As The Era Of Windows XP Comes To End

It’s the end of an era. On 8 April 2014, almost 13 years of official support for the much-loved Windows XP will come to an end. Even as the world prepares to bid adieu to the renowned OS, China has already found a 'viable' alternative to it. China's homegrown version of the Linux Ubuntu OS, aka, Ubuntu Kylin OS is making a milestone of sorts in the country.

Kylin has been developed by Canonical in collaboration with the China Software and Integrated Promotions Centre (CSIP), part of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Chinese National University of Defense Technology. The remarkable part is Kylin OS has been downloaded more than one million times since its launch last year. In terms of actual figures, there were 400,000 downloads of Ubuntu Kylin after its first release in April 2013, that rose to more than 1.3 million 'new' downloads after its second release in October. However, relative to the Chinese population the number is miniscule.

In China, as elsewhere in the world, PC owners prefer to get their OS pre-installed when they buy a device, therefore the figures are impressive in case of Ubuntu Kylin, claims Canonical. The OS comes with a full Chinese user interface, Chinese applications and integration with domestic services. Further, it also comes with Kingsoft WPS, that is one of China's most popular office suites.

Author : Shivam Kotwalia, CodeKill