China is doubling down on Linux in a bid to leave Windows behind TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. China is doubling down on Linux in a bid to leave Windows behind By Sead Fadilpašić published 4 July 2022 The openKylin project is now live (Image credit: Shutterstock) Audio player loading… China is now one step closer to eliminating Windows from its government endpoints, an effort it has been pursuing for more than two decades now. As reported by The Register, the country has been laser-focused on switching to Linux (opens in new tab) entirely amid conflict with the US, but has thus far lacked the support of developers. But now, all of that might change with the launch of the openKylin project (opens in new tab). The project's goal is to speed up the development of the Kylin Linux distro, an OS distribution that's entirely China-made. The project's participants will include developers, but also colleges and universities. Stepping away from Windows So far, upwards of 20 Chinese firms and institutions have joined the project, it was said, including China's Advanced Operating System Innovation Center. At this stage, the members will work on version planning, platform development and community charter. But in the mid- to long-term, project members will seek to optimize the OS for the latest generation of Intel and AMD chips, provide support for RISC-V CPUs, develop x86-to-RISC-V translation layers, improve the interface and so on. Kylin launched in 2001 as a kernel for governments and military devices, but back then, it was based on FreeBSD. A decade later, in 2010, it switched to Linux, and four years later, an Ubuntu version was introduced. Read more> Best Linux distros for power users right now (opens in new tab) > China to ditch all Windows PCs by 2022 – could this be Linux's time to shine? (opens in new tab) > Chinese government ordered to ditch foreign PCs (opens in new tab) Meanwhile, the relationship between China and the US has become increasingly fraught. The US government has accused China of continuous cyberattacks against its institutions, as well as numerous cyber-espionage campaigns. It also accused Chinese manufacturers, such as Huawei, of baking backdoors into their products, creating a threat to national security. China, on the other hand, has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as baseless and continues to seek to reduce its dependency on western-made software, hardware and services. Western intelligence agencies are also warning that China might be preparing for a major invasion of Taiwan, its eastern neighbor which it claims is nothing more than a breakaway province. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest and most advanced semiconductor manufacturer, and should China engage in a war in the country, it might severely disrupt the global technology industry.These are the best Linux laptops (opens in new tab) right now Via The Register (opens in new tab) Sead Fadilpašić Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he's written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He's also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications. See more Computing news Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to theTechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1You may not have to sell a body part to afford the Nvidia RTX 4090 after all2PC gamers are shunning high-end GPUs – spelling trouble for the Nvidia RTX 40903Beg all you want - these beer game devs will not break the laws of physics for you 41000TB SSDs could become mainstream by 2030 as Samsung plans 1000-layer NAND5Micro-LED 4K TVs aren't trying to kill OLED, they're aiming at projectors1We finally know what 'Wi-Fi' stands for - and it's not what you think2Brave is about to solve one of the most frustrating problems with browsing the web3She-Hulk episode 8 just confirmed Netflix's Daredevil TV show is canon in the MCU4A whole new breed of SSDs is about to break through5Logitech's latest webcam and headset want to relieve your work day frustrations Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)