China Internet cafes switching to Chinese OS

By markwolfe
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Grand Master

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Source: AP, via Google News

BEIJING (AP) ? Requirements that Internet cafes in a southern Chinese city install Chinese-developed operating systems are raising new concerns over cyber snooping by authorities, a U.S. government-funded radio station reported Wednesday.

The new rules that went into effect Nov. 5 are aimed at cracking down on the use of pirated software, said Hu Shenghua, a spokesman for the Culture Bureau in the city of Nanchang.

Internet cafe operators are required to remove unlicensed software and replace it with legitimate copies of either Microsoft Windows or China's homegrown Red Flag Linux operating system while paying a fee, he said.

However, Radio Free Asia said cafes were being required to install Red Flag Linux even if they were using authorized copies of Windows. It quoted Xiao Qiang, director of the California-based China Internet Project, as saying the new rules would help authorities regulate Internet cafes that now operate on the margins of the law, and allow them to undertake heightened surveillance.

Chinese who access the Web at Internet cafes are already required to register with their identification cards. Whether accessed from home or an Internet cafe, the Web within China is regularly patrolled by specially trained monitors looking for content deemed politically subversive or related to gambling, pornography, or illegal business dealings.

Large numbers of Web sites are blocked and dozens of Chinese citizens have been arrested for accessing or sending politically sensitive information over the Web. They include a former Shanghai university librarian imprisoned for three and a half years last month for downloading and distributing information about the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.

Despite such prosecutions, China has the world's largest population of Internet users with 253 million, and authorities are eager to encourage Internet usage as a driver for commerce. Internet cafes are patronized mainly by migrant workers, the rural poor and online gaming enthusiasts.

A woman reached by phone at Nanchang's Junlin Internet Cafe said officials came last month to replace the pirated software they were using. The woman, who gave only her surname, Wang, declined to identify the new operating system but said the new regulations had increased costs "dramatically," while customers had been pleased by the improved performance.

Fan Hongguan, a spokesman for Beijing-based Red Flag Software company said the company had been marketing a version of the operating system with chat functions to Internet cafes for three years. Fan declined to comment on the surveillance allegations.

"It makes sense for Internet cafes to use (Red Flag) because of their high user traffic and the system's safeguards against viruses," Fan said.

Grand Master

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Never heard of Red Flag Linux before so I decided to google it... look at this

post-88362-1228398879_thumb.jpg

Screenshot of Red Flag Linux Desktop version 6.0

Resembles a certain OS, doesn't it? :p

Red Flag Linux??

I mean, the title is so obvious, LOL.

It's also named after a propaganda publication that circulated may years ago.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

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thats the nicest linux GUI iv seen :)

:blink:

Looks like a god-awful XP ripoff.

And XP blue/green looked obnoxious to me. Different strokes for different folks.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

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People generally like the familiar.

They complain that OO.o was ripping off MSOffice at the time, but complain that the GIMP interface was too different from Photoshop.

There are no winners. :p

Grand Master

exotoxic

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:blink:

Looks like a god-awful XP ripoff.

And XP blue/green looked obnoxious to me. Different strokes for different folks.

I didnt say i liked it i just said its better than the default :p

id switch to linux if it didnt have the terrible KDE/XFCE/Gnome interfaces... i know you can get themes but i dont liek any of them :/

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

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I didnt say i liked it i just said its better than the default :p

id switch to linux if it didnt have the terrible KDE/XFCE/Gnome interfaces... i know you can get themes but i dont liek any of them :/

The desktops you mention can all be customized to show what you want, where you want. And to work the way you like. I'm talking more than just superficial themes. Of Windows, OSX and Linux, only one of them is flexible enough to be easily changed out wholesale on the UI side.

And there are more options: IceWM, e17, Openbox, JWM and more. I have only tried a couple, but really fell in love with fluxbox's simplicity, myself.

I bet you MS will ask them (not in a nice way) tochange the GUI.
Only if they are infringing on UI patents, or using ripped copies of MS images. The colors blue and green (even those exact shades) are not patentable nor copyrightable.
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