China is planning its own desktop and mobile software to oust imported rivals from Microsoft, Apple and Google.
The unnamed desktop version is due for release in October with its own app store, independent of western companies, with a version for smartphones and tablets due in three to five years.
Chinese authorities hope to displace Google’s Android software, and the many modified open-source versions of Android, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported via the state-run People’s Post.
Computer technology became an area of mutual suspicion between China and the US after the NSA revelations and a number of cyber security rows, including allegations of state-sponsored hacking and the creation of espionage backdoors in both hardware and software.
China banned Microsoft’s Windows 8 from government computers in May with the majority of computers still running Windows XP, according to the Chinese newspaper, which is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Microsoft also faces a monopoly investigation in China related to Windows and Office.
Levelling up
Ni Guangnan from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who has been developing the software since March, said that effort was designed to bring China’s software up to par with the country’s technology hardware from companies like Huawei, which powers a significant number of mobile networks through its infrastructure business.
“Creating an environment that allows us to contend with Google, Apple and Microsoft – that is the key to success,” Guangnan said.
The new Chinese software will see an alliance of over 13 software companies with 80 research units bound together through standardisation to create the new desktop and mobile ecosystem complete with local app stores.
Guangnan aims to displace Windows XP in one to two years from China’s desktop computers and Android from mobile devices in three to five years.
“At present, China’s mobile operating system developers include more than a dozen companies, but they can not be said to be based on independent intellectual property rights, using Android customisation,” Ni Guangnan said. “You must change the past approach, instead of copying the previous model integrate the resources accumulated in the past with a state-run unified operating system.”
Previous efforts
This is not the first time China has tried to create its own operating system (OS) software. The Chinese Academy of Sciences released a Linux-based OS in 2000 called Red Flag, with desktop, server and productivity software in use in schools and government.
The Linux-based China Operating System was later released in January by the Academy targeting mobile devices.
The National University of Defense Technology also developed “Kylin OS”, which was designed as high-security software for government. A consumer version based on Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux was released in April 2013.
It is unclear whether the new software from Chinese Academy of Engineering will be based on previous efforts, but will likely involve Linux.
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