China bans Windows 8 to open doors for domestic OS

Windows 8 ban may open door for China's domestic OS

With Windows 8 now banned from being installed on Chinese government computers, domestic operating system (OS) developers are itching for a niche in the world's biggest PC market.
The country's relatively large OS developers, including China Standard Software Co. and NFS China among others, have fresh opportunities, but their products face long and tough tests.
Windows 8 was banned from all desktops, laptops and tablet PCs purchased by central state organs last week. The announcement made by the Central Government Procurement Center did not make clear whether other Windows products were prohibited as well.
China's ambitious OS makers, that are developing products based on Linux, took immediate action in response to the government ban.
"There are differences between Windows and Linux, but we are trying to make consumers feel almost the same when using our products," said China Standard Software Co. in a statement.
The company is a joint venture of China Electronics Corporation and China Electronic Technology Group Corporation, two state-owned enterprises.
China Standard Software Co. said its Neokylin Linux OS is "a safe and controlled product that meets the security demands for government, defense and other confidential fields".
Another OS maker NFS China, which is affiliated with the Software Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is also actively marketing its products featuring "high security and special design for Chinese consumers".
"Domestic OS can support basic functions like processing texts and pictures, playing music and videos and providing Internet services, although the user experience is not as good as Windows," said Ding Liping, a researcher with the institute.
One of the advantages that China's OS makers have is that their products usually have open source code, which allows programmers to design any software they need, according to China Standard Software Co.
The country's rapidly expanding tablet PC and smart television market also creates room for domestic OS makers as most of these devices run Linux-based Android OS, said Yang Yilong, vice CEO of IT company Knownsec.
In fact, it is not uncommon for the country's self-developed softwares, which are created in accordance with Chinese people's habits, to beat foreign rivals.
Tencents's messaging software QQ proves to be more popular than Microsoft's MSN. Baidu does better than Google in searching in Chinese language. Kingsoft's WPS wins a large user base against Microsoft's Office. More importantly, most of the domestic softwares are free or much cheaper and very easy to download.
However, previous failures showed that success in the business is not that easy as development of an OS entails money and time.
Red Flag Software Technology Co., one of China's most promising OS makers, went bankrupt in February partly because of a snapped money chain as its products were not well received.
Tan Xiaosheng, a senior manager in charge of privacy with IT company Qihu 360, said whether domestic OS developers can make a difference relies on the opening up of the market.
"Many of China's IT giants have enough money to conduct OS business. What they expect is preferential policies," said Tan, adding that failures may recur if the country's OS market is dominated only by a few state-owned companies.
A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesman signaled last month that the ministry would strengthen support for the development and application of Linux OS.
But a detailed plan is yet to be revealed.

SECURITY CONCERNS
Although there is no official explanation of why Windows 8 was excluded, analysts believe that security issues may be the major concern.
Windows 8 boasts built-in Windows Defender and Windows SmartScreen that "can help guard your PC against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software in real time".
This means that users risk being monitored and national security is at danger when it is installed on government computers, said Ni Guangnan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The dark side of mobile technology

I’m going to be shifting gears here a little bit. Normally we’d be talking about all of the wonderful things that mobile tech can do for us, how exciting it is looking back and seeing how far we’ve come, discussing all of the latest gadgets that hold our interest, and so on. Today, though, my article will be a little different, because there is another side of smartphones that, quite frankly, I didn’t even know existed up until recently. Since making this discovery, I have to admit that I am positively shocked at what I’m finding out.
When we look at smartphones, we see the future. We’re happy because these little computers can do so much for us. They can keep us connected via phone calls, texting, and various social networks; they serve as media players for videos, music, and photo albums; they can even serve as gaming entertainment. There’s a lot of great things that come from smartphones. Once you go deeper than the smartphone, however, things start to get depressing.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever really considered how smartphones were made. I never thought to concern myself with exactly how smartphones were made because I was too busy enjoying the product in my hands; the finished product was the most important part to me. I couldn’t have cared less about the process of how it got there. I assumed that most factories were operated entirely by machinery at this point, but I was wrong. Until recently, I had never heard about benzene or n-hexane, much less how they directly affect the workers responsible for putting our beloved smartphones together.

It started off with this short documentary called “The Human Cost of Electronics”. The video shows accounts of factory workers who have developed “occupational cancer” - cancer developed as a direct result of working with chemicals in these factories, such as benzene or n-hexane. Cancer of any form is serious, but I think it is most alarming because the people in the film are people are around my age. I’m only 23, and I feel like my life is just getting started. I can’t imagine what these people are going through being around my age and dealing with cancer, and knowing that it was developed as a direct result from their jobs that deal directly with these chemicals for up to 15 hours in a given work day, 7 days a week, in a building with no windows or proper ventilation.
Benzene is a category 1 carcinogen that is banned in most Western countries for industrial use; there is an exception for benzene use in China given that so many electronics are created here. Yes, you read that correctly: We make exceptions to our safety standards in the name of sleek-looking electronics. And yes, this chemical is in all of our smartphones - every single one. Don’t bother looking for one that doesn’t have it, because it doesn’t exist right now. That doesn’t mean that we can’t try and help the situation.
Network Coordinator of Good Electronics in Armsterdam, Pauline Overeem, encourages people to bring up these devastating conditions to manufacturers in order to bring them to an end. “It is part of supply chain responsibility. Banning the use of benzene should be part of that,” says Overeem.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to benzene. Toxicology experts estimate that replacing benzene with safer solvents would only cost around $1 extra per phone.
I would gladly pay more money for a phone made in safer work environments than buying a cheaper phone knowing that somebody contracted a serious illness in the process. These people are working in these factories trying to build towards a better life, like anybody would, and ended up terminally ill in the process. It breaks my heart, and I had no idea. I am certain that there are a lot of people who had no idea, which is why I felt compelled to write about it.
Nobody deserves those conditions. If there is a way to fix it, then it should be done. Manufacturers must replace benzene and n-hexane with safer alternatives. Money is not an excuse not to.