Windows 8 ban may open doors in China

One of the advantages that China's OS makers have is that their products usually have open source code, which allows programmers to design any software they need, according to CSS.

The country's rapidly expanding tablet PC and smart television markets also offer space for domestic OS makers, since most of these devices run Linux-based Android OS, said Yang Yilong, an official at IT company Knownsec Inc.

Local firms can benefit from Windows 8 ban

Microsoft to end support for Windows XP

It's not uncommon for the country's self-developed software programs, which are written with Chinese users in mind, to beat foreign rivals.

Tencent Holdings Ltd's messaging software QQ has proven to be more popular than Microsoft Corp's MSN. Baidu does better than Google Inc's search engine for Chinese language users. Kingsoft Corp Ltd's WPS wins a large user base against Microsoft's Office.

More important, most of the domestic software programs are free or much cheaper than foreign products, and they're easy to download.

However, success in the business is not that easy, as development of an OS takes money and time.

Red Flag Software Technology Co, one of China's most promising OS makers, went bankrupt in February partly because of liquidity problems. Its products were not well received.

Tan Xiaosheng, a senior manager with IT companyQihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, said whether domestic OS developers can make a difference relies on the opening up of the market.

"Many of China's IT giants have enough money to run an OS business. What they expect is preferential policies," Tan said, adding failures may recur if the country's OS market is dominated only by a few State-owned companies.

A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesman signaled last month that the ministry would strengthen support for the development and application of Linux OS. But a detailed plan is yet to be released.