

Mozilla: first impressions from China - robin_reala
http://blog.johnath.com/2010/11/22/first-impressions-from-china/

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alexbowman
There is also no one, single China. Thinking about my time here and what I've
observed, let me share what I've found a Firefox user in China is probably
like.

Firefox users have much in common with GMail users. They're often involved in
IT related industries, or at least higher technology industries. They choose
Firefox as they value a higher quality browser, like they choose GMail for a
more trusted email solution with a greater feature set. They often speak
English at work. They don't run Linux, that's far more niche. They're probably
post-25 - not that Firefox/GMail is an older thing, but it is a self-
discovered/word-of-mouth thing. They're technology influencers and are
probably interesting in owning an iPhone for the feature set rather than the
fashion statement. Many would probably also be interested in Android opposed
to the bulk of China which may not have not heard of it (yet - wait for the
Baidu edition). They're white-collar professionals. They might wear dockers
and shirts to work, maybe a jersey in colder weather, maybe jeans. They
probably don't primarily consume English/Western media but they might not be
wholesale consumers of mainstream Chinese media; a critical eye would be
thrown on some discussions, especially post-Sichuan earthquake and
revelations, and Sanlu and other food crises. They might not use QQ (a popular
MSN/ICQ like IM program), which really is saying something in China. They
might have once used Twitter, but don't seek to 'jump the wall'.

In short, they're savvy, sophisticated consumers. But as mentioned in the
article, the 'Internet experience' in China is quite different from the West,
and convergence shouldn't be assumed. I look forward to the next post.

~~~
nailer
> Android opposed to the bulk of China which may not have not heard of it (yet
> - wait for the Baidu edition).

No waiting needed. Chinese Android ROM, complete overhall of UI, far more
iPhone like, installable on any Android device.

Unofficial English site: <http://miui-dev.com/>

Chinese: <http://www.miui.com/>

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liuliu
I am super talkative today, but anyway:

The insight 2 about how low the expectation is in software stability is
interesting because it implies a high expectation in the raw responsiveness of
software. And thus why Google Chrome picks up so fast in China. When Firefox
slows down, even if it didn't response in a few seconds, people will try to
nuke their browser process because they think that the software is dead or
malfunctioned.

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RK
The other day I was in my advisor's office and he said "let me show you
something you've probably never seen before: a fully legal version of Chinese
Windows!".

~~~
scrrr
I don't understand other cultures... Why pirate Windows when you can have
Ubuntu for free?

~~~
someone_here
A number of reasons: Everyone else is using windows, you're familiar with
windows, all your software runs on windows, and installing Ubuntu requires a
lot of downloading when a version of Windows is a cheap disk from a local
store.

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manish
Interesting read. One of the most important reason I use open source software
as opposed to proprietary ones is the confidence that open source software
will not try to do anything evil. I believe that message can reach China also.

~~~
vorg
Though open source software in China is always considered as having the most
permissive license possible. GPL and such have no substance here.

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tyng
China's struggle for a free and better web is more of a political issue than a
technological issue. I praise the good intent of people at Mozilla, but fear
the task is much more complex than it seems to be.

