Okay, let me try to answer the top couple of FAQs right out of the gate.
Canonical and Chinese standards body announce Ubuntu collaboration
http://www.canonical...ubuntu-collaboration1. Concerns about what Canonical is up to.
2. Concerns about what China is up to.
Answer to both: Yes there are.
*But*, *if* they magically agree on a neutral collaboration without the 21st century sneaky agenda trend, this is the *type* of partnership I have wanted to see for a decade.
1. Start with a (mostly!?) FOSS Linux OS that already has some traction.
2. Add China's scary production power.
3. Add China's slightly mysterious user base
4. After they get their act together, (and yes Made In China now means iPhone grade, not new year's novelties), you might just get the mythical Third OS to wedge into the OS wars. I'm thinking long term here, say 7 years. Ignore a few petty cheap power grabs here and there. The Linux community has shuffled around "we're Indie and we like it, that is, until we can't use it for _____ reason."
I'm not sure anyone can really unseat MS - that would be THE biggest tech news of the decade beyond which all else pales. They really are close to Too Big To Fail. But just suppose they did. Would you pick Apple's OS X or a Canonical-China Distro!? I have NO IDEA how to evaluate that one! But just supposing they waited in the wings and began producing $300 machines, they'd slowly begin to seep into the "average user landscape". ("I dunno, it's one of those Chinese Linux machines. I just check my email and Facebook on it. Works for me.")
(I think I'm missing a closing paragraph but I'll just post this.) : )
