Red Flag Linux () is a Linux distribution developed by Red Flag Software. The distribution logo is
Tux
Black tie is a semi-formal wear, semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for clothing, attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically ...
carrying a prominent
red flag. , the executive president of Red Flag Software is Jia Dong ().
![Red Flag linux 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Red_Flag_linux_5.0_Workstation_-_KDE_Desktop.png)
Beside specialised solutions, Red Flag Linux had the following products:
* Red Flag Asianux Server 8.0
* Red Flag HA Cluster 7.0
* Red Flag Desktop 10 ()
* Red Flag Desktop 11 ()
The internal structure of Red Flag Linux is very similar to
Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux was a widely used commercial open-source Linux distribution created by Red Hat until its discontinuation in 2004.
Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called Red Hat Commercial Linux. Red Hat published the first non-beta rele ...
, using a similar installer.
History
Red Flag Linux first appeared in August 1999, when it was created by the Institute of Software Research at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
. Financial help came from government-owned Shanghai NewMargin Venture Capital. In March 2001, Bloomberg News reported that CCIDNET Investment, a venture capital arm of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, had become Red Flag's second largest shareholder.
During a brief standoff with Microsoft in January 2000, in a year-long series of increasing tensions believed to have been tied to Microsoft's perceived mismanagement of its
Microsoft Venus venture, Chinese government ministries were ordered to uninstall
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, and was officiall ...
from their computers in favor of Red Flag Linux.
In January 2006, Red Flag Linux joined the
Open Source Development Labs
Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) was a non-profit organization supported by a consortium to promote Linux for enterprise computing. Founded in 2000, OSDL positioned itself as an independent, non-profit lab for developers who are adding enterpris ...
.
An
Equation Group
The Equation Group, classified as an advanced persistent threat, is a highly sophisticated threat actor suspected of being tied to the Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit of the United States National Security Agency (NSA). Kaspersky Labs de ...
leak from 2017 included tools that targeted Red Flag Linux.
2014 Closure/Restructuring
On 10 February 2014, Red Flag Software terminated all employment contracts and closed down. The direct cause of the closure was cited as being the failure of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Software Research Institute to pay a 40 million yuan subsidy. The institute cited Red Flag's failure to complete a specific project, and general mismanagement, as reasons for not paying the subsidy.
According to a research manager with IDC in Beijing, its downfall resulted from a lack of brand awareness and sustained investments, coupled with the rise of rivals.
Nanchang Internet cafes
As of 3 December 2008, it has been reported that Internet cafes in
Nanchang
Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...
, since November 2008, have been required to install the Red Flag Linux as a replacement for pirated versions of the popular Microsoft Windows operating system, or switch to legitimate copies of Microsoft Windows.
Radio Free Asia (which is funded by the U.S. government) claimed that Chinese internet cafes were being required to switch to Red Flag Linux even if they were using genuine copies of the Windows OS. This system is provided with a non-expiring support contract at the cost of 5000 yuan (~ US$850, February 2014) for all machines in the cafe.
An official spokesperson for Red Flag Linux clarified by stating that the announcement were targeted to the server-side and not the gaming-intensive (and therefore Windows demanding) client-side computers, and that in the original announcement, Microsoft Windows and Red Flag Linux were simply recommended platforms as they have been tested by the Bureau of Culture.
See also
*
Canaima (operating system)
Canaima GNU/Linux is a free and open-source Linux distribution that is based on the architecture of Debian. It was created as a solution to cover the needs of the Venezuelan Government as a response to presidential decree 3,390 that prioritiz ...
*
Asianux
*
China Software Industry Association The China Software Industry Association (CSIA) is the major representative and one of the most active associations in the China software industry. Its goal is to promote the development of software industry in China and provide a hub with oversea ...
*
Inspur
*
Nova (operating system)
Nova is a Cuban state-sponsored Linux distribution launched in February 2009. It was developed in Havana at the University of Information Science (UCI) by students and professors to provide free and open-source software (FOSS) to inexperienced use ...
*
Red Star OS
Red Star OS () is a North Korean Linux distribution, with development first starting in 1998 at the Korea Computer Center (KCC). Prior to its release, computers in North Korea typically used Red Hat Linux and later switched to a modified Windows ...
*
Software industry in China
The software industry in China is the business of developing and publishing software and related services in China. The size of the industry including software and information services in 2013 was worth 3060 billion RMB (about $493 billion) accord ...
*
Ubuntu Kylin
Ubuntu Kylin () is the official Chinese version of the Ubuntu computer operating system. It is intended for desktop and laptop computers, and has been described as a "loose continuation of the Chinese Kylin OS". In 2013, Canonical Ltd. reached a ...
*
VIT, C.A.
VIT, C.A. (Venezolana de Industria Tecnológica, Compañía Anónima) is a Venezuelan manufacturer of desktop computers and laptops, supported by the Venezuelan government and a Chinese information technology company Inspur (former ). The first ...
References
External links
*
*
*
''Raising the Red Flag''(
Linux Journal)
''Harvard Business School study of Red Flag Software''
{{Linux-distro
Chinese-language Linux distributions
Discontinued Linux distributions
KDE
State-sponsored Linux distributions
X86-64 Linux distributions
Linux distributions