Japan, China, Korea talk Linux, Apr 02, 2004

Japan, China and South Korea will consider standardising ways to use the free Linux operating system as a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows, a Japanese government spokesmans said.

A meeting of senior officials from the three East Asian countries will be held in Beijing on Saturday on policies related to information technologies, said the official at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

"The agenda of the meeting will include establishment of standards for the use of Linux as our countries aim to share the results of research on open sources," the spokesman added.

The Internet has also fuelled the rise of the 'open source' movement, where industry-strength software is co-developed and released publicly by an open community of users rather than licensed from proprietary patent owners like Microsoft.

Many open source products (which include the Linux operating system that powers much of the Internet) have gained converts among mainstream government and business users worldwide.

An open source effort to categorise and describe the vulnerabilities in both software and hardware has opened for public use.

The Open Source Vulnerability Database aims to collect information and distribute it freely. The project, which began work in 2002, now has an online system ready to store and deliver data.

A Linux-based handheld supporting enterprise applications and databases has begun shipping from Sharp.

The Zaurus SL-6000, priced at $699, is targeted mainly at corporate customers, says Deanna Davis, a Sharp spokesperson.

"It is designed to be an enterprise piece as opposed to a [personal digital assistant] that anyone would buy," she says.

Corel plans to test the waters later this month for a Linux version of its WordPerfect productivity software.

A Corel representative said the company's online store will begin selling a "proof-of-concept" Linux-native version of WordPerfect on April 15. "This pilot project is designed to determine the feasibility of developing future Linux versions of WordPerfect or WordPerfect Office," the representative said.

Corel previously produced a Linux-native version of WordPerfect 8, released in 1998, and offered a Linux-translated version of WordPerfect 9 in 2000, when Linux was still a cornerstone of the company's broader strategy.

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