>But I would think it would be more productive to have an international software arms race than a military / space arms race.
There is. It's called 'the market'. We are in the midst of an 'international software arms race', and this arms race spans every category of software. You want project management software? There are a thousand options. In a top-down communist-style system, you would maybe get one option.
> Governments are not good at actually competing in a space where there is a market and private competition.
they are also good at serving markets that are too unprofitable for private companies to serve (such as public transportation or housing for extremely poor people, cheap postal services, fuel subsidies etc)
But I am not sure it can’t be done. What if the government deployed desktops to all citizens that were centrally administered, and requires them to be used for all government business / taxes, public services.
Clearly I am talking about a dystopian society... but I don’t see why some dictator or communist wouldn’t want to implement it. Aren’t large Chinese companies essentially branches of the government? Why doesn’t China want a fully controlled clone of Microsoft ? They clearly wanted their own google: baidu, their own amazon: Ali baba, their own Facebook: wechat...
It’s no more inefficient in principal to have government controlled personal computers as it is to have corporate controlled work computers. Work desktops are famously useless with all the required bloatware, encryption, antivirus, restrictive group policies and internet policies... but corporations think it’s worth the loss of efficiency, electricity, employee time to have a stranglehold on their computing. Why wouldn’t the super power hungry governments want the same ?
France tried this, le Minitel.
Although I don't understand the point of Windows clone.
If you have an embedded device running WinXP, there's going to be a day where no amount of premium support will get Microsoft to continue fixing the platform. This seems like it's going to get worse, or at least more confusing, with the almost rolling-release Win10 model. I think there are literally some Atom-class CPUs that would run the Win10 that existed a few years ago, but not a freshly downloaded image.
If that device runs ReactOS, you can clone the repo of the last compatible version and hire your own team to keep it running.
An interchangeable product also helps keep Microsoft honest. Buyers can easily say "you wronged us (with self-serving or stupid decisions or inferior products), so we'll swap to your competitor". Think of Dell vs. Lenovo, Ford versus GM, or Electro-Motive versus General Electric. They are aware of the market pressure and that they can't afford to ship a lemon.
