Taiwan opens arms to open source. The government plans to launch an open-source project as early as next year that could save it as much as $295 million in royalty payments to Microsoft, says a report. [CNET News.com]
First, we hear about Germany. Now, we hear about Taiwan. I'm certain more governments are on the way. Why? It's pretty simple, really. There are three factors. First, basic office computing software is a very horizontal market. That means it's a very broad market and there is a large potential return from money invested by the government. Second, software has up-front development cost, but once the software is developed, the marginal distribution costs are near zero. That should put downward pressure on prices. And third, basic office software is now well understood, making the software development process relatively straightforward and the risk low.
Posted by Doug Sauder at June 4, 2002 03:47 PM