Canonical Teams With China to Create National OS

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On one hand, it could rapidly promote Linux software development as now China (a very large population, therefore large amounts of money) will largely be running Linux machines. So everyone will now have to start developing for Linux of they want this market.
On the other, its a government instigated and created OS. The Great Firewall of China could now be extended into the desktop quite easily with this kind of control.
 
It makes sense, since Ubuntu for smartphones is already finished, launched and matured.

Oh, wait....

As far as Windows taking a hit, it could have happened for as long as Ubuntu (and Linux-based OSes) have been out there. Nothing beats free, right? I use Ubuntu on some of my systems, I would switch in a heartbeat to it as my one-and-only OS, but there is this "slight" compatibility problem for a bunch of applications, not to mention gaming support being still in it's infancy. Searching the web for a compatible version of an application, then searching what repositories to add (and how), getting the packages and finally installing them is not exactly what general populace is looking for in an OS.
 

acyuta

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The cyberterrorism experts cannot even create their own OS. As a recent post to be restated.. they have a free OS called windows and why this need.

I am sure that the OS will be made compulsory for all Chinese and allow the cyberterrorists to snoop on their own `citizens' in a manner never seen before.
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]kensingtron[/nom]Why go to such an effort, China already has a free operating system called Windows.[/citation]

But the Chinese government wants even better spying on its citizens. MS isn't allowed to do that by US laws and the Western publicity.


One CPU (hardware spying and blocking).

One OS (software spying and blocking).

Eventually, One GPU, RAM, HDD, and mobo?


Hm, unless if China continues to pour large amount of money into such venture, those One systems maybe vulnerable to hacking as a system with 1 billion users is going to be an irresistible target.
 

A Bad Day

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EDIT: And if the CPU has hardware monitoring, what if someone managed to hijack the data feed (through software disguising or a hardware flaw) and use the CPU for their own usage?
 

mydrrin

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I would say this is partly to do with the requirements it agreed to crack down on piracy. Options to crack down hard on people who pirate Widows would be unpopular when people make little money to afford it. This allowed China to give people an option instead, maybe give a warning and the person switches to Ubuntu. See the win for China? They also don't need to send money to the US, strengthening their economy.

Expect to see a high level of blowback from this. I will give this an expected high level of chance of a trade war on other things, aggressive use of tariffs on other goods until this changes. Not sure if China will be strong enough to withstand the pain as the screws get tightened. Could be a turning point of Chinese/American relations as China will turn away from the US market. See how the chess match plays out.
 

nebun

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[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]EDIT: And if the CPU has hardware monitoring, what if someone managed to hijack the data feed (through software disguising or a hardware flaw) and use the CPU for their own usage?[/citation]
it's already happening....its called spyware and crapware...mostly on smartphones
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]mydrrin[/nom]Expect to see a high level of blowback from this. I will give this an expected high level of chance of a trade war on other things, aggressive use of tariffs on other goods until this changes. Not sure if China will be strong enough to withstand the pain as the screws get tightened. Could be a turning point of Chinese/American relations as China will turn away from the US market. See how the chess match plays out.[/citation]

Since their "standard" CPU's architecture is a MIPS64, that means it won't be compatible with ARM or x86 software without an inefficient emulator.

In short, if they are to succeed, they would have to build their own MIPS software, which won't be supported by Intel, ARM, AMD, or Nividia.
 

janetonly42

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[citation][nom]kensingtron[/nom]Why go to such an effort, China already has a free operating system called Windows.[/citation]
I don't like this at all, with all the Chinese hackers getting use to Linux, only bad things will happen or maybe I'm wrong and they will end up making it even more secure by finding any and all exploits.
 

rajangel

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It just occurred to me that supporting a government that will only support a single OS is so far from open source that you can't even call it that. An OS with no competition is not open source. It is a monopoly.
 

pacomac

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[citation][nom]house70[/nom]It makes sense, since Ubuntu for smartphones is already finished, launched and matured.[/citation]

Really! since when?
 

bustapr

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i really cant see why theres so much complaining. this giant bag of money called China is paying canonical to make a national OS. its a great marketing tool for canonical too, not to mention the large population of China will eventually move over to the standard OS. it wont have a big effect on our linux developement however because of the MIPS architecture used, but its still making them a ton of money and market share.

as a business this isnt a bad decision at all, and it will likely have no effect on our x86 ubuntu/linux os.
 

tech102947t

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I *want* to use Linux daily, but currently cannot. Canonical is the only entity that can possibly make it more usable for me as my daily desktop, tablet, and phone. I wish them the best. Going with the Qt framework was a smart choice by them. Wish Google would of done that instead of the Android Java-mess that exists.
 

belardo

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[citation][nom]rajangel[/nom]I will no longer support ubuntu. Time to move on to another linux OS.[/citation]Why? They are providing a fork to work with, the Chinese put in the parts they want and need.
 

belardo

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[citation][nom]rajangel[/nom]It just occurred to me that supporting a government that will only support a single OS is so far from open source that you can't even call it that. An OS with no competition is not open source. It is a monopoly.[/citation]Not quite. They (Chinese govt) can't/wont prevent people from installing Windows or another flavor of Linux. It creates a standard for their country/industry to use.

As it is, with MS being over 90% of the desktops - THAT is a monopoly. Most govts in the world have issues in which their computers run an OS that is fully controlled by a county that is not there. Linux is not owned by any country or company.

MS is very worried at were things are at. They only have about 24% of the world OS market and its falling. Windows is no longer relevant... really, its not. Other than some business... most consumers DON'T need Windows. Just a browser. as long as they can browse, go to facebook, read their email, share photos and crap... it doesn't matter the OS.

There is quite a bit of difference between the $200 Win8Pro + $150 Office 2013 vs. $0 Linux & $0 OpenOffice. Win8 is generally hated by most people... whats the point of having "windows" if the version 8 is so wacky different than Linux? Isn't that why Linux is doing badly... because of its learning curve?

The tablet market is growing... its taking sales from desktop and notebooks. The Surface = fail. MS has just lowered the OEM pricing for the OS for those devices... thinking that the OEM will make more tablets... but the problem is this: The PRICE doesn't matter if there is NO DEMAND.

*I WILL NEVER* buy a microsoft tablet. It will be Android... maybe an iPad when I am ready to replace my iPad1. There is no reason to. No real advantage to doing so. Metro on touchscreen is still badly designed compared to Android or iOS - and then they port that garbage to the desktop.

Windows8 has MADE me go Linux full time on one of my Notebooks. So I can learn it and eventually replace my Win7 systems with Linux as they age.

Microsoft had a problem... they only made things worse because they have become a very stupid company.
 
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