Robocon Vietnam 2007 sees new champion

Robocon Vietnam 2007 sees new champion
15:17' 11/06/2007 (GMT+7)


VietNamNet Bridge – The Da Nang University of Technology’s BKDC team became the champion of the Robocon Vietnam 2007 contest last night, June 10, at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi.



The first prize worth VND40 million (US$2,500) was presented to the BKDC team. The second prize worth VND25 million ($1,560) belonged to DT03 team of Hanoi Industrial University and BKBamboo of the Hanoi University of Technology and the MTA-SunPac of the Military Technology Institute took the two third prizes worth VND15 million ($900) each.



The jury also presented six other prizes: the Stylist to BKBamboo of the Hanoi University of Technology, two technology prizes to BKTech of the HCM City University of Technology and HV2l of the Military Technology Institute, the best technological solution prize to the MTA-SunPac of the Military Technology Institute, the Idea prize to BK Dragon of the HCM City University of Technology, and Manual Robot prize to FAM of the Military Technology Institute. Each prize is worth VND10 million ($620).



After six days of competition, the jury selected the 8 best teams from the 32 teams that had participated in the final round for the final night on June 10, which was dramatic. The newcomer, BKDC of the Da Nang University of Technology, repeatedly overcame senior teams to become the new champion of Vietnam Robocon contest, racking up the highest possible total of points, 35.



The two top teams will participate in the Asia Pacific Robocon 2007 held in Vietnam on August 26.



Vietnam’s teams won the championship of the Asia Pacific Robocon contest in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and the third prize in 2003.



Huyen Ngoc

Vietnam software industry and big opportunity

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam can become the country which has its software copyright infringement rate decreasing at the fastest rate in the region next year as it signed cooperation and software copyright purchasing agreements with Microsoft on May 21.



Speaking to the press after the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Vu Duc Dam confirmed: the Vietnamese government always commits to respect software copyrights and is seeking solutions to basically and quickly reduce the software copyright violation rate.



The contract to buy copyrights of Microsoft Office software for government agencies of Vietnam has a three-year duration. After this period, the two sides will re-consider the contract. However, the government doesn’t want to have a monopoly in this field but to create a competitive environment for businesses and the community.



This is also shown through the agreement between the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Microsoft, which allows the bank to own 6,000 licences for the use of Microsoft Office Standard 2007 and any version of this software in the next three years. In addition, employees of the bank are also permitted to use those products legally at home.



Mentioning the rate of software copyright violation in Vietnam, Jeffrey Hardee, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said: “Vietnam has clearly shown its seriousness in protecting intellectual property and reducing the software copyright violation rate. With the agreement signed between the Vietnamese government and Microsoft, Vietnam’s software copyright violation rate will reduce remarkably next year and perhaps Vietnam will be the country with the highest reduction in its software copyright violation rate in the region next year.”



At the meeting with the software developer community of Vietnam, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasised that there were many more opportunities for software developers and Vietnam had the biggest opportunity to create a difference. Vietnamese software companies and the Vietnamese software industry will receive big assistance from Microsoft to improve skills, ability and to reach the world market.



The cooperation agreement with Microsoft focuses on the building of a strong local software industry with various programmes, including:



- Establishing a fund to develop Microsoft’s information and communications technology (ICT) in Vietnam. This fund is considered a significant investment fund for cooperation and implementing development programmes for Vietnam’s ICT sector.



- Helping 20 independent software providers to develop high-quality software products to meet market requirements. Specifically, these firms will be helped to have 1-2 new projects each year, to develop skills, to attract adventure investment and develop the regional and international market.



- Setting up exchange projects with the industry sector through encouraging interaction and development of at least 12 big projects a year, with 21 projects developed and commercialised by 2010.

Two Chinese software products introduced in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Several days after the Vietnamese government signed a contract to buy the copyright for Microsoft Office software, China’s Kingsoft introduced its Kingsoft Office 2007 and KingSoft AntiVirus in Hanoi on May 24.



Kingsoft Office 2007 includes three applications: Kingsoft writer for document compilation, Kingsoft Spreadsheets for calculation cells, and Kingsoft Presentation for creating presentations.



According to the provider, Kingsoft Office 2007 is compatible and has many similar points to Microsoft Office. It can run on a Linux operating system.



Like Kingsoft Office, the capacity of KingSoft Antivirus is small but the software is strong with various functions like boots clean, pre-system start-up, seeking and killing viruses, virus warning, etc.



Kingsoft is a famous software producer in China. KingSoft has gained success in China with Word Processing System (WPS).



WPS is the official document software of Beijing. The Chinese Government has bought up to 11,143 versions, making WPS Office the standard software of 57 ministries and sectors in 31 provinces and cities. WPS Office 2005 (government version) accounts for 56% of the office software market of China, with a total download number of 38 million within the first three months (from December 2005 to February 2006).

Post by

Money Maker Online http://doimat-lpeiku.blogspot.com

Microsoft CEO and one-day visit to Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer arrived in Hanoi last night, May 20, to start his one-day visit to Vietnam.



This morning, May 21, Mr Ballmer met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and signed two cooperation agreements: the agreement on strategic partnership between Microsoft and the Vietnamese Government and the contract to sell Microsoft Office software copyright to the Vietnamese Government.



The contract to buy copyright of Microsoft Office software proves the Vietnamese government’s strong commit in protecting intellectual property, the significant foundation for economic growth and creating opportunities for Vietnam to achieve its goal of earning $10 billion from IT revenues in 2010.



According to the agreement on strategic partnership between the Vietnamese government and Microsoft, the two sides will cooperate in four major fields: using effective tools that have been used in the world, building e-government infrastructure and technical skills, narrowing the digital gap and developing local software businesses.



After the meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Mr Ballmer attended the conference of Window Vista developers at Hanoi Melia Hotel and met with Vietnamese Minister of Post and Telematics Do Trung Ta.




Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer, Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Vu Duc Dam and VietNamNet Editor-in-chief Nguyen Anh Tuan (middle).
He also attended a round table interview with VietNamNet at 11am, along with Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Vu Duc Dam.



This afternoon, after a meeting with leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, Microsoft’s CEO will participate in the signing ceremony of some important documents with the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and meet some big partners in Vietnam.



Vietnam is the first destination of the Microsoft CEO in a week-visit to Asia and the Pacific. After Vietnam, he will come to Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.



Mr Ballmer has assumed the CEO position at Microsoft since 2000 and has significantly contributed to the development of this software group. Though people have recently mentioned the name Ray Ozzie as the successor of Bill Gates at Microsoft, Ballmer is still the most important person in driving the Microsoft ship on the way to maintain its influence on the IT world.

Microsoft, Vietnam sign human resource pact

VietNamNet Bridge - Microsoft and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on information technology (IT) application and IT human resource development in Hanoi, on May 21.

The signing ceremony was attended by visiting Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Under the MoU, the second reached between Microsoft and the ministry, the two sides will join together in organising the fourth meeting of Asia-Pacific creative teachers in Vietnam, establish an IT Institute and conduct higher education-related training programmes.

CEO Ballmer said Microsoft is committed to aiding Vietnam’s teachers and students in gaining access to new technologies.

Minister Nhan spoke highly of Microsoft’s assistance, saying that since the first MoU was inked between his ministry and Microsoft in 2005, nearly 19,000 teachers and employees and almost 760,000 students in 12 cities and provinces have had access to the most advanced technology.

Later in the day, Microsoft and the Ministry of Post and Telematics also signed a strategic partnership agreement and a copyright contract for the use of Microsoft's Microsoft Office software.

Vietnamnet
Post by Money Maker Online http://doimat-lpeiku.blogspot.com

MobiFone to choose equitisation consultant on May 16

12:21' 08/05/2007 (GMT+7)


VietNamNet Bridge – MobiFone will organise bid to select a consultant of equitisation on May 16, according to the Vietnam Mobile Service Company (VMS), the operator of MobiFone network.



MobiFone will deliver invitation documents from May 4-16, 2007. The winning consultant will assist MobiFone to appraise its assets, select strategic partners as well as design steps of equitisation.



Mentioning the attraction of the stock market, Le Ngoc Minh, MobiFone director, said: “If VMS go to the bourse, it would be an opportunity for us to develop our brand-name”.



According to a recent survey by the Vietnam Economic Times, stocks of telecom companies rank third for the attractiveness in the stock market, after banking and finance and oil and gas.



Over ten consulting companies want to support MobiFone in equitisation but they require high fees and strict conditions

Vietnamnet

Money Maker Online
http://doimat-lpeiku.blogspot.com

Software industry aims at USD800mil

15:17' 02/05/2007 (GMT+7)


VietNamNet Bridge – Though obtaining satisfactory results recently, the software industry of Vietnam has not demonstrated its full ability yet.



The expectations for this key industry have been raised again since the government approved the programme to develop the software industry of Vietnam to 2010 in mid April.



The most important point of this programme is identifying the goals, policies, specific measures and the expenses for the programme. According to many IT experts, those goals are appropriate to the country’s ability if solutions are performed seriously.



According to the government’s viewpoint, the software industry is a knowledge-based, hi-tech economic sector, with high added value and export revenue, significantly contributing to modernisation and industrialisation. Vietnam especially encourages and creates favourable conditions for drawing investment and developing this industry as a core economic sector of the national economy.



Developing human resources is considered the key to the success of the software industry. Information services will be a focus, firstly outsourcing services for foreign clients, along with expanding the local market and developing some major software to replace imported products.



The programme aims to obtain an average growth rate of 35-40% a year, total revenue of over US$800 million, including at least 40% from exports. The workforce for the software sector will be around 55,000-60,000, with average production value of $15,000/person/year. By 2010, Vietnam must have around 10 software companies which have over 1,000 employees and 200 companies with over 100 employees.



Vietnam has also set the goal of becoming one of the leading countries in attracting foreign investment in the software industry and one of the top 15 nations providing software outsourcing service in the world. Another goal is reducing the rate of software infringement to the average of the region.



To realise those targets, the Software Industry Development Programme proposes some policies and solutions, including the improvement of the legal environment and State management capability. The programme also proposes measures to develop human resources for the software industry.



Accordingly, software companies that meet conditions on human resources and infrastructure, especially companies in Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City, will be helped to raise their competitiveness. Some software parks will be also developed in the three above cities.



The programme also lays out many projects and schemes to develop the software industry in various aspects like human resources, trademarks, trade promotion, market development, software export.



One of the most important points of the programme is that in 2010 the State will give priority to the programme. Accordingly, $70 million will be invested in the programme: 30% from the State budget, 30% from local budgets, and 40% from enterprises, associations, ODA sources and other sources.



The Ministry of Post and Telematics will coordinate with ministries, government agencies, and local authorities to implement this programme.




VietNamnet