• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 25, 2014

The Chinese government plans to launch its own operating system (OS) in October to lessen its dependence on Microsoft and Google, per the government-run Xinhua news agency.

The OS will initially support desktop devices and later expand to smartphones and other mobile devices, Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering told the People's Post and Telecommunications News. The government wants its independence from Android, Windows and other Western technologies. More than a dozen mobile OS developers support mobile in the country, but none have independent intellectual property rights.

While the Chinese government-run OS will support the country's push to build IP, it's not clear how the move will affect search engine optimization and paid-search advertising on search engines from outside China. Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman views the news as positive for Baidu, China's leading search engine, and believes any new government-development online technology similar to the OS will bolster homegrown Chinese apps and make it more difficult for companies outside China to penetrate the Chinese market.

Developers will build the system based on the Linux kernel rather Android, per reports earlier this year. The move follows concerns about U.S. surveillance and a Microsoft monopoly probe. In May, China banned government use of Microsoft Windows 8 OS, and last year voiced concerns that Google had too much control of smartphones being built for the Chinese market.

China has been a sore spot in the side of U.S. manufacturers since Western companies contracted with local manufacturers to build computers, laptops, smartphones and other products for less than what companies would paid to manufacture and test these products in the United States. During the past 12 years there have been ongoing reports about misuse of intellectual property and copyright abuse. In May, five Chinese military hackers were charged with cyber espionage against the U.S.