China bans WIndows 8 for government use

[OVERKILL]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-s...nk=mw_suggested

Quote:
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China has banned the use of Windows 8 on all government computers, according to a notice published Tuesday on the website of the Central Government Procurement center. The notice didn't specify the reasons for the move. Microsoft's China unit responded on Tuesday evening that they were "very surprised" by the move, according to various reports by Chinese media. "We would continue to provide Windows 7 to our government clients, while working with government agencies to evaluate our Windows 8 products." The move coincided with China's condemnation of U.S. charges against members of its military for alleged cyber attacks.

 

[Klutch9]

Whatever the political reasons for this move were, the people of China should rejoice. Windows 8 is turrible, says my inner Charles Barkley.

 

[gathermewool]

A little too obvious of a lead, making it "obvious" that we had the ability to trace hacks back to Chinese-led hack using W8 machines. It's probably just coincidence, the two events, but it sure does make for a good story!

 

[hatt]

LOL at the Chinese. I'm sure the NSA has access to all any other version of Windows.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Canonical develops a version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu Kylin) with Chinese input and some custom software for various Chinese governmental purposes. I wonder if China is gradually just letting Windows go.

 

[Zaedock]

They probably made their own W8 knockoff.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Canonical develops a version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu Kylin) with Chinese input and some custom software for various Chinese governmental purposes. I wonder if China is gradually just letting Windows go.


I always thought the Chinese government used their own version of Linux ... Red Flag Linux

 

[PandaBear]

They have their own version of Linux, but it wasn't updated very frequently and it is not free, so pretty much no one use it except military and top security places.

Now about Windows, I heard that Google ban it from its corporate use due to security and they either use OSX or Linux at work.

I'd not be surprised most of the Chinese gov would switch to Mac or Linux, depends on how much money they have.

 

[Garak]

All governments should ban the use of Windows. It would save them a lot of grief, particularly with this espionage business going on with the Chinese blamed for incidents in Canada and the States. The Chinese are smart enough to exploit Windows vulnerabilities. It only makes sense to minimize the vulnerabilities to oneself. They should have gone further and gotten rid of all Windows.

Instead, we in North America are patsies for this. I heard the most annoying gibberish today on CBC from a security "expert." These people are no better than the hackers. In fact, they're worse, because these people claim to help. This "expert" who works for a security company of course, did a bunch of hand waving to explain the risks to individuals, companies, and governments. Of course, these "experts" will "help" for a great deal of money, and really won't be helping much at all, except by adding ridiculous layers of complexity.

I can help for free. Step one is to download a distribution of Linux, and step two is to format one's hard drive and install said distribution.

If I were running the Canadian or American governments (or at least had some control over the computing), Windows would have been gone long ago from government computers. The average employee (of government or a private company) has such rudimentary computer skills that they put their systems at risk. Government techs are only slightly more skilled than that, mostly knowing enough to be able to cause great harm inadvertently.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: Zaedock
They probably made their own W8 knockoff.


Only if they are complete idiots..

 

[Kruse]

They are probably worried about their nuclear centrifuges spinning so fast that they destroy themselves....

 

[TurboLuver]

Originally Posted By: Zaedock
They probably made their own W8 knockoff.

This was in the lead for funniest post in the thread,





until i got down to this post...


Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Only if they are complete idiots..

 

[simple_gifts]

You can see the media have drunk the Kool aid often referring to "computer security problems" or "computer viruses" when in fact they are "Windows security issues" or "Windows viruses"

By using generic terms, the public thinks everyone products are implicated, when in fact, only one vendor's products are.

If reporting actually identified and singled out the offenders, I believe people would be looking @ alternatives more enthusiastically.

 

[Andy636]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
They are probably worried about their nuclear centrifuges spinning so fast that they destroy themselves....


Ahh...the PLC vibration inducing bug

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Andy636
Originally Posted By: Kruse
They are probably worried about their nuclear centrifuges spinning so fast that they destroy themselves....


Ahh...the PLC vibration inducing bug

Yea, ingenius if you ask me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet