back to article China shutters Windows ‘rival’ Red Flag Linux

China’s homegrown answer to Windows has gone the way of the dodo after failing to make an impact on the domestic market for operating systems. Red Flag Linux has terminated all staff contracts and gone into liquidation, according to a notice pinned to the door of its deserted headquarters in Beijing, spotted by TechInAsia. …

COMMENTS

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  1. aaronj2906_01

    China actually paying for software?!

    First thing that came to mind when I "red" this article was "FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8."

    Windows XP SP1. What more does red China need, right? ;)

    1. Fibbles

      It's odd the things that stick with you.

      Teenage me seems to have typed that key so many times I now know it off by heart.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It's odd the things that stick with you.

        Maybe me think of 01189998819991197253 for some reason :)

    2. LarsG

      Re: China actually paying for software?!

      Well, I wonder if there is a correlation with this news article and the problems they are having with the Jade Rabbit? The moon vehicle not the battery powered vibrator I mean.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: China actually paying for software?!

      Good old F*CK Gates William, eh?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: China actually paying for software?!

      I see you and raise you - 6DF7C MQ3MB XFR7X Q4CG4 F3YXC!

    5. defiler

      Re: China actually paying for software?!

      I must be getting old - I still think of 040-1234567

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: China actually paying for software?!

      No one wants Linux on the desktop.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe they should have renamed it Chindows? or Chinux?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Rinux?

      I know, I know...

  3. ewozza
    WTF?

    Why doesn't China adopt Android OS? Android OS is open source, has bazillions of apps, and a large, loyal following in PRC, and can and has been adapted for desktop use. It should be a no brainer.

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Pint

      So convert it for desktop use when Android uses the Linux kernel, seems like a waste of time to me just use a current distro

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Why doesn't China adopt Android OS"

      Probably because it has the performance of a soporific worm, and the worst security of any client OS on the market...

  4. Vociferous

    Hmmmmm...

    > building an “enhanced version of the Ubuntu desktop” with Chinese characteristics

    So let me guess: that means that it's NOT open source?

    Also, unless Canonical is a lot dumber than I think they are, I guess there's some sort of walled garden tacked on? Probably also some sort of integration with Baidu and Renren?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmmmmm...

      http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/ubuntu-kylin

      As open source (mostly) as Ubuntu is.

      https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubuntu%20Kylin#Source_Code

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Linux won't even fly in China.

    Keep the faith Lindroids..... Your day will come.... Sure it will...

    1. h4rm0ny

      I don't really see the point in mocking. For a start, you're an idiot because GNU/Linux is all over the place. It doesn't have a large share of the desktop market but I use it daily for servers and so do legions of other people. (I did use it very happily for several years as my primary desktop, btw).

      But aside from your overlooking that GNU/Linux has been enormously successful, we should be wishing it the best. It is a shame that Red Flag Linux appears to be shutting down. One of the chief things that has held GNU/Linux back on the Desktop is the Chicken and Egg problem of people not using it until it is popular. Much as I dislike the state mandating things, at least it was a shot at establishing GNU/Linux on the desktop. And that would be good because (a) choice is good and (b) competition is good. That big overhaul to the Windows security model that began with Vista? Motivated in large part because MS was scared of GNU/Linux. That we now have an open document format for MS Office that others can interoperate with? Because MS saw the writing on the wall and feared Open Office and its open standards taking off. (I'd also add that many of the improvements in Office 2010 and 2013 are a response to this threat of real competition, but the neo-phobic infants go into spasm when you talk of the improvements in Office 2013 because change is baaaad).

      Even if you don't use GNU/Linux personally, it is great that it exists both because it stimulates improvements in what you do use, keeps costs down through competition and because many of the sites you like to visit are running on GNU/Linux.

      One more time for the hard of thinking: Software Companies Are Not Football Teams. Just buy a scarf and go to a match. It will suit your mindset better.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Windows

        @h4rm0ny

        Clearly you are looking for downvotes.

        Well reasoned, pretty obvious argumentation vs. drooling hordes of nihilistic windrones. You know what will happen.

        1. h4rm0ny

          Re: @h4rm0ny

          >>"Well reasoned, pretty obvious argumentation vs. drooling hordes of nihilistic windrones."

          Drones on all sides, unfortunately! I'm a Windows user myself as well. Doesn't mean I don't like GNU/Linux. Have used it since around SuSE 6.1

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "It doesn't have a large share of the desktop market but I use it daily for servers and so do legions of other people"

        Sure - but it's still relatively small cheese. Windows Server has a 75% share of the server market, and Hyper-V has about 30% of the Hypervisor market...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Windows 8 won't fly even in China. They do anything to avoid using it.

    3. ecofeco Silver badge

      Keep the faith?

      You do know that IBM spent last year switching most of its work-a-day employees' desktops and laptops to Linux, right? And the rest to Win 7.

      You did know this?

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. heldeman

      You got it wrong

      It is not Lindroids but Droidlins. You have to read it backwards.

  6. midcapwarrior

    Developers expecting to be paid?

    They must have misunderstood that they were working on FOSS.

    1. 1Rafayal

      Hmmm, I wonder - would China give a monkeys about FOSS if it wanted to ignore it?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Developers expecting to be paid?

      "Developers expecting to be paid? They must have misunderstood that they were working on FOSS"

      Somewhere on El Reg a year or two back there was an article about where Linux comes from these days.

      You should try reading it, although as it includes facts and numbers, you may find it troubling.

      Anyway, the upshot was that large chunks of Linux these days are paid for by companies most IT people have heard of. IBM, Intel, that kind of outfit. Other chunks are paid for by corporates in the Linux world, like Red Hat.

      But obviously I wouldn't want to trouble your misguided and misinformed rant with facts.

      Have a free weekend on me.

      1. Seanie Ryan

        Re: Developers expecting to be paid?

        "But obviously I wouldn't want to trouble your misguided and misinformed rant with facts"

        pot, kettle and black there on the "rant" flame. the world and its dead dog could see that his post was humour, tongue in cheek.

        Holy crap man, go get a hug and smile. Relationships beyond your keyboard are healthy too and will reduce your bitterness at life.

        As for Red Flag, anybody ever use it and was it any good? Is there a treasure lost here or another bad idea thankfully binned?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Seanie Ryan - Re: Developers expecting to be paid?

          So why do you have to take the pains of educating us about the humorous nature of his post then ?

  7. JustNiz

    Dammit

    Dammit there goes the long term support for my favourite distro. I think I trust China more than the NSA.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Chinese version of Ubuntu? So - the desktop search works... But nothing about Tiananmen Square...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "China" didn't shutter them...

    Just replacing the logos in a commercial Linux distribution shouldn't be a business model. It shouldn't be for Oracle, and it shouldn't be for a Chinese company. Even if that company did happen to be politically well connected.

  10. ecofeco Silver badge

    Seriously

    The first time a company can't make payroll is when it's time to pack up and haul ass that day.

    Do people never learn?

    1. Captain Save-a-ho

      Re: Seriously

      If you wait until then, you probably are too late anyway. Been there, got the t-shirt, would rather have gotten my paychecks...

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Seriously

      > haul ass

      What does the democratic party have to day with it?

  11. mhenriday
    FAIL

    Way to go, Phil !

    «Glorious free operating system of the people» You may not know the language, Phil, and you make up things out of the whole cloth - but you really have a sharp sense of humour !...

    Henri

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