By Staff
Thursday, October 02 2003 06:00 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39153192,00.htm

The Taiwan government has gone into the developer support business--it has launched an open-source software help and how-to Web site, according to a report in Taipei Times.

The web site contains free software code for Web browser, e-mail, office, and database tools, all published by the government.

The free code will give local developers a hand in writing software for hardware such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and home entertainment computers.

The government aims to multiply its existing NT$120 million (US$3.55 million) software industry a hundred times in five years through the development of open source products such as the Linux operating system (OS), according to government officials in the report.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs' Industrial Development Bureau director-general Chen Chao-yi said in the report that the government aims to have at least five percent of computers and 30 percent of servers use open source alternatives in five years.

Currently, 10 percent of the island's servers and almost no desktop computers use open source tools, said the report.

Although analysts have criticized that Taiwan might have underestimated the cost of open source platform development, there are opportunities for smaller companies to focus on embedded solutions to support its hardware industry, said the report.