7-7-2023 (BEIJING) China’s first open-source desktop operating system, openKylin 1.0, has been launched, aiming to support the innovative development of homegrown operating systems and provide reliable basic software services for the country’s IT industrial chains. The development of the openKylin 1.0 system, led by China Electronics Corp and other Chinese companies, will promote the iteration and upgrade of homegrown operating systems and ensure security in key fields such as government affairs, finance, communications, energy, and transportation.
Experts say that the launch of openKylin 1.0 indicates that China has the ability to build its own self-developed operating system and fill gaps in this field. The operating system is compatible with hardware devices such as computers and mobile phones and can be applied in finance, customs, and the energy sector, among others.
Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the operating system is the core technology in the whole information security sector, adding that the country’s operating system has made progress by leaps and bounds after years of development. However, he emphasized that more efforts should be made to accelerate independent innovations in core software technologies and encourage enterprises to step up investment in research and development to address bottlenecks.
Currently, China’s software operating system industry is dominated by foreign firms, such as Microsoft’s Windows, Google’s Android, and Apple’s Mac OS. However, the launch of an open-source desktop operating system is of great significance to enhance the competitiveness of homegrown operating systems, ensure the country’s information security, and improve the resilience of industrial and supply chains.
As China has made great strides in improving the availability, reliability, and security of operating systems, Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association, called for efforts to establish an ecosystem for a domestic operating system and continuously expand the application scenarios of the operating system industry. Industry insiders said the proportion of homegrown operating systems is expected to increase along with the emergence of a variety of software and applications, alongside advances in emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence.
Gao Dan, general manager of the software and information services research centre under CCID Consulting, said basic software is playing a vital role in bolstering the construction of digital infrastructure, and the compound annual growth rate of China’s operating system market reached 6.7 percent over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, Chinese operating system company UnionTech Software Technology Co Ltd is stepping up its efforts to develop an indigenous operating system and expand the application of its software solutions in the telecommunications, financial, and postal services sectors.
