14 DAY TRIAL // China’s attempts to break from Microsoft’s domination are about to come to fruition, as the government has recently banned Windows 8 and started to investigate the Redmond-based company for anti-trust violations.
This is a serious blow for Microsoft, as the Chinese market is one of the largest in the world in all aspects, but China does not seem to want to stop here.
The Chinese government is determined to make everything in-house, from smartphones, PCs to the software that powers them.
It’s already common knowledge that China is trying to replace Windows Phone with its own proprietary operating system that’s now in development, but Reuters reports that Chinese government officials want to bring the OS to smartphones as well.
The main target would be Android, as Google’s operating system accounts for a huge market share in China. According to the latest statistics, Android owns more than 80% of the smartphone market, while iOS accounts for little above 12%.
It appears that China is now looking to strengthen the development of its IT technology to the point that, if necessary, it could replace imported software and/or devices with its own without compromising vital systems or industries.
The first on the list of “need to be replaced” operating systems are Microsoft’s Windows and Google’s Android platforms. Chinese news agency Xinhua claims that the new homegrown operating system developed by the country’s engineers should be ready by October.
The new OS will be pushed for testing on desktops, but later it will be ported to smartphones and other mobile devices, thus replacing Android.
Ni Guangnan, head of an official OS development alliance, confirms the information and says that a Chinese OS was already a work in progress when his country’s government banned Windows 8 and announced plans to replaces it with its own desktop platform.
Unfortunately, the development of the Chinese OS was far behind in comparison with the other developed countries, which was one of the reasons it wasn’t pushed for testing yet.
Ni also says that plans are to put the new Chinese OS on smartphones within the next three to five years, but it’s unclear whether or not this will be able to replace Android, which will probably continue to advance technologically.
For those who think that this is a joke, here’s a short quote from Ni’s much longer statement reported by People’s Post and Telecommunications News: “creating an environment that allows us to contend with Google, Apple and Microsoft - that is the key to success.”
What are your thoughts on China’s attempts to replace Google’s Android platform with its own operating system? Do you think that it will be beneficial for the Chinese people or is this just another way of controlling another environment where the government doesn’t have anything to say yet?