China to Bring Out its Own Operating System and Take On US-Based Systems
The Chinese, can be called the shop floor for all of the world’s smartphone needs. If it’s an electronic product, at least one bit of it is produced in China. The communist nation has seen phenomenal economic growth ever since the technocrats running the country transformed the country into a manufacturing giant. Inspired by the boom that the Chinese economy has seen, the Indian government urged the world to manufacture in India.
The Chinese are now trying to stake a claim in one more important arena in the international business, the Operating System. China is proactively developing an operating system that will help it decrease its reliance of US-made OS like the ones from Windows, Apple and Google. In fact, China wants to take on the OS giants with their version.
The new OS will be based on Android. It is being developed by a team which is headed by the co-founder of Lenevo, Guangnan Ni. It will be released this October. The OS will be available for the Chinese government offices as well as fr consumer use.
Spying concerns have been cited a reason for China opting for its own OS
China, in recent years, has tried to create an alternative to the US based OS’s. The Chinese Academy of Sciences released the China Operating System (COS), in January of this year, but it wasn’t appreciated as much. This new OS will be first released for desktop and later a mobile version will also be released.
The recent revelation of software backdoors that can be used by agencies like NSA to spy on users was cited as one of the major reasons for the development of the OS. China had recently banned all Windows 8 systems in its government offices after terming Microsoft a monopolistic company.
The country has intense information restrictions and prefers to use systems developed within the country. Getting an OS made at home will also add to the nationalistic pride in the communist nation.
In India, the Rs. 1,13,000 Crore Digital India Project will work towards constructing a informational highway that connects the whole of India. The project will also encourage software systems to be programmed in India for the use of the nation. Clearly the goal of the government of India too is to reduce the dependency on foreign based products. This is a valid thought and if the government puts its money where its mouth is, it will be able to encourage a generation of tech entrepreneurs who are presently working to make foreign enterprises profitable. These entrepreneurs will help create a powerful economy for the future India.
The Dragon has made its mark on the world and is standing as a formidable adversary. It’s for us to see if the Tiger can ever catch up.
