Leaving aside the normal concerns about collaboration with an authoritarian government, this looks like a really big deal: Ubuntu is now the "reference architecture for standard operating systems" in China.[1]
If I understand correctly, this means a flavor of Ubuntu (and Unity, according to the press release) will be used by hundreds of millions of people within the next decade, far surpassing the worldwide market share of Mac OS X, Chrome OS, etc.
In all likelihood, Microsoft now views Ubuntu with Unity as a main competitor on the desktop.
As a Chinese, I guess that this probably won't happen at least for the next decade. Non-IT professionals in China aren't even aware that Linux system exist.
Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcamp and never boot into OSX again.
If even the brightest and more malleable of the people don't want to use anything except Windows, I don't see the average person switching to Ubuntu at all.
Seriously? NUDT (National University of Defense Technology) still names it Kylin? How shameless… A little bit of the old story for those who don't know:
Around 2001~2002, NUDT, Lenovo Group, and a few other organizations took a government grant of 70 million RMB and claimed to independently created a new operating system with their own copyright/IP for defense use called Galaxy Kylin.
In 2006, an analysis [1] of the “new” OS revealed that Kylin was most likely a fork of FreeBSD, which voided the previous independent creation and copyright/IP claims. Worse, they did not follow FreeBSD license when distributing the software.
When the scandal was published and went crazy in the media the same year, another interesting incident happened: access to www.freebsd.org was blocked from mainland China. In fact, the term “FreeBSD” became a sensitive keyword that if you mention it anywhere on any page, your connection will be cut-off and subsequently blocked, not just www.freebsd.org [2]. Of course there was no official statement regarding the connection between the two (what do you expect anyway…), given the deep involvement of NUDT and the Great Firewall, one has to wonder…
Looks like they learned something from that scandal and this time they acknowledged the adoption of Ubuntu/Linux upfront. Let's see what will happen next.
"Because the software is open source it's unlikely that any backdoors could be added into the Ubuntu OS without the global Linux community taking notice."
Depending on the level of involvement China actually has, I don't think they would have any qualms with distributing binaries with backdoors, but keeping their changes secret.
But as a mechanism of state control that can be very flimsy, it is much easier, however probably not cheaper, to control the choke point; the network. If all it took to avoid state control was a re-install of a non-approved version of kylin/ubuntu then everyone would do it.
I think they're referring to potential backdoors installed by the US to spy on China in Microsoft software. (Shocker: the US engages in cyber espionage too).
This is a great idea. Now one and a half billion Chinese can get their free OS'es completely legally instead of using pirated, possibly malware-tainted copies of Windows XP. And Microsoft can stop crying about the hypothetical lost revenue due to piracy when everyone switches to a better, free product.
Not that they couldn't switch before, but perhaps the official government endorsement of Ubuntu will jump-start the adoption rate in China.
This assumes that the new OS will be better than WinXP/Win7/Win8. (Well, let's just not talk about Win8.) If "better" means more compatible with existing apps, more stable, easier to use, more standard... not sure you can make an argument for that. Maybe in a few years when the desktop is just a portal for web apps.
Plus... China's currently only 1.34 billion. They've got a ways to go to get to 1.5B.
The Indian govt. introduced BOSS Linux [1] many years ago as the "official" Linux distro, based on Debian. Alas, no one has even heard of it, let alone use it.
There is a serious concern in that. Spy agencies buy and commission zero-day exploits. Compared to the cost of satellites, they can easily spend so lavishly that exploit authors have an incentive to worm their way into open source projects. That quite a bit less direct than buying or commanding a back door in a proprietary product, but it's going to be difficult to defend against. It will be interesting to see if such shenanigans are ever uncovered due to the "many eyes" approach.
We get to see a an interesting experiment, that was previously only a thought-experiment. The classic "market share" argument gets put to the test: "Windows only attracts malware because Windows runs on the most computers."
If Microsoft and Windows stalwarts believe in that strongly enough, they should be in favor of seeing PRC adopt Linux.
I take offense with the following part of the article:
"Other repressive nations that have developed local versions of Linux include North Korea, which built the KDE-based Red Star OS to help wean it as a nation off of an unfortunate dependence on Windows made by the capitalists over at Microsoft."
China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant interventions to third nations?
Yes, China is a "repressive nation." Especially when it comes to technology, e.g., "The Great Firewall."
No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.
It's interesting to see the developing world adopt GNU/Linux. Venezuela created Canaima. [1] Turkey created Pardus. [2] Iran has announced plans for a national distro. [3] Russia has announced plans for its public sector to use free software. [4]
I suspect, though, that many of these initiatives are simply exercises by universities or government IT organizations to understand the technology, rather than to advocate for its use.
Maybe some of the same American schools that are teaching children Mandarin so they can be competitive in the world of the future will now also teach them Linux.
Yes it could. I suppose especially on ARM/MIPS SoCs (which many consumer devices are based on). Linux is a one of the few valid choices once you stray from x86, especially as China govt has already said they want to reduce dependence on Google/Android. Maybe that's where Ubuntu comes in.
A month ago I walked through some big computer markets here in China looking for computers pre-installed with Ubuntu, calling out "Have not have Yubentu?", always hearing "Not have!" and only seeing Windows 8 on every screen.
It could be next year I do the same, and only see Ubuntu, with Windows 8 nowhere to be seen. Incredible!
> Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant?
Here are the features promised by Canonical to be included in the next two releases or later https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin Basic stuff, like Chinese Input Method, Chinese Calendar, Taobao and Baidu Search on Dash... nothing special.
Canonical aren't enabling anything. They just repackage open source software (bar their custom themes and Unity).
If the Chinese populous don't like any of the governments additions, then those users can grab the binaries / source code directly and roll their own customisations.
I know I'm a cynic/paranoid, but is this in any way tied to the increase in cyber espionage? There's been rumors of the US pushing for backdoors and/or not disclosing exploits in windows and applications, is this China's response to that? Is China looking to do something similar with Linux by using Ubuntu as a trojan to get subtle changes added?
I get very concerned anytime any govt entity wants to get involved with a project.
I think for Ubuntu to succeed in China, it will need support from Tencent, whose QQ is the most popular IM application in China, and until now doesn't have a decent, full-fledged Linux version.
[+] [-] cs702|13 years ago|reply
If I understand correctly, this means a flavor of Ubuntu (and Unity, according to the press release) will be used by hundreds of millions of people within the next decade, far surpassing the worldwide market share of Mac OS X, Chrome OS, etc.
In all likelihood, Microsoft now views Ubuntu with Unity as a main competitor on the desktop.
--
[1] http://www.canonical.com/content/canonical-and-chinese-stand...
--
Edits: changed "few years" to "decade," in response to hydrology's comment (thanks hydrology!); and added a reference to Chrome OS and Microsoft.
[+] [-] hydrology|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fatjokes|13 years ago|reply
Maybe the governments will require the use of this brand of Ubuntu, but that's it.
[+] [-] cheapsteak|13 years ago|reply
If even the brightest and more malleable of the people don't want to use anything except Windows, I don't see the average person switching to Ubuntu at all.
[+] [-] riobard|13 years ago|reply
Around 2001~2002, NUDT, Lenovo Group, and a few other organizations took a government grant of 70 million RMB and claimed to independently created a new operating system with their own copyright/IP for defense use called Galaxy Kylin.
In 2006, an analysis [1] of the “new” OS revealed that Kylin was most likely a fork of FreeBSD, which voided the previous independent creation and copyright/IP claims. Worse, they did not follow FreeBSD license when distributing the software.
When the scandal was published and went crazy in the media the same year, another interesting incident happened: access to www.freebsd.org was blocked from mainland China. In fact, the term “FreeBSD” became a sensitive keyword that if you mention it anywhere on any page, your connection will be cut-off and subsequently blocked, not just www.freebsd.org [2]. Of course there was no official statement regarding the connection between the two (what do you expect anyway…), given the deep involvement of NUDT and the Great Firewall, one has to wonder…
Looks like they learned something from that scandal and this time they acknowledged the adoption of Ubuntu/Linux upfront. Let's see what will happen next.
[1]: http://www.dancefire.org/article/Kernel_Similarity_Analysis.... (in Simplified Chinese)
[2]: http://www.williamlong.info/archives/406.html (in Simplified Chinese)
[+] [-] bane|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trotsky|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jstanley|13 years ago|reply
Depending on the level of involvement China actually has, I don't think they would have any qualms with distributing binaries with backdoors, but keeping their changes secret.
[+] [-] tankenmate|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fatjokes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kyllo|13 years ago|reply
Not that they couldn't switch before, but perhaps the official government endorsement of Ubuntu will jump-start the adoption rate in China.
[+] [-] blisterpeanuts|13 years ago|reply
Plus... China's currently only 1.34 billion. They've got a ways to go to get to 1.5B.
[+] [-] shared4you|13 years ago|reply
[1]: http://bosslinux.in/
[+] [-] tomrod|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zigurd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bediger4000|13 years ago|reply
If Microsoft and Windows stalwarts believe in that strongly enough, they should be in favor of seeing PRC adopt Linux.
[+] [-] grapjas|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] javis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kunai|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldtea|13 years ago|reply
"Other repressive nations that have developed local versions of Linux include North Korea, which built the KDE-based Red Star OS to help wean it as a nation off of an unfortunate dependence on Windows made by the capitalists over at Microsoft."
China is a "repressive nation"? Says who? Britain, the leader in colonialist aggressions, mass slavery and blatant interventions to third nations?
[+] [-] Strang|13 years ago|reply
No, Britain is not a "repressive nation." The British government surely takes some repressive actions, but not to such a degree as to be labeled a repressive nation.
[+] [-] staticfish|13 years ago|reply
* Tiananmen square. Murders against any form of civil disobedience.
* Secret and non-secret alliances with North Korea.
* Occasional acts of aggression on Japan.
* Great firewall, general suppression of information from citizens.
* Massive amounts of political corruption.
* Human rights violations aplenty.
* Causing an environmental catastrophe. Fucking up the entire planet in the process.
* Tibet, Taiwan, etc etc
[+] [-] cobrausn|13 years ago|reply
In the meantime, China still has Gulags.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21822684
[+] [-] impendia|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] keithpeter|13 years ago|reply
Yes, all true, in the past.
Decolonialisation, itself a problematic process, has occurred, and self-determination achieved to some extent for many groups.
When will the Peoples Republic grant self-determination to Tibet? That would be the action of a self-assured and mature state.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] charonn0|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdc|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] peripetylabs|13 years ago|reply
I suspect, though, that many of these initiatives are simply exercises by universities or government IT organizations to understand the technology, rather than to advocate for its use.
[1] http://canaima.softwarelibre.gob.ve [2] http://www.pardus.org.tr [3] http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/03/security_fears... [4] http://open.cnews.ru/news/top/index.shtml?2010/12/27/421556
[+] [-] pm90|13 years ago|reply
In this case, I think they're trying to make an operating system that uses Indian languages, so that its easier for those in rural areas to operate it
[+] [-] mindcrime|13 years ago|reply
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux
[+] [-] waterlesscloud|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zirok|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wladimir|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vorg|13 years ago|reply
It could be next year I do the same, and only see Ubuntu, with Windows 8 nowhere to be seen. Incredible!
[+] [-] davidroberts|13 years ago|reply
....to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market...
Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant? Is Canonical enabling repression or military aggression?
[+] [-] spindritf|13 years ago|reply
Here are the features promised by Canonical to be included in the next two releases or later https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin Basic stuff, like Chinese Input Method, Chinese Calendar, Taobao and Baidu Search on Dash... nothing special.
[+] [-] laumars|13 years ago|reply
If the Chinese populous don't like any of the governments additions, then those users can grab the binaries / source code directly and roll their own customisations.
[+] [-] kps|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] irmbrady|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deelowe|13 years ago|reply
I get very concerned anytime any govt entity wants to get involved with a project.
[+] [-] macco|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kercker|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] esalman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wladimir|13 years ago|reply