There’s finally a version of Windows 10 that doesn’t feature tight integration with Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service. But it’s designed for use by Chinese government agencies and state-owned entities.

Microsoft introduced Windows 10 China Government Edition at an event in Shanghai today, where the company also introduced the new Surface Pro tablet and the Chinese launch of other products including the Surface Laptop and Surface Studio.

Windows 10 China Government Edition is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, but it’s been altered in a few ways to meet the Chinese government’s security needs

For example, it lets the Chinese government use its own encryption algorithms rather than Microsoft’s, and allows management (and disabling) of features like OneDrive that are not needed.

Microsoft says Chinese PC maker Lenovo will preload the new version of Windows 10 on some of its devices sold in China, and three Chinese agencies are planning to run a pilot test of the new operating system: China Customs, the City of Shanghai, and the state-owned Westone Information Technology company.

Bloomberg reports the new version of Windows 10 will only be available for Chinese government customers, and will not be sold to consumers or other businesses or government institutions.

Meanwhile, if you have Windows 10 Home, Pro, or Enterprise and just want to know how to disable and hide the links to OneDrive, ZDNet has you covered.

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5 replies on “Microsoft launches Windows 10 China Government Edition”

  1. Come on China, leak the full-OS online so that the rest of us can become “China Government Agents” with you : )

  3. How about MY security needs? I don’t like the tight cloud integration either, I would love to be able to turn that off. They should make that version available worldwide, but they might not because they seem to have a pathological need to snoop on my personal business.

    I didn’t like Linux either but it is looking better with every iteration of windows.

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