Dell computers at a store in Shanghai. The United States-based company said about 40 percent of its commercial PCs are now pre-installed with a China-developed operating system. [Photo/China Daily]

Chinese OS gains in popularity as firms opt for home-grown software products

NeoKylin, a five-year-old Chinese operating system, is quickly gaining ground in the enterprise market as State-owned companies are increasingly opting for local software amid rising fears over information security.

The United States-based personal computer maker Dell Inc said 40 percent of its commercial PCs sold in China－including laptops, desktops and workstations－are now pre-installed with the Linux NeoKylin system.

The world's third-largest PC vendor said the installation program was part of its year-long partnership with NeoKylin's developer－Shanghai-based China Standard Software Co Ltd. Dell did not give any details about the amount involved.

Li Zhenning, head of public relations at the Chinese company, told China Daily the shipments were well above 1 million units.

"Our cooperation with US firms is starting to bear fruit," Li said, adding Dell also agreed to install NeoKylin in more devices, including products used in cloud computing.

Besides Dell, Hewlett-Packard Co is also installing the company's Linux OS in devices sold in the country, although the level remains low because the partnership has just started.

"Shipment increases usually happen after six months into a partnership," Li said.

Charlie Dai, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc, a market research firm, said with made-in-China software becoming a new favorite in the government procurement sector, NeoKylin is set to garner market share from foreign competitors such as Windows and Ubuntu, a United Kingdom-designed Linux OS.

"The increase in market share will be limited though, because of compatibility difficulties and other issues," said Dai.

The enterprise market is becoming more difficult for overseas software makers after whistle-blower Edward Snowden disclosed the US National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs in 2013.

Such concerns have barred a large number of foreign-made software from being a part of China's government procurement list. Absence from the list also prevents these companies from selling products to government bodies or State-owned banks, both big spenders on IT products.