With China previously expressing its concerns over the surveillance activities of the United States and the monopoly practices that Microsoft is currently under investigation for, the Xinhua News Agency revealed that the country is looking to soon release a home-grown operating system.
A version for desktop computers of the OS may be ready by October this year, the agency reported. However, no name has yet been assigned to the Chinese OS.
Ni Guangnan from the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that the OS will first be developed for desktop computers, but it will also be later released for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet computers.
Ni is the leader of the OS development alliance that was founded in March. However, there remain many issues within the program, including a shortage of funds for research and a large number of developers on the project that is pulling the program into several directions.
"China has more than a dozen mobile OS developers with no independent intellectual property rights because their research is based on Android," said Ni, who added that future developments on similar project should be spearheaded by the government.
Ni also said that with the end of support for Windows XP, along with the ban of the government on the acquisition of Windows 8, opportunities were presented to Chinese OS developers to come up with a system that the country can use.
"Our key to success lies in an environment that can help us compete with Google, Apple and Microsoft," added Ni, who hopes that domestically-created software will replace foreign software within one year to two years and mobile OS within three years to five years.
In May this year, China banned the usage of Windows 8 on government PCs, stating the primary reason was the lack of security structures in the software. China continues to be wary of products by Microsoft, with the government looking to fortify its internal computer systems after several slaws in security were discovered in the programming of Microsoft products.
Microsoft is currently being probed by Chinese authorities for possible antitrust violations, with officials visiting multiple Microsoft offices in China to conduct the investigations on unannounced visits.
China has also issued a warning against Microsoft, stating that the tech company would make matters worse if it would hinder the ongoing investigations.
The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether the products and services offered by Microsoft are complying with the rules and regulations that China has put in place.
