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Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcam

Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcamp and never boot into OSX again. If even the brightest and more malleable of the people don't want to use anything except Windows, I don't see the average person switching to Ubuntu at all.

thomaslutz 14y ago
Quotation needed.
w1ntermute 14y ago
It has nothing to do with the Chinese international students being bright (which they generally are) or malleable (which they're not - they're just studying machines). It has to do with the fact that there are a ton of Chinese websites that only work in IE.
- cheapsteak 14y ago
  That is a good point, although I think it's more of Windows-only programs like PPS, a TV and movie streaming app that fills the Netflix void, except it's free so everyone and their mother uses it
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Yes, there is software as well. Forgot about that.
  - kyllo 14y ago
    Desktop programs are an issue, but they can be ported. The biggest problem is all the websites that serve ActiveX plugins. Web apps are supposed to be platform-independent, that's one of their biggest advantages, but Microsoft sabotaged that with ActiveX. Microsoft did a tremendous amount of harm to internet users by producing so much platform-dependent web software.
    - sukuriant 14y ago
      Did you really just say that it's easier to write a large number of windows-only programs than it is to either: a) fix the websites that have ActiveX dependencies b) modify a single web-browser to support ActiveX like IE6 used to If true, ... wow.
      - tomrod 14y ago
        Depends on the costs involved. Network externalities are a killer.
      - kyllo 14y ago
        What I meant was that the large number of currently Windows-only Chinese desktop applications will not be the biggest obstacle to Chinese users adobting Ubuntu, because they can be ported, and Canonical is working with the Chinese government to port the most popular ones ahead of time. The number of Chinese websites out there with ActiveX dependencies is probably much greater, and you can't really "port" a website. Good luck getting all those Chinese web developers to fix their sites. If Canonical bundled a web browser that supported ActiveX, that would temporarily resolve the problem (while enabling it to perpetuate), but I'm not sure if Microsoft's licenses even allow a non-IE browser to re-implement ActiveX. So, I think that not being able to browse many Chinese websites on other platforms is the main thing that keeps Chinese users locked into IE/Windows right now. Perhaps, though, my knowledge is outdated and ActiveX plugins aren't as ubiquitous in China as they used to be.
        w1ntermute 14y ago
        I'm sure the Chinese government could force the most popular sites to replace ActiveX, but it'll be hard to get to the long tail.
  - solistice 14y ago
    I think the "everyone and their mother" can be interpretet literally in this context, not just figuratively.
stcredzero 14y ago
> Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcamp and never boot into OSX again. Is Chinese support in Windows dramatically better than in OS X? I found the level of stylus support in Windows to be head and shoulders higher in quality than Apple's. Perhaps it is the same with languages.

thomaslutz 14y ago

Quotation needed.

w1ntermute 14y ago

It has nothing to do with the Chinese international students being bright (which they generally are) or malleable (which they're not - they're just studying machines). It has to do with the fact that there are a ton of Chinese websites that only work in IE.

cheapsteak 14y ago
That is a good point, although I think it's more of Windows-only programs like PPS, a TV and movie streaming app that fills the Netflix void, except it's free so everyone and their mother uses it
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  Yes, there is software as well. Forgot about that.
- kyllo 14y ago
  Desktop programs are an issue, but they can be ported. The biggest problem is all the websites that serve ActiveX plugins. Web apps are supposed to be platform-independent, that's one of their biggest advantages, but Microsoft sabotaged that with ActiveX. Microsoft did a tremendous amount of harm to internet users by producing so much platform-dependent web software.
  - sukuriant 14y ago
    Did you really just say that it's easier to write a large number of windows-only programs than it is to either: a) fix the websites that have ActiveX dependencies b) modify a single web-browser to support ActiveX like IE6 used to If true, ... wow.
    - tomrod 14y ago
      Depends on the costs involved. Network externalities are a killer.
    - kyllo 14y ago
      What I meant was that the large number of currently Windows-only Chinese desktop applications will not be the biggest obstacle to Chinese users adobting Ubuntu, because they can be ported, and Canonical is working with the Chinese government to port the most popular ones ahead of time. The number of Chinese websites out there with ActiveX dependencies is probably much greater, and you can't really "port" a website. Good luck getting all those Chinese web developers to fix their sites. If Canonical bundled a web browser that supported ActiveX, that would temporarily resolve the problem (while enabling it to perpetuate), but I'm not sure if Microsoft's licenses even allow a non-IE browser to re-implement ActiveX. So, I think that not being able to browse many Chinese websites on other platforms is the main thing that keeps Chinese users locked into IE/Windows right now. Perhaps, though, my knowledge is outdated and ActiveX plugins aren't as ubiquitous in China as they used to be.
      - w1ntermute 14y ago
        I'm sure the Chinese government could force the most popular sites to replace ActiveX, but it'll be hard to get to the long tail.
- solistice 14y ago
  I think the "everyone and their mother" can be interpretet literally in this context, not just figuratively.

stcredzero 14y ago

> Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcamp and never boot into OSX again. Is Chinese support in Windows dramatically better than in OS X? I found the level of stylus support in Windows to be head and shoulders higher in quality than Apple's. Perhaps it is the same with languages.