So it seems China has taken one huge step to rid itself of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Another reason why the company recently treated President Xi Jinping like a king.
The government of China has released a new operating system called NeoKylin, and it is basically an almost complete copy of Windows XP when it comes down to the user interface design and other key components.
We understand that the Chinese had first planned to work with the makers of Ubuntu to get the project up and running. At the time, the operating system was called Kylin, but things didn’t pan out, and the job was sent to Shanghai’s China Standard Software and renamed NeoKylin
We should point out that the operating system is based on Linux and not something built from the ground up. Furthermore, we suspect the reason why they chose to mimic Windows XP, is due to the overwhelming popularity of the operating system in the country.
Over 20 percent of Chinese still use Windows XP, including the government. When Microsoft launched Windows 8 and decided to end the life of XP, the Chinese were not happy about it, and as such, banned Windows 8 from government offices.
To make things even more interesting, Dell is selling computers in China with NeoKylin installed. Around 40 percent of the computer units Dell ships in China are powered by NeoKylin, so right away it is clear that Microsoft executives are ripping their own throats out.
As it stands right now, it would seem the Edward Snowden leaks are having an adverse effect on American companies, and we doubt it is going to end any time soon, because the Chinese are not playing around.
Interesting. Will there be an English version.
Saw a video recently at YT on this system, insofar as how it looks/apps; indeed very similar-looking to Zorin and Elementary OS, so maybe China (like India’s BOSS) just wants its XP adherents (older devices) to have a native alternative to Windows, Mac, Linux Mint…current Ubuntu/Canonical is very focused these days on mobile/touch, and maybe couldn’t support long term a new OS built on older kernels for XP users.
According to the the pass history of Chia hi tech developments, I would hold back and watch for a while before making any decision of whether it can be trusted. Copying others software, making changes and giving a different name and looks are Chinese specialties. As for now, I am still will not touch it with a 20 foot pole. Time will tell.