When you live in China, you live by a special set of rules, and this holds true for technology which often finds itself uniquely altered to fit parameters set by the government. Once again we see this at play with Microsoft, which has finished building a unique version of Windows 10 for China's government that features fewer games and more worker oversight.
Windows 10 has been largely successful in other regions around the world but has done noticeably worse in China. In order to combat this, Microsoft announced in December that it would pair up with CETC, a Chinese state-run technology and defense corporation, to make a version of Windows that would be unique to the country.
The region-exclusive version has finally arrived and is titled Windows 10 Zhuangongban, or "Windows 10 Specially-provided Edition," and it features several differences that sets it apart from other versions you would find around the world. For example, the new version contains "more management and security controls," and many of the services and apps found in the consumer version of Windows 10 have been removed.
It's unclear just what has been added, but considering that China is well known for keeping its workers on a tight leash, it would be unsurprising for these security controls to actually be more ways for the country's government to keep a close watch on users.
This "Windows 10 Chinese Government Edition" isn't the first foreign-made, government-sponsored custom OS to appear in China. For years, China's government has been funding and pushing the development of NeoKylin, a Linux-based OS. Since it's been on the market for a longer period of time, it has seen use within various government circles recently, and a special version of it is being used to power China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer. However, the introduction of Windows 10 Zhuangongban may serve to shake things up a bit. Despite being around longer, NeoKylin doesn't offer the same range of support for software that the Chinese Windows 10 does, which could hamper it in the long run.
In the meantime, Microsoft's decision to partner up with China does seem a little odd, but past history may shed some light on that decision. Microsoft lost a lot of money when China banned Microsoft 8 from government computers in 2014. Granted, civilians were able to use the OS freely, but the government banning the software for itself negatively impacted adoption rates for everyone else. By creating a special version that is endorsed by the government, not only will this improve adoption rates for Windows software but it will also serve to combat piracy issues it faces in the country.
