over my dead body

...silly me, thinking it was the right thing also, I mean, nothing about government created back doors, hidden coding and surveillance here is there?

I also heard that the government is leaning heavy on the Red Flag, rather than 'legit' copies of Windows, even if the cafe had them.


According to google, 5000 yuan is almost 500 pounds, about $770. Pretty steep. I guess this is essentially a fine for people who weren't doing it right to begin with, though. 

There is illegal software copying and various ways of breach of software licensing.

Then there are pirates on the sea who attack ships, kidnap, rob and kill people and who used to hanged in the old times.

That is a difference.

How does the Business Software Alliance or any of their subscribers profit from legitimacy if all of the cafes switch to Linux. M$ gets zero dollars from this. Good for China and Linux. Bad for M$ and all of their cronies.

it sounds coerced. sounds like a china thing to do.
however, if successful it will push nearly 1/3 of the worlds population to use Linux in some fashion. This would push the Linux desktop usage to a very respectable number. 
The selfish part of me says do it and give linux the numbers it needs to turn corporate heads.
The humanitarian in me says to let them choose what works best for them.

China does the right thing. Good job.
Let's hope this trend catches on.