7 ms·

Windows 10 China Government Edition

54 points by 5ESS 4y ago

_nickwhite 4y ago
Published "May 23, 2017" I'm not sure why this hit the HN front page?
- throwmeariver1 4y ago
  Because there was a discussion about a stripped windows 10 iso yesterday with a link to the China Government Edition. It's the Hackernews cycle of lazy ass karma farming.
  - bromuro 4y ago
    If something interesting is emerging from the comments, the one taking the time to post it on HN deserves the karma points. Thanks OP for this link!
    - throwmeariver1 4y ago
      Yeah, thanks op! /s
- Sakos 4y ago
  Are you new to HN? It's absolutely normal and OK for older articles to be reposted.
lnxg33k1 4y ago
I’m not sure what to take away from this news but at first I thought it was some sort of meme :0
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
kerng 4y ago
I thought at first this is a joke, but no. It should be called the Windows 10 Spy Edition - removing/replacing crypto so it can be decrypted by the government... Something like this should get a lot more attention and Satya Nadella should clarify why they support this?
- thatguy0900 4y ago
  More like windows 10 were not spying edition. Probably the only one Microsoft doesn't have insight into what youre doing on it. China has access to their source code.
  - LegitShady 4y ago
    It probably spies even more than regular windows 10, it just reports the results to someone else.
- belter 4y ago
  Windows 10 Russia Edition soon?
- smoldesu 4y ago
  This is nothing new. Apple does (or rather, did) the same thing, by making versions of MacOS/iOS that funnel data directly to the CCP and utilize domestically owned and controlled servers. Unfortunately, catering to China seems to be the norm in this space.
  - neilalexander 4y ago
    Do they (Microsoft/Apple/whoever) really have much of a choice? The alternative would likely be that their products end up banned if they don’t satisfy the government. Not really a China-specific problem either — strikes me that the same would be true in many countries.
    - smoldesu 4y ago
      I mean, they do have an option. Companies like Google, Netflix and parts of Amazon are completely unavailable in China. Their option is to not be complicit in data collection for their oppressive government, but greed and disrespect for user privacy usually triumphs.
occamrazor 4y ago
> The Windows 10 China Government Edition is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, which already includes many of the security, identity, deployment, and manageability features governments and enterprises need. The China Government Edition will use these manageability features to remove features that are not needed by Chinese government employees like OneDrive, to manage all telemetry and updates, and to enable the government to use its own encryption algorithms within its computer systems.
- netizen-936824 4y ago
  That almost sounds like windows that isn't spyware
  - hulitu 4y ago
    I think that at this point in time this is a contradiction in terms. I'm sure someone at CIA has wet pants knowing that the chinese government buys windows.
- cosmodisk 4y ago
  Do they have an English version of it? I could really use something without half of the crap they try to push on me. Yeah, fuck you Cortana.
  - mhio 4y ago
    Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC, if you can swing the volume licensing requirement. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/ltsc-what-is-it-and-when-should-it-be-used/ba-p/293181 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/l...
- my123 4y ago
  It’s the EnterpriseG SKU.
- Stevvo 4y ago
  So Chinese government gets a version of Windows that works for the customer instead of for Microsoft... why can't we all get that option?
kylehotchkiss 4y ago
Not a bad idea. I’m sure China has its own domestic threat model and maybe this provides some better protection against data encryption malware and whatever other annoying tricks hackers are trying. Does china have its own desktop OS though? I’d imagine that they have a pretty good domestically designed one.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  > Does china have its own desktop OS though? Red Flag? [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux
  - derevaunseraun 4y ago
    sounds like a red flag
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
xg15 4y ago
The title could really use a (2017). But I think it's a very interesting submission. At least I didn't know such a version of Windows 10 existed. I wonder if Microsoft would do such a project again in the current situation.
- rajnathani 4y ago
  Yes exactly. In the past few years, it seems that prominent homegrown OSs have come up, eg: https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3075656/meet-chinese-operating-system-thats-trying-shift-country-windows https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3075656/meet-chines...

54 points by 5ESS 4y ago

_nickwhite 4y ago

Published "May 23, 2017" I'm not sure why this hit the HN front page?

throwmeariver1 4y ago
Because there was a discussion about a stripped windows 10 iso yesterday with a link to the China Government Edition. It's the Hackernews cycle of lazy ass karma farming.
- bromuro 4y ago
  If something interesting is emerging from the comments, the one taking the time to post it on HN deserves the karma points. Thanks OP for this link!
  - throwmeariver1 4y ago
    Yeah, thanks op! /s
Sakos 4y ago
Are you new to HN? It's absolutely normal and OK for older articles to be reposted.

lnxg33k1 4y ago

I’m not sure what to take away from this news but at first I thought it was some sort of meme :0

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

kerng 4y ago

I thought at first this is a joke, but no. It should be called the Windows 10 Spy Edition - removing/replacing crypto so it can be decrypted by the government... Something like this should get a lot more attention and Satya Nadella should clarify why they support this?

thatguy0900 4y ago
More like windows 10 were not spying edition. Probably the only one Microsoft doesn't have insight into what youre doing on it. China has access to their source code.
- LegitShady 4y ago
  It probably spies even more than regular windows 10, it just reports the results to someone else.
belter 4y ago
Windows 10 Russia Edition soon?
smoldesu 4y ago
This is nothing new. Apple does (or rather, did) the same thing, by making versions of MacOS/iOS that funnel data directly to the CCP and utilize domestically owned and controlled servers. Unfortunately, catering to China seems to be the norm in this space.
- neilalexander 4y ago
  Do they (Microsoft/Apple/whoever) really have much of a choice? The alternative would likely be that their products end up banned if they don’t satisfy the government. Not really a China-specific problem either — strikes me that the same would be true in many countries.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    I mean, they do have an option. Companies like Google, Netflix and parts of Amazon are completely unavailable in China. Their option is to not be complicit in data collection for their oppressive government, but greed and disrespect for user privacy usually triumphs.

occamrazor 4y ago

> The Windows 10 China Government Edition is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, which already includes many of the security, identity, deployment, and manageability features governments and enterprises need. The China Government Edition will use these manageability features to remove features that are not needed by Chinese government employees like OneDrive, to manage all telemetry and updates, and to enable the government to use its own encryption algorithms within its computer systems.

netizen-936824 4y ago
That almost sounds like windows that isn't spyware
- hulitu 4y ago
  I think that at this point in time this is a contradiction in terms. I'm sure someone at CIA has wet pants knowing that the chinese government buys windows.
cosmodisk 4y ago
Do they have an English version of it? I could really use something without half of the crap they try to push on me. Yeah, fuck you Cortana.
- mhio 4y ago
  Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC, if you can swing the volume licensing requirement. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/ltsc-what-is-it-and-when-should-it-be-used/ba-p/293181 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/l...
my123 4y ago
It’s the EnterpriseG SKU.
Stevvo 4y ago
So Chinese government gets a version of Windows that works for the customer instead of for Microsoft... why can't we all get that option?

kylehotchkiss 4y ago

Not a bad idea. I’m sure China has its own domestic threat model and maybe this provides some better protection against data encryption malware and whatever other annoying tricks hackers are trying. Does china have its own desktop OS though? I’d imagine that they have a pretty good domestically designed one.

nonrandomstring 4y ago
> Does china have its own desktop OS though? Red Flag? [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux
- derevaunseraun 4y ago
  sounds like a red flag

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

xg15 4y ago

The title could really use a (2017). But I think it's a very interesting submission. At least I didn't know such a version of Windows 10 existed. I wonder if Microsoft would do such a project again in the current situation.

rajnathani 4y ago
Yes exactly. In the past few years, it seems that prominent homegrown OSs have come up, eg: https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3075656/meet-chinese-operating-system-thats-trying-shift-country-windows https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3075656/meet-chines...