The Taiwanese legislature has announced plans to subsidize development of open-source systems for the public and private sectors, the Taipei Times reports.

Starting next year, the National Supercomputing Center will begin a two-year mission to encourage development Chinese-language operating systems and office applications for use throughout the nation's bureaux, schools and offices.

The legislature reckons that by getting into rehab and kicking the Microsoft crack habit the government could save NT $2 billion while the private sector could save NT $10 billion in licensing fees.

The subsidies will include software development, training centers for users and funds to encourage schools to use open source products as well as include them in their training curricula. ®

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Times article (English)