I quote others in order to better express my own self - Montaigne
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Chinese ordered to stop using pirate software
A CITY IN CHINA has required Internet café operators to replace pirated software with legitimate versions – the officials primarily pushing Linux.
Nanchang, the capital of China’s Jiangxi province has around 600 Internet cafés which will be affected by the order – yet some are moaning about the cost of legal software.
Cafes which don’t adhere to this order however, will lose their licence to operate.
"We recommend the use of Red Flag Linux server operating system or Microsoft Windows Server operating system," said the directive issued by Nanchang's Cultural Department.
Although Windows will be an option for the cafes, Linux seems to be the preferred OS as officials seem to have struck a deal with a local Red Flag Linux distributor to install licensed software and provide two years of support.
Ren Xiaojie, general manager of a software distribution company said, "We're using domestically produced Red Flag software, and have set a standard one-time fee of 5,000 yuan (about £150) for each Internet cafe, which includes a lifetime license, and we will provide all Internet cafe owners two years of maintenance support for free.”
The Business Software Alliance, established to fight software piracy, estimated that the rate of software piracy in China was more than 80 percent last year which highlights the intensity of the problem. µ
L'Inq
NetworkWorld
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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.