Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system • Hacker News Board

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#11

Post by cs702 » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:30 PM UTC

Leaving aside the normal concerns about collaboration with an authoritarian government, this looks like a really big deal: Ubuntu is now the "reference architecture for standard operating systems" in China.[1]

If I understand correctly, this means a flavor of Ubuntu (and Unity, according to the press release) will be used by hundreds of millions of people within the next decade, far surpassing the worldwide market share of Mac OS X, Chrome OS, etc.

In all likelihood, Microsoft now views Ubuntu with Unity as a main competitor on the desktop.

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[1] http://www.canonical.com/content/canonical-and-chinese-stand...

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Edits: changed "few years" to "decade," in response to hydrology's comment (thanks hydrology!); and added a reference to Chrome OS and Microsoft.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#12

Post by davidroberts » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:43 PM UTC

The news means Ubuntu-stewards Canonical will work with China's National University of Defense Technology...

....to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market...

Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant? Is Canonical enabling repression or military aggression?

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#13

Post by hydrology » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:48 PM UTC

cs702 wrote: post #11

Leaving aside the normal concerns about collaboration with an authoritarian government, this looks like a really big deal: Ubuntu is now the "reference architecture for standard operating systems" in China. [1] If I understand correctly, this means a flavor of Ubuntu (and Unity, according to the press release) will be used by hundreds of millions of people within the next decade, far surpassing the worldwide market s…

As a Chinese, I guess that this probably won't happen at least for the next decade. Non-IT professionals in China aren't even aware that Linux system exist.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#14

Post by vorg » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:49 PM UTC

A month ago I walked through some big computer markets here in China looking for computers pre-installed with Ubuntu, calling out "Have not have Yubentu?", always hearing "Not have!" and only seeing Windows 8 on every screen.

It could be next year I do the same, and only see Ubuntu, with Windows 8 nowhere to be seen. Incredible!

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#15

Post by laumars » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:53 PM UTC

davidroberts wrote: post #12

The news means Ubuntu-stewards Canonical will work with China's National University of Defense Technology... ....to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market... Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant? Is Canonical enabling repression or military aggression?

Canonical aren't enabling anything. They just repackage open source software (bar their custom themes and Unity).

If the Chinese populous don't like any of the governments additions, then those users can grab the binaries / source code directly and roll their own customisations.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#16

Post by waterlesscloud » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:53 PM UTC

Maybe some of the same American schools that are teaching children Mandarin so they can be competitive in the world of the future will now also teach them Linux.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#17

Post by macco » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 12:55 PM UTC

Interesting agreement. But at the end, the market will decide what it wants to buy. I hope it will be Ubuntu, but that it another story.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#18

Post by cheapsteak » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 1:24 PM UTC

cs702 wrote: post #11

Leaving aside the normal concerns about collaboration with an authoritarian government, this looks like a really big deal: Ubuntu is now the "reference architecture for standard operating systems" in China. [1] If I understand correctly, this means a flavor of Ubuntu (and Unity, according to the press release) will be used by hundreds of millions of people within the next decade, far surpassing the worldwide market s…

Apple is incredibly popular among Chinese international university students, but the first thing everyone does when they get a new Macbook is to install bootcamp and never boot into OSX again.

If even the brightest and more malleable of the people don't want to use anything except Windows, I don't see the average person switching to Ubuntu at all.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#19

Post by salmanapk » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 1:26 PM UTC

> PUT for update (and PATCH too).

PUT for update and PATCH for partial update.

Re: Ubuntu tapped by China for national operating system

#20

Post by spindritf » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 1:35 PM UTC

davidroberts wrote: post #12

The news means Ubuntu-stewards Canonical will work with China's National University of Defense Technology... ....to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market... Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant? Is Canonical enabling repression or military aggression?

> Exactly which features does the University of Defense Technology consider relevant?

Here are the features promised by Canonical to be included in the next two releases or later https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin Basic stuff, like Chinese Input Method, Chinese Calendar, Taobao and Baidu Search on Dash... nothing special.