UK-based Linux company Canonical, the parent organisation controlling Ubuntu development, has been selected by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MII) to develop a state-endorsed operating system.
Canonical was founded and funded by South African Mark Shuttleworth.
A division of MII, The China Software and Integrated Chip Promotions Centre, Canonical and the National University of Defense Technology have formed a joint lab, operating from Beijing, to develop the Chinese version of Ubuntu.
The announcement was made earlier this week, and forms part of the Chinese government's five-year plan to promote open source software and accelerate the growth of the open source ecosystem, says Canonical.
The new version, called Ubuntu Kylin, will focus on providing features that are designed especially for the Chinese market. The system is expected to be released in April and will support Chinese calendars and input methods, while allowing users to search for Chinese music from the Dash.
"This collaboration will bring local investment and participation to ensure that the platform is relevant for the Chinese market, and close coordination with the global Ubuntu project ensures that it is familiar to software and hardware vendors, and useful for export products made by Chinese companies as well," Canonical CEO Jane Silber said in a statement.
Future releases will include integration with Baidu maps and shopping service Taobao, payment processing for Chinese banks, and real-time train and flight information. The Ubuntu Kylin team is cooperating with WPS, the most popular office suite in China, and is creating photo editing and system management tools, which could be incorporated into other flavours of Ubuntu worldwide, says Canonical.
This is, however, not China's first introduction to open source OS or Ubuntu, as they have been selling Dell notebooks in the country since 2011. China also had its own distribution of Linux called Red Flag Linux that was first released in September 2007.
The decision has not been received without controversy, with international news agencies questioning the move as a way for the Chinese government to steer people away from using Western operating systems like Microsoft and OS X that are not state-controlled.
The Chinese government has not yet commented on the matter.
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