Ubuntu now the official OS for China
Thoughts? Impressions?
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/03/ubuntu-to-become-the-official-os-of-china
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Wow, the sweet government of China making another good movement for its people.
Let's see what kind of spyware, back-doors and other surprises Ubuntu will be carrying after this.
BTW, on another matter (China's cyber espionage), see "APT1: Exposing One of China's Cyber Espionage Units", http://intelreport.mandiant.com/
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[...] Our analysis has led us to conclude that APT1 is likely government-sponsored and one of the most persistent of China's cyber threat actors. The scale and impact of APT1's operations compelled us to write this report. In an attempt to bolster defenses against APT1 operations Mandiant is also releasing more than 3,000 indicators as part of the appendix to this report which can be used [...] to search for signs of APT attack activity.
Highlights of the report include:
APT1 is believed to be the 2nd Bureau of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Department’s (GSD) 3rd Department, which is most commonly known by its Military Unit Cover Designator (MUCD) as Unit 61398.
APT1 has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations.
APT1 focuses on compromising organizations across a broad range of industries in English-speaking countries.
APT1 maintains an extensive infrastructure of computer systems around the world.
In over 97% of the 1,905 times Mandiant observed APT1 intruders connecting to their attack infrastructure, APT1 used IP addresses registered in Shanghai and systems set to use the Simplified Chinese language.
The size of APT1’s infrastructure implies a large organization with at least dozens, but potentially hundreds of human operators.
In an effort to underscore that there are actual individuals behind the keyboard, Mandiant is revealing three personas that are associated with APT1 activity.
Mandiant is releasing more than 3,000 indicators to bolster defenses against APT1 operations.
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It's likely that the nastiness you mention will be sneaked into this derivative distro, but it won't be making it into the main Ubuntu.
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I disagree. I think the Chineese will try to sneak their malware upstream into Ubuntu. This will make it harder to spot in future versions by doing a simple comparison between their derrivative and the upstream source.
It also gives them plausible deniability for any malware discovered by users or foreigners - "We didin't know anything about it, it came from Upstream. Damn foreign/Western governments trying to spy on us!"
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Surprising news indeed. This is the last thing I expected to read about today. :)
It's almost certain that China will try to put malicious features into this derivative of Ubuntu (and make those proprietary, of course ... how else will they keep their spyware and malware from being exposed?). After all, the "benevolant" Chinese state cares little for matters of freedom ... they chose a GNU/Linux based distro for its practical benefits: it doesn't need to be paid for/licensed, and they don't have to deal with copyright.
Shuttleworth should definitely be strident: he should support the Chinese in adopting his OS, but criticize them if/when they violate users' rights with their modifications.
El 26/03/13 12:23, name at domain escribió:
> After all, the "benevolant" Chinese state cares little for matters of
> freedom ... they chose a GNU/Linux based distro for its practical
> benefits: it doesn't need to be paid for/licensed, and they don't have
> to deal with copyright.
>
Maybe they are temporary advantages and but they are midterm
disadvantages. They are not practical at all.
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If this is true (and I really don't know why), the Chinese government probably doesn't know it.
>Shuttleworth should definitely be strident: he should support the Chinese in adopting his OS, but criticize them if/when they violate users' rights with their modifications.
He should first stop abusing the users himself... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_os#Controversy
Few things to consider:
1. Having Ubuntu instead of Windows or Mac is a step in the right direction even if people consider it not 100% libre. I did notice an option for "Free Software Only" at the main menu when booting the Ubuntu 12.04 Server CD. Of course that is not good enough for many FSF advocates as they will only consider it viable if you take away the non-free software and not give them an option.
2. This is BIG for Canonical because a government contract is usually guaranteed money and they are the primary support contract. All the time companies are looking to get government contracts (like weapons for war) and it is considered VERY lucrative. Shuttleworth loves this as it lessons the burden of him funding the project with his own money.
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My reply to both:
1. In fact, even if the OS is 100% free software, all the way down to the kernel, it's not a GNU-certified free distro unless freedom is actively promoted. That's because people will not value their freedom unless you educate them about it. How many Ubuntu users install Adobe Flash or Skype without a second thought? Ubuntu never refers to freedom, so many of them know no better (I didn't, years ago).
2. Does Shuttleworth really want the press that comes with having ties to China, which is a less than truly free state or free society (well, you could argue about the USA too)? I'm sure he feels pretty pimp right now, but remember that whenever you hear China and computer technologies discussed in the same breath, it's usually to do with China trying to spy on and subjugate its citizens via that technology. China is slow to join the human rights respecting free world.
1. Gnash and Lightspark are nice "cute" projects that try really really hard, but the web still relies so much on Flash for video content. It would be awesome if most sites opted for an HTML5 option, but I still see such a huge reliance on Flash and little adoption of WebM outside of Youtube almost 3 years after it was released.
Maybe content providers want the DRM that Flash offers and it can't happen with WebM. Maybe they feel that the streaming technologies for native video isn't up to par with good 'ole Flash.
A plus to the iPhones/iPads and modern Android phones/tablets is that they don't support Flash. The problem with that though is that content providers are pushing for apps for their page instead of the page itself where they serve patent laden H264 content to the phones. Either way, we can't win.
2. Canonical probably prides themselves as an international country and with it being based out of the UK, they have to cater to their euro markets and potentially China.
Oh and you are delusional to think that China and the US are on the same level for free society. We are still a democracy and make it easier for the citizens to start a business than a country like China or the UK even.
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1. I just about manage to avoid Flash on my computer, using the cute alternatives you mentioned. All those Flash-based ads I can do without, and I don't need to play online Flash games when I have plenty of games to install locally.
2. I didn't say China and the US are on the same level. Read it again.
Reducing the dependence on proprietary technology from an imperialist superpower makes perfect sense for any country. China is no exception.
On 27/03/13 01:56, t3g wrote:
> Thoughts? Impressions?
>
> http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/03/ubuntu-to-become-the-official-os-of-china
I think the concept of a state-sponsored operating system is very
suspicious. It's different to LiMux and other projects, because
according to the article it's intended for the general population.
Ubuntu allows its users to install Skype via extra repositories. I
wonder if China will use TOM-Skype instead, or even include it by default?
The article:
> [...]users can quickly search across the most popular Chinese music
> services from the Dash
Hmm, I wonder where those search results will be headed? ;-)
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By the way, for a less sensational view of the news please see the H online. Article written by Fab (co-host of linux outlaws)
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Ubuntu-Kylin-to-become-reference-OS-in-China-1829263.html
I do not know what *reference* OS means.
Thoughts:
Cannonical still is a company which wants to make money from its products (e.g. Ubuntu :). As a result of this it is quite logical that they support / help any paying customer. Be it the chinese government or not.
The chinese government on the other hand is happy that Microsoft stops complaining about those gazillions of pirated Windows copies running at chinese PCs :)
End of story...
Microsoft loves "pirated" copies:
"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." --Bill Gates, 1998
Quote source http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-212942.html
Pirate is a word to avoid https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy
And that's where they admit to their purpose for giving Windows to schools gratis.
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"Pirated" is not the correct language to use for software copying, whether illegal or legal.
But anyway, it's been many years since 1998, and I doubt that Microsoft has yet figured how to collect on all the illegal copies of Windowz on Chinese computers. So maybe they had been getting on the offensive lately.
If moving people to Ubuntu in China can get more people off of IE6, then I am all for it: http://www.ie6countdown.com :-)
If someone installs Ubuntu and chooses to stick with the main and universe repos, then it is pretty close to free software besides the kernel, firmware, and a few iffy packages with questionable licensing.
Many of you condem Ubuntu like it is on the same level as OSX or Windows, but it is still way more open. Its just that Canonical wants to support it on as many platforms as possible and a non-free driver in the kernel or the firmware has to exist for that purpose.
Why does it exist? Because too many people use existing hardware, don't buy specifically libre hardware, or opt for GNU/Linux desktop companies like System76 that include non-free bits. Canonical doesn't want them to say "oh Ubuntu is broken and sucks" because they chose to blacklist a potentially non-free bit and the potential customer chooses Windows instead out of comfort.
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Well, that IS a staggering level of left-over IE6 use in China.
When you co-operate with a regime (Canonicals deal is with the government, not a company in a free trade zone of China or an organization) known for gross human rights violations, censorship, and subjugation of its people I do believe it is called unethical collusion (y'know, like IBM furnishing the punchcards to the nazis during world war II, only now Canonical will help co-architect UbuntuKylin to continue censoring, surveilling, organizing harvested organs from Falun Gong practitioners, oppressing Tibet, etc. etc.) and profiteering from human misery. It took me a long time to decide to write this here because I always liked this community; But to be quite honest, after reading your glib excuses (to the tune of Tammy Wynette stand by your man running through my head) I don't care if I get along with you either. I may be "poison" but at least I'm not a coward willing to turn a blind eye to atrocities just to get along.
GNU+Linux Ubuntu has some (if not little) popularity in Japan, thanks to ASCII Media Works and projects like the Ubunchu! Japanese comics.
I can't hide it, I actually help the Ubunchu! comics project by translating it from English to Brazilian Portuguese, although I don't like the license being used. But due to the fact that I joined the project before my licensing tastes changed, I decided to continue contributing to it when time allows me.
Best regards, ADFENO.
Have a nice day.