Red Flag Linux () is a Linux distribution developed by Red Flag Software. The distribution logo is Tux carrying a prominent

red flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

. , the executive president of Red Flag Software is Jia Dong (). Red Flag linux 5

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 release ...

, 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 Repub ...

. 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 Microsoft Venus was an aborted venture by Microsoft into the low-end personal computing market in the People's Republic of China. The product, a set-top operating system designed to work with low-end televisions (somewhat similar to MSN TV in ...

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 official ...

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 des ...

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 Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editorial ...

(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.

References

External links

* * *
''Raising the Red Flag''
(

Linux Journal ''Linux Journal'' (''LJ'') is an American monthly technology magazine originally published by Specialized System Consultants, Inc. (SSC) in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In December 2006 the publisher changed to Belltown Media, Inc. in Housto ...

)
''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

History

2014 Closure/Restructuring

Nanchang Internet cafes

See also

References

External links