copied and modified freely.

"We'd like to see the market decide who the winners are in the software industry," Tom Robertson, Microsoft's Tokyo-based director for government affairs in Asia, said in a telephone interview. "Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are."

Robertson said that Microsoft had a "direct and open line of communication" with Japan's government over software security, standards and development.

Japan's computer and consumer hardware industry -- which includes global heavyweights such as Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial and NEC -- have long searched for an alternative to Windows, which they contend gives the Redmond, Washington-based software company too much control over the personal computer and electronics industry.

Japanese media have reported that the government would spend 1bn yen (£55m) on the project and endorse an open-source forum set up by Japan's electronics makers.

But Japan's trade minister, Takeo Hirunama, took a different tack at the ASEAN economics ministers meeting in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh by raising security concerns over Microsoft's software.

Citing the recent high-profile virus attacks by the Slammer and Blaster worms against Windows-based software, Hiranuma told reporters it would be useful to "pursue a new kind, a different kind, of software code".

Microsoft's Robertson said that all governments and consumers were concerned by security and that it was an industry-wide issue.

"Pointing to a particular software vendor and to a particular software (standard) gets you nowhere," Robertson said.

Robertson said that Microsoft has been working to have Japan participate in its Government Security Program, which gives national governments and international organisations access to Microsoft's source code, the underlying blueprint for its programmes.

China and Taiwan have already signed on to Microsoft's government security initiative, as have Australia, Britain, Russia and NATO.

The Government Security Program, launched in January, aims to address concerns by governments over the reliability and security of Microsoft's software by providing source access as well as technical advice on security.

"We are in discussions with Japan about the (Government Security) programme, and we're eager for them to join the programme," said Robertson.

Asked if the establishment of an open-source initiative by Japan, China and South Korea would raise international trade concerns, Robertson, a former US Trade Representative official, said that it was too early to determine any course of action.

"You would have to look at what a government does, whether it's a protectionist issue," Robertson said, "As with any trade-related issue, Microsoft would look to its peers and colleagues in the information technology community for guidance."

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39116179,00.htm