China bucks American tech giant Microsoft over fears of spying

China's state-controlled Xinhua News Agency announced that China is developing their own operating system for desktop computers and mobile devices, citing U.S. surveillance as one of the key factors.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - China intends the new software to compete directly with Microsoft Windows and Google Android, as will be available to China's consumers and government personnel alike after its October release.

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This is the third time that China has attempted to build an Operating System. Back in 2001, one of its top military engineering universities launched Kylin in 2001, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences released the China Operating System (COS) in January 2014, though neither system became popular with the general public.

The current project is being worked on by an alliance of developers operating under the guidance of Guangnan Ni, who co-founded Chinese computer maker Lenovo in 1984. He remains one of China's top technology figures.

China's government has complete control over the nation's software market, and this is the latest sign that authorities are turning to domestic sources for tech. When Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in April, it left nearly three-quarters of Chinese computers at risk for bugs and malware.

Following that, China blacklisted Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8, banning it from all government computers. The Chinese news agency named Microsoft's "monopoly" as one of the reasons for bringing OS production to home.

But U.S. spying was also listed as a reason for creating its own OS, suggesting that the Chinese government is worried about the U.S. National Security Agency might be inserting backdoors into U.S.-made software like Windows and Android.

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