Chinese version of Windows in pipeline

CHINA is developing its own operating system software akin to Microsoft's Windows in the interest of national defense and for civil applications. China Standard Software signed a strategic cooperation with the National University of Defense Technology yesterday to mark the first time the military and civil sectors are cooperating on system software.

The cooperation will expand applications for a China-developed operating system to break the monopoly of overseas systems like Microsoft's Windows, said Chen Ying, software division director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, during the signing ceremony held yesterday in Shanghai. 'The cooperation is expected to boost software and IT service development and improve IT security level for China,' Chen said. It's necessary for China to develop its own operating system for national security and industry development because chip and systems are two 'hearts' of the industry, he added.

Operating systems developed by China Standard Software will be used in both national defense and the civil sectors. The national defense university will also conduct related system research, and both parties will establish a development center, said Han Naiping, China Standard Software's general manager. The Shanghai-based firm is also developing an operating system for personal computer makers, and it displayed a beta version system for tablet PCs at the ceremony. In the first 10 months of this year, the software sector's revenue grew 29.9 percent on an annual basis to 1.09 trillion yuan (US$163.7 billion), according to the ministry."