Xinhua news reported today that following the concerns about U.S. surveillance and a monopoly probe of Microsoft, China's homegrown operating system (OS) for desktops may be ready in a couple of months.
Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering told the People's Post and Telecommunications News that the OS will be first seen on desktop devices and later expanded to smartphones and other mobile devices.
Ni heads an OS development alliance established in March. He said he hoped domestically built software would be able to replace desktop operating systems within one to two years and mobile operating systems within three to five years.
"China has more than a dozen mobile OS developers with no independent intellectual property rights because their research is based on Android," said Ni, adding future development should be led by the government.
In May, China banned government use of Windows 8 operating system, a blow to the U.S. technology firm's business which raised fears China was moving to protect domestic firms. Microsoft is also under investigation for anti-trust violations.
In March last year, China said that Google had too much control over China's smartphone industry via its Android mobile operating system and has discriminated against some local firms.
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