back to article Look out, Earth! Here comes China Operating System (aka Linux)

China is backing a mobile operating system designed to offer a state-approved alternative to foreign platforms. Dubbed China Operating System (COS), the platform is set to launch first on handheld devices, with a possible expansion to other platforms. According to reports from tech blog Engadget China, COS was designed by …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    你们所有的基地都属于我们 !

    Would me a more appropriate title (All your bases are belong to us) :-)

    1. stanimir

      Re: 你们所有的基地都属于我们 ! [base not baseS]

      It's "All your base are...." (singular)

      Kinda spoiled the effort.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 你们所有的基地都属于我们 ! [base not baseS]

        Solly, but in Chinese no plural - so bases or base is same thing - as long as we get all of them !

        1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

          Re: 你们所有的基地都属于我们 ! [base not baseS]

          Why do I have a feeling this will turn out to be the equivalent of Engrish?

          1. Cliff

            Re: 你们所有的基地都属于我们 ! [base not baseS]

            Rinux?

            Anyway, bet you a quid after The Party has had it's dabs on this summer of the MD5's won't line up any more...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      你他妈的

      你他妈的

      More appropriate when patents start to fly.

  2. P. Lee
    Joke

    Pinko-commie cancer!

    I knew it! You just can't trust those Europeans! They're in league with the enemy!

    Nuke 'em, that's what I say!

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      The long march!

      Hold on. China is not Yurop, and hasn't been in some time?

      Anyway, the question is: Will it be gloriously open?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The long march!

        Anyway, the question is: Will it be gloriously open?

        Exactly right. Personally, I don't think there will be any other way to get this to market, otherwise it'll be buried in claims of "containing spyware" from those very trustworthy entities in the US (NSA, Google et al).

        (note: for the humour impaired, that was sarcasm),

        1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

          Re: I don't think there will be any other way to get this to market

          Maybe not to our market, but I doubt the entity making this is targetting our market. This product is clearly for their home market, and I don't know if Chinese users have yet grasped the importance of Open Source.

          And if their product is user-friendly and useful, then the question may be moot. Besides, we all know that, if the Chinese government wants integrated surveillance, there will be no one (alive) to oppose it.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I don't think there will be any other way to get this to market

            The Chinese don't consider Open Source as important because as far as they're concerned there's Open Binary, Open Hardware and Open Design.

        2. Slawek

          Re: The long march!

          Chinese operating system containing spyware from NSA.

          You need to rest quite a bit.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The long march!

        Give them credit for getting the same landmass though :)

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: The long march!

          It's the one on which you don't want to have landwars.

    2. The Indomitable Gall

      Real communists...

      Real communists use BSD.

  3. Christian Berger

    As we learn from Android

    The kernel isn't very important. What's more important is whether there is a common hardware platform to enable easy vendor-independent updates. Another important issue is the software distribution model. Will there be a healthy model like the one most Linux distributions use, or an App-Store?

    Just saying "It's based on Linux" is more or less a null-statement. It's the default kernel for new projects. Few are insane enough to build something new on VxWorks or Nucleus.

    1. ian 22

      Re: As we learn from Android

      Current slogan is "Let a thousand hardware platforms bloom!"

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install

    That is based on the amount of crapware, malware and spyware installed alongside other famous Chinese language software packages.

    Strangely, the international (English), versions of these packages are only a fraction of the size.

    Dont believe me?? Go compare the Chinese language and International versions of QQ, the Chinese version of Skype/IM.

    (Go Compare! Go Compare!!# argh!!, now I have visions of that nasty bloke with the twisty moustache stuck in my head).

    PS, hasnt anyone told G.C. that Blakey was an INSPECTOR, not a driver yet??

    1. Michael Habel

      Re: The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install

      (Go Compare! Go Compare!!# argh!!, now I have visions of that nasty bloke with the twisty moustache stuck in my head).

      Go, and hug your Meerkat Plushy, some more, and the bad man will go away...

      Simples!

    2. Mephistro

      Re: The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install (@ Ian Emery)

      That could be due to the fact that there is a gazillion Chinese characters instead of the paltry few hundreds most of the rest of the world uses. Text input methods are also a nightmare to program, and things like a simple text-to-speech converter are hideously complex for Chinese. And a Siri equivalent would probably need several times more computing power than that available to all the NSA. ;-)

      And on top of all that, 'Chinese' is not a single language, but dozens of dialects, many of which are mutually unintelligible.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install (@ Ian Emery)

        Actually, they only have ONE written language; and I speak from experience on how much spyware, malware and crapware they install by default on the "local" version, I cleaned it all out of my (Chinese) wifes computer and got the final install down to nearly the same size as the international version.

        PS. Text input is done in "PinYin" which uses English characters that convert on-screen in Chinese ideograms.

        PPS I have also had experience of the Chinese "360" Internet browser and Security suite, which is basically a rip off of Internet Explorer and also chock full of malware, spyware et al; so much so it actually shows as malware on most Western AV and AM packages (and breaks underpowered PCs with its payload demands).

        1. Allan George Dyer
          Headmaster

          Re: The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install (@ Ian Emery)

          Well, TWO written languages, Traditional (used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other places) and Simplified (used in the Mainland). And dozens of input methods, PinYin being the most popular phonetic one on the Mainland, but shape-based methods, such are Cangjie and CKC are also popular. There's also the handwriting-input methods.

    3. marioaieie
      Joke

      Re: The install package will (of course), be three times that of a vanilla install

      nah... they don't have to put additional spyware, just change the server where data are send from nsa.google.com to chinese.goverment.cn

  5. Mr C

    nice comment

    Having opened the video, and scrolled though the user comments, one comment jumped out "Copy Other System"

    that made me get some napkins and clean my desk.

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: nice comment

      Peruvian Operating System would have lead to a completely different comment of course

      Sorry, I'll get me coat

  6. Tom 7

    Under the GPL

    they should cough up the code on request....

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Under the GPL

      This is actually the modified Glorious People License!

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Tom 7

        Re: Under the GPL

        Mondo - there is no 'enough work' clause in the GPL.

        1. TheOtherHobbes

          Re: Under the GPL

          Tom 7 - there is no 'GPL matters' clause in international politics.

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

            Re: Under the GPL

            Chinese don't care about western-style "Intellectual Property".

      2. A J Stiles

        Re: Under the GPL

        The definition of "Enough work to exempt it from the GPL" is "Enough for it to constitute an entirely new work in its own right, aot a derivative work based on an existing copyrighted work".

        Funnily enough, nobody seems to have any problem with this concept when dealing with old-fashioned, closed copyrights (the kind which the GPL specifically forbids you to apply to derivative works of GPLed works).

        1. Robin Bradshaw

          Re: Under the GPL

          "The definition of "Enough work to exempt it from the GPL" is "Enough for it to constitute an entirely new work in its own right, aot a derivative work based on an existing copyrighted work"."

          There is a phrase for this level of work, "clean room implementation"

        2. Tom 38

          Re: Under the GPL

          If you start with the original work, and replace every single line of it, it is still a derivative work of the original.

          If you start with one guy in a room somewhere reading the original work and telling you in his own words what the module should do, whilst you sit in another room without the original work reimplementing it, it is not a derivative work.

          1. Anonymous Dutch Coward
            Coat

            Re: Under the GPL

            Unless that guy works for Google and the guy starting the lawsuit works for Oracle...

            (SCNR)

        3. The Indomitable Gall

          Re: Under the GPL

          "The definition of "Enough work to exempt it from the GPL" is "Enough for it to constitute an entirely new work in its own right, aot a derivative work based on an existing copyrighted work".

          Funnily enough, nobody seems to have any problem with this concept when dealing with old-fashioned, closed copyrights (the kind which the GPL specifically forbids you to apply to derivative works of GPLed works)."

          A headache that's yet to be resolved....

          Cos after all, when a GPL project discovers they're carrying code that ísn't GPL compatible, they "rewrite" the code -- no cleanroom, just "delete code and add something that does exactly the same thing" -- and then they tell us that it's not a derivative work of the very same code that they were directly recreating....

    3. Charles Manning

      GPL and all that

      Only the copyright holders can enforce GPL, therefore GPL gets its teeth from copyright law.

      Since China seems to have a rather cavalier attitude towards copyright, it would seem that GPL is probably not going to be that solid.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    OSS

    And because it's linx we will e able to inspect the code and insure no back doors are placed by China.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: OSS

      They'll have just removed the NSA/GCHQ code and replaced it with their own version, so you won't notice them.

      1. Steven Roper

        Re: OSS

        They'll have just removed the NSA/GCHQ code and replaced it with their own version, so you won't notice them.

        No, they won't even do that. They'll just keep the NSA's code and merely change the IP address it sends everything to!

  8. Arachnoid

    Chinux or maybe Plinux

    The peoples linux where security matters

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Chinux or maybe Plinux

      "The peoples linux where security matters"

      As opposed to normal Linux where it doesnt presumably.

      If security was the aim then likely they would pick a more secure OS to start with like BSD or Windows Server.

      1. Bladeforce

        Re: Chinux or maybe Plinux

        Windows server! Lol thanks for the laugh made my Monday!

        1. Willie T

          Laughing?

          Only thing funny about this is your total ignorance of the relative security of current versions of operating systems. Windows Server 2008 R2 was very secure and WS 2012 is leaps and bounds ahead of any flavor of Linux in that regard. Either you don't work in the industry or if you do I feel sorry for the folks who are writing your check as they should really invest in someone who keeps up with current tech.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Laughing?

            they should really invest in someone who keeps up with current tech

            Errm, small tip: Linux moves on too. The issue is not how easily a platform can be secured and be kept stable, it's how much effort it takes. With Linux you spend less time planning for the bandwidth involved in updates.

    2. Piro Silver badge

      Re: Chinux or maybe Plinux

      As my post was deleted, I apologise if I offended anyone.

  9. Vociferous

    If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

    ...this is a) the Chinese state trying to increase its control over the population, 2) is designed and run by the secret service, and iii) will mean that the state harasses and punishes manufacturers who stick with Android (or Windows Phone, if there are any).

    Oh, and that design and probably some of the code will be straight-up stolen from the competitors. Plus of course that it will very rapidly become wildly successful in China.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

      design and probably some of the code will be straight-up stolen from the competitors

      You mean, do it the American way? That's how they started, you know (and some have had trouble shaking that habit ever since, like Microsoft vs Stacker).

      Personally, I don't think so. A large percentage of that market lies abroad, and every US actor in this game would start screeching about "spyware" etc because it would threaten their own schemes, so the worst China can do to those state actors is to make it totally open. Not only would that encourage uptake, it would also put any attempt NOT to be open in a bad light.

      It's quite an impressive move on a geopolitical level.

      1. Vociferous

        Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

        > You mean, do it the American way?

        No, I mean do it the Chinese way: steal and intimidate.

        1. NumptyScrub
          Thumb Up

          Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

          quote: "> You mean, do it the American way?

          No, I mean do it the Chinese way: steal and intimidate."

          The self-referential irony in that post is exquisite.

          A++ would read again

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Vociferous

            Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

            > The self-referential irony in that post is exquisite.

            You accuse me of having stolen and intimidated?

            Don't use terms you do not know what they mean.

            1. Tom 38

              Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

              No, he is commenting on the fact that in the 18th and 19th Century, America ignored all international conventions on copyright and patents in order to advance their economy.

              100 years later, you all bridle with fury at China doing it to you.

              1. Vociferous

                Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

                > 18th and 19th Century, America ignored all international conventions on copyright

                Yeah, I got that he assumed I'm american, I was hoping to get to swat the smug bastard with the fact that I'm not.

            2. NumptyScrub

              Re: If Baidu and Renren are any indicator...

              quote: "You accuse me of having stolen and intimidated?

              Don't use terms you do not know what they mean."

              Nope, I was alluding to (my) position that the "Chinese way of stealing and intimidation" is also the American way, thus claiming your refutation to instead be a tautology. I had assumed that you had posted that in a deliberately ironic way, rather than actually being serious. If it was really just a misguided attempt at patriotism, instead of the deliciously ironic masterpiece I took it for, then I apologise :(

              You'll note that the US administration has been in the limelight recently by overturning an import ban because of "the effect on competitive conditions in the US economy and their effect on US consumers" even though the US International Trade Commission found that a US company had infringed a key technology patent from a non-US company, and imposed a ban on the import and sale of the infringing equipment. Apparently the loss of revenue for the infringing (American) company was far more important than, say, the intellectual property rights of the infringed upon (not American) company.

              Strangely enough, those exact same 2 companies are in a reverse position over other products and IP, and the US administration have been absolutely fine with the dirty foreigners getting punished for the affront of stealing US IP.

              So (to name names), The US administration have allowed Apple to infringe Samsungs IP with impunity, and allowed Samsung to be heavily punished for infringing Apple's IP. Does that not sound like "stealing and intimidation" to you? It certainly stinks of jingoism to me...

              1. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    At last the Huan can have a mobile that won't be spied on by Google or the NSA,

    Just their own government instead.

    government lead comms --> Governemtn supplied backdoors.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    China Operating System

    To paraphrase the PCW review of the Atari 512ST and its TOS or "Tramiel Operating System" .... "why would you want to operate China"?

  12. Robert Grant

    Poor security protections

    Read: we need our own PRISM.

  13. Jim 59

    New Linux based mobile OS.

    The OS is said to be based on some flavor of the open-source kernel Linux, and is hoped to compete against Android and iOS in the mobile space.

    Nokia, this is what you should have done 5 years ago, instead of your dismal pact with MS.

    1. Thecowking

      Re: New Linux based mobile OS.

      They kinda did with Meego/Maemo.

      Then they gave it up for Windows phone.

      1. Christian Berger

        Re: New Linux based mobile OS.

        Actually Meego/Maemo was at least _years_ ahead of Android. You had native applications and a sensible software distribution model. If they had licensed it for other manufacturers, you'd have had a great product for the professional market. You would have had what's essentially a hand-held laptop. Now put that into the case of a Nokia Communicator.

  14. John Deeb
    Trollface

    Better communication next time, Linus! (again)

    And all that because Mr Torvalds did not deny clearly enough having added NSA back-doors when asked about it. Now the Chinese want their own opportunity to say one thing and move their head not accordingly.

  15. Christian Berger

    So from what I've seen so far

    They seem to be replicating the IOS-"Problem". There will only be one central "App-Store".

  16. Salts

    Large Percentage of the Worlds...

    ... Population wants it's own OS, tailored for it's language, that will never work.

    As for being based on Linux, why would you not? It's just solid business sense, last time I looked to build the equivalent of Linux from scratch would be in the region of $3 Billion, that's without the development time and subsequent long lead time to market. Linux *just* a kernel, but a remarkably successful and necessary one all the same.

  17. WatAWorld

    I'm not surprised China doesn't want NSA software

    I'm not surprised China doesn't want NSA software.

    I'm sure the US government would not be happy if Chinese software was the only option for US citizens (the US government, especially Sen. Rogers complain about us Canadians having the mere option of Chinese software).

    I just wonder why more governments are not following this path to protect their citizens.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm not surprised China doesn't want NSA software

      I just wonder why more governments are not following this path to protect their citizens.

      The Germans do. They have built up quite a history of funding Open Source projects that were close to what they needed to get it viable for production. GPG is but one example. I vaguely recall the US government doing that too, looooong ago. I think that gaves us the Internet.

      This is why the whole privacy and intercept situation saddens me deeply: there is a lot of good stuf the US can do, but they have pretty much shot themselves in the foot with the laws they now have, and the government's attitude towards the rights of even their own citizens. Not good.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It will never work

    Since no Western company will write apps for COS (Copy Or Steal) where will the Chinese get any apps to steal

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: It will never work

      Bad troll, 0/10. Could not get any service. Avoid.

    2. Vociferous

      Re: It will never work

      > where will the Chinese get any apps to steal

      It's linux, the apps will be easily portable from android.

  19. agricola
    Boffin

    What a bunch of wimps.

    WhatEVER happened to Mark Shuttleworth's much-bragged-about (so what else is new?) Chinese adoption of Ubuntu?

    Can't these Chinese wait for a few more missed deadlines--with accompanying feeble, transparent, prevaricating excuses by Mark Shuttleworth--on Ubuntu Touch?

    What a bunch of wimps. WE can, and DO!

    1. Vociferous

      Re: What a bunch of wimps.

      > Can't these Chinese wait for a few more missed deadlines

      Of course they could, but that wouldn't give the state control over the OS people run on their cellphones, which is the whole point of this.

    2. The Indomitable Gall

      Re: What a bunch of wimps.

      Maybe they just forked an alpha version of the Ubuntu Touch codebase? Legally, there's nothing stopping them (GPL and all that).

  20. AbeSapian

    This Will Make Getting Ripped Off Much More Efficient

    None of that tedious waiting around to be hacked.

  21. crayon

    @Mephistro

    "and things like a simple text-to-speech converter are hideously complex for Chinese."

    Not really, given that there are only a finite and relatively limited number of sounds in spoken Chinese.

    "And a Siri equivalent would probably need several times more computing power than that available to all the NSA"

    ditto

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