this is a question from quora;
and i’d think ‘why isn’t linux more popular in china’ is an interesting question, here’re my comments:
1. among the more than 400 million chinese internet users, i would say probably 80% of them has never get a chance to touch linux, many of them even never heard of linux. let me introduce the internet users and how choose OS;
- a small part of chines users do not have a computer, they go to the bars for surfing, where only windows is provided
- most people in tier 2 or e cities who owns a computer does not know how to install a system other than using a windows ghost copy or ask someone for help; this even include many students who have received high school educations
- only a small part of guys, usually IT guys and those who receive relatively better high school education have heard linux, and then part of them tried to use linux, and then part of them found linux is not convenient to use, so, finally, only a very small part of chinese internet users are using linux
2. why linux is not convenient to use in china?
- qq is not available for a long time in linux, since most people need to use qq in china (note, it has more than 100 million concurrent online users in china)
- most people use computer for games, while lots of games are not available in linux
- people need to buy things online on taobao and other ebusiness sites, while most still do not have good support for linux when doing payment (especially when you have to deal with the softwares by the banks)
- many times you need to install addtional language support for chinese, the fonts do not look nice, the input method need to be configured
- finally, when dealing with different issues, linux, when used as a desktop OS, is not easy to figure it out and takes time if you do not live in linux for long; i think this is also true for people in other countries