Microsoft has finished tailoring a version of Windows 10 specifically for the Chinese government, with the customised OS boasting tighter security measures which the latter insisted upon.
As the Register reports, Alain Crozier, CEO of Microsoft Greater China Region, told China Daily: “We have already developed the first version of the Windows 10 government secure system. It has been tested by three large enterprise customers.”
Chinese authorities had concerns regarding the security of Microsoft’s operating system – which is perhaps unsurprising given all the privacy-related controversy which has surrounded Windows 10 since its launch, even over here in the Western world.
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Secret source
And while Microsoft wouldn’t send source code for inspection (again, unsurprisingly), it was prepared to modify the OS to get it accepted by China. After all, this is a huge market the software giant would miss out on otherwise.
There’s no concrete news on exactly what additional security features are present in this spin of Windows 10, and indeed what other management features may have been added to the operating system. It’s likely that at least some Microsoft apps and services may have been switched out for alternatives.
Microsoft has been working hard to avoid a situation like the one which occurred back in 2014, when the Chinese government famously banned Windows 8 over ‘safety concerns’.
Mind you, Windows 8 didn’t exactly go down a storm over here, either, although that was more about ‘interface concerns’…
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