Ubuntu To Become The Official OS Of China

Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu have announced that they will be officially affiliated with the Chinese government to bring a new Ubuntu based OS to the Chinese population.

In a recent blog post on the Canonical blog, they went on to explain that Ubuntu Kylin (the official name of the new OS) will go way beyond just a version of Ubuntu with Chinese language packs installed. The blog post went on to say:
“Ubuntu Kylin goes beyond language localisation and includes features and applications that cater for the Chinese market. In the 13.04 release, Chinese input methods and Chinese calendars are supported, there is a new weather indicator, and users can quickly search across the most popular Chinese music services from the Dash.”


This isn’t just a one off release, it’s going to be a completely separate version of Ubuntu that is designed specifically for the Chinese market. Much like Kubuntu, or Xubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin will have on going development separate from the core Ubuntu build. The blog post goes on to say…
“Future releases will include integration with Baidu maps and leading shopping service Taobao, payment processing for Chinese banks, and real-time train and flight information.
The Ubuntu Kylin team is cooperating with WPS, the most popular office suite in China, and is creating photo editing and system management tools which could be incorporated into other flavours of Ubuntu worldwide.”

This is a very big move for Canonical and Ubuntu as a whole. We all know how huge China are, and for the Chinese government to push an official Ubuntu build onto the population can be nothing less than an amazing bonus for the Linux world.

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Ubuntu Phone OS to be availabe for download on February 21

Installable Ubuntu Phone images for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 handsets will be available to download from next week. Two pre-compiled images will be available for anyone with a supported handset to download the OS.

The preview will allow fans and app developers have the chance to get to grips with the Ubuntu Phone experience ahead of its official release later this year. The tool will be similar to nexus 7 installer which allows you to install Ubuntu OS on your Android tablet.

"Our platform supports a wide range of screen sizes and resolutions. Developers who have experience bringing up phone environments will find it relatively easy to port Ubuntu to current handsets" - Canonical stated in their blog post.

This ‘milestone’ will be significant for the Ubuntu Phone project as it will mark the first that developers can dive in to the code. As an open-source project, developers will be able to fix, refine and add features, as well as its port to run on other devices.

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Ubuntu OS phones to hit stores in October

It's been said that Ubuntu's open-source operating system would be available on smartphones by the end of the year, and now it's confirmed that consumers can get their hands on such devices in October.

The founder and CEO of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth said that Ubuntu OS smartphones will be available in October and app developers will get access to the OS later this month.


Ubuntu OS is long a favorite open-source platform for computing. The OS will use the same drivers as Android smartphones and will also be able to run on entry-level smartphones. It will use native apps, which means that developers can create a single app for both the desktop and the PC. This will let users easily move between devices. The OS also favors swiping gestures to reveal navigation strips and overview pages.

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