Editor's Note: Taiwan's blame game with Microsoft

August 25, 2008 (Computerworld) Like a lot of people, I find that many of the things Microsoft does drive me crazy. A perfect example is the attempt to mask its late arrival to the software-as-a-service game by claiming that SaaS is so two years ago, and that now it's really all about "Software + Services."

As I indicated in my "Raining Mud" column a few weeks ago, coining a different term so you can pretend you're the star player in a new and improved variation of the game, while quintessentially Microsoftesque, just confuses the marketplace. Shut up and compete in the same stadium with everybody else instead of trying to draw the crowd onto Microsoft Field.

That said, I'm driven equally crazy by mindless Microsoft-bashing, and even crazier by some of the absurd charges that are routinely leveled against Microsoft by government bodies. The arena where the lights have been lit in the most recent display of government nonsense is Taiwan.

As we reported last week, the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether Microsoft is abusing its overwhelmingly dominant position in the island's software market. The probe follows a study by Taiwan's Consumers' Foundation that found that Microsoft has a 98% share of Taiwan's operating system market.

It also follows, by about six years, a very similar TFTC investigation into whether Microsoft was using its dominance to inflate prices. That six-month effort was inconclusive, and Microsoft settled with the government by lowering its prices by an average of 26.7%. It's not what has happened since then, but rather what hasn't happened, that prompted the TFTC to take action against Microsoft once again.

What hasn't happened is the adoption of Linux in Taiwan in any meaningful way, despite the government taking a stand in favor of Linux. Like many other countries that have pursued initiatives to advance open-source alternatives to Microsoft, Taiwan has adopted policies aimed at promoting the proliferation of Linux. But in Taiwan's case, it seems to be more show than substance.

For example, there's the 2006 mandate that all PCs purchased by the government be certified as Linux-compatible. Of course, Linux compatibility and Linux use are two entirely different things, so the government didn't actually have to undergo the inconvenience of switching to Linux. In fact, Taiwan has little to show for all the Linux bluster beyond the operating system's expanded use in embedded systems and mobile devices. Since that has had almost no impact on Microsoft's dominance, the halfhearted Linux push has been an abject failure.

There's no failure like a government failure to arouse blame-shifting and finger-pointing, and what better scapegoat than the U.S. corporate monster that spurred the failed effort? So it's little surprise that the TFTC decided to exhume a dead investigation and prop it up as a response to Microsoft's continued dominance of the local software market.

The problem was finding a way to keep this probe from being as inconclusive as the first one. The TFTC needed a way to breathe some life into the cadaver. How could it gain the upper hand? Easy: Tap into widespread anti-Vista sentiment.

The Consumers' Foundation survey found that 56% of respondents who had recently bought a new PC were forced to buy Vista instead of Windows XP. Bingo — the TFTC would look into complaints that Microsoft was limiting consumer choice by restricting the availability of XP.

It may well turn out to be an effective strategy, but it's a hollow one. Microsoft could face a fine of nearly $800,000 if it's found that the company's championing of Vista over XP is in violation of Taiwan's antitrust laws. But by the same reasoning, Microsoft could be held liable for restricting the availability of Windows 95 and Windows 3.1. It's ridiculous.

If I didn't believe so strongly in engagement, I'd suggest that Microsoft just pull up stakes and wish Taiwan's government the best of luck. At least then Taiwan might get serious about Linux.

Don Tennant is editorial director of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Contact him at don_tennant@computerworld.com, and visit his blog at http://blogs.computerworld.com/tennant.

This version of this opinion column appeared in Computerworld's print edition.