When it comes to technology, more often than not we hear about China censoring the internet and whatnot. In fact for those unfamiliar, popular services such as YouTube and Twitter have their own Chinese counterparts, such as Youku and Weibo. China has also launched their own mobile operating system in place of Android (although it is based off Android), and even has a Google of their own in the form of Baidu. Needless to say, China appears to be going out of their way to ensure that they are in control when it comes to technology and unsurprisingly, open-sourced operating system, Linux, has been revealed to be China’s operating system of choice.It has been announced by Canonical that they will be working with the Chinese government to help create a state-endorsed operating system. Canonical, known for their Linux distribution, Ubuntu, will be creating a variant of it known as Ubuntu Kylin and is expected to be released in April. According to Canonical CEO, Jane Silber, “This collaboration will bring local investment and participation to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market, and close coordination with the global Ubuntu project ensures that it is familiar to software and hardware vendors, and useful for export products made by Chinese companies as well.”
While China has yet to make their feelings on the matter known, a report by the BBC has speculated that the reason behind China opting for Ubuntu is because they are trying to move consumers away from “Western software”, namely Microsoft’s Windows platform and Apple’s OS X. Unsurprisingly Ubuntu Kylin will come bundled with China-approved services, such as Baidu and Taobao, China’s answer to eBay/Amazon.