Microsoft to Invest $750 Million in China
A year or two ago China announced the development of "Red Flag Linux" - a distribution of Linux assembled in China (and presumably with a Chinese flavor to it.) Also, the municipal government in China had declared that all offices should use Linux, not MS software.
The story states that there are no specific pledges made by the Chinese government in return for this investment. MS CEO Steve Ballmer said "There's no real commitment that I would say is part of the agreement that we signed." - which says to me that there is a commitment under the table - because that is the way things work in China.
Regarding the piracy problem in China: "As the Chinese government focuses in on the development of the local IT industry and its ability to export, having a good domestic market for those local Chinese companies to do intellectual property development is even more important, I think that is as clearly understood by Premier Zhu (Rongji) and the senior people I've met with as anything is."
I learned from my Brother-In-Law that Zhu Rongji Li Peng is the least favorite leader in China, and is frequently used as the "fool" in jokes about the Chinese leadership.
7:28:38 PM 
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