As you might already know, modern Internet technologies such as Facebook or Google are prohibited in China. The country has very strict rules against various western trends all thanks to communist government. What you might not know that Microsoft has actually developed a Windows 10 version dedicated to China.
Windows operating system was banned in 2014 in China, due to various concerns about security flaws and US impact. As an alternative, they offered a modified version of Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu.
While it is not a huge problem for users in China, it is kind of a big deal for Microsoft – they can’t really operate in a largest market in a whole world. This problem has been solved as last year Microsoft announced that they are developing a version of Windows 10 dedicated to China. It is really similar to the regular version of Windows 10 but has “more management and security tools”.
From now on, China government will upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 10 China Government Edition. This OS is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition which already had advanced security, identity and manageability tools. The version dedicated to Chinese government is even more advanced regarding those needs – they will have an ability to use their own encrypted algorithms, install and monitor updates on their own will and so on.
Chinese government is really concerned about privacy and security, thus functions like Microsoft’s OneDrive is no even included in this version of Windows OS.
For more than two decades, Microsoft has had the distinct honor to work in China, learning and advancing technology together. Over the last two years, we have earnestly cooperated with the Chinese government on the security review of Windows 10. The Chinese government has the highest standards for security. – Terry Myerson, executive vice president wrote on Windows 10 Blog.
Basically, Windows 10 has an ability to collect users data using the technology of telemetry. Yet in Chinese version of Windows 10, telemetry can be easily turned off. It’s the only windows version with a feature like this.
Source: thehackernews.com.
