The BBC article linked below mentions that China’s biggest resource is its people. This gives China, and other countries with vibrant, emerging information technology industries, an opportunity to grow their local software ecosystem through the use of open source software. Because the source code is open for anyone to view, modify, and redistribute, China could focus on forming local, Chinese support and services organizations for open source software. Businesses in China could use MySQL, JBoss, Apache, and other software while getting updates, services and support for those applications locally. The open source communities can benefit when enhancements are contributed back to the community.
This is not just an opportunity for China. Many emerging countries could use open source software in this manner to create local jobs and nurture the local software industry.