Deepin
Deepin 20.1 desktop, with the Qt-based Deepin Desktop Environment
Native name
深度操作系统; Shēndù Cāozuò-xìtǒng
DeveloperDeepin Technology Co., Ltd.
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen-source
Initial release28 February 2004; 20 years ago (2004-02-28)
Latest release20.9[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 17 April 2023
Marketing targetPersonal computing
Available inMulti-lingual (more than 30)[2][3]
Update methodDeepin Software Center
Package managerAPT, dpkg[4]
Platformsx86-64, RISCV64,[5] ARM64,[6] LoongArch64[7]
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux Kernel)
Default
user interface		Deepin Desktop Environment (Qt-based)
LicenseFree software licenses
(mainly GPL)
Official websitewww.deepin.org/en/

Deepin (Chinese: 深度操作系统; pinyin: Shēndù Cāozuò-xìtǒng; stylized as deepin; formerly known as Linux Deepin and Hiweed Linux[8][3]) is a Linux distribution. It features the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), built on Qt and available for a variety of distributions. The Deepin userbase is predominantly Chinese, though DDE is in most prominent Linux distributions' repositories as an alternative desktop environment. The company behind the development, Deepin Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (统信软件), is based in Wuhan, China.[9][10]

History

The distribution began in 2004 as Hiweed Linux.[3] In 2011, the development team behind Deepin established a company named Deepin Technology to support commercial development of the operating system. The company received business investments the same year it was founded.[3]

Deepin Technology joined the Linux Foundation in 2015.[11] In 2019, Huawei started to ship Linux laptops pre-installed with Deepin.[12]

The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese microprocessor company Loongson created a partnership in 2020 with UnionTech and Sunway to develop and promote the Deepin operating system in order to reduce Chinese dependency on Microsoft Windows.[13][14]

Deepin introduced a new package manager called "linglong" in 2022.[15]

Overview

Deepin ships a mix of open-source and proprietary programs such as Google Chrome, Spotify and Steam. It also includes a software suite of applications developed by Deepin Technology, as well as WPS Office,[16] 360 Security Guard,[17] CodeWeavers' CrossOver[18] and many others.

The development of Deepin is led by China-based Deepin Technology Co., Ltd (Chinese: 武漢深之度科技有限公司; pinyin: Wǔhàn Shēn-zhī-dù Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī). The company generates revenue through the sale of technical support and other services related to it.[3] As of 1 January 2020, Deepin Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (统信软件; Tǒngxìn Ruǎnjiàn).[9][10] The release cycle has followed various schedules but currently aims at four releases per year.[19] Releases are delayed if the work of development and testing has not been completed.

The distribution is widely praised for its aesthetics in various reviews,[20][21][22] while it has also been criticized for various perceived breaches in user privacy.[23][24][25]

Market share

According to Deepin, in December 2022 the operating system had more than 3 million users worldwide, supported 33 languages, and had accumulated more than 80 million downloads since 2008 (when it was renamed "Deepin" from "Hiweed Linux" and also changed to Ubuntu and Gnome as a basis).[26]

Deepin Desktop Environment

Deepin features its own desktop environment called Deepin DE or DDE for short. It is written in Qt.[27] The distribution also maintains their own Window Manager dde-kwin.[28] The desktop environment was described as "the single most beautiful desktop on the market" by Jack Wallen writing for TechRepublic.[29][30] The DDE is also available in the software repositories of Fedora 30.[29]

UbuntuDDE and Manjaro Deepin are community-supported distributions, that feature the Deepin Desktop Environment and some deepin applications.[31] It is also possible to install DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment) on Arch Linux.[32]

Deepin applications

Deepin comes with a number of applications built via the DTK (Deepin Tool Kit), which is based on C++ and Qt.[33] The following is a list of Deepin Applications created by the Deepin development team:[34]

Deepin Installer

Deepin comes with an installer named "Deepin Installer" that was created by Deepin Technology. The Installer was praised by Swapnil Bhartiya writing for linux.com as having "the simplest installation procedure" that was also "quite pleasant."[35][36] Writing for Forbes, Jason Evangelho complained about the installer requiring the user to select their location from a world map, though concluded by saying, "Aside from my little time zone selection pet peeve, the installer is beautiful, brisk and very intuitive."[37]

Reception

The distribution is generally praised for its aesthetics by users and reviewers alike, such as linux.com,[20] Fossbytes[21] and Techrepublic.[22]

CNZZ incident

When Deepin was accused in 2018 of containing spyware through the use of statistics software within their App Store, the company made an official statement clarifying that it did not and would not collect private user information. According to Deepin, CNZZ is a website similar to Google Analytics that collects anonymous usage information such as the screen size, browser and other user agent information to "analyze how the Deepin store was being used, in order to improve it."[38]

On 20 July 2018, Deepin removed CNZZ statistics from the Deepin App Store website due to the backlash.[39]

Performance

Deepin's reputation was that it had relatively high CPU and memory demands when it was still based on GTK and HTML technologies, even when the system was idle.[40] After switching to the Qt-based desktop environment, performance improved, as was noted by Linux.com in its September 2018 review of Deepin 15.7.[41]

Western concerns about connections to China

Radware's head of threat research has commented on concerns about analytics collected by Deepin, and whether these are sent to the Chinese government: while the CNZZ analytics service has been removed, analytics are still collected, now by "Umeng+".[24] According to cybersecurity lawyer Steven T. Snyder, due to the sheer size of Deepin's codebase, it is impossible to really scrutinize all the code comprising it to be sure the Chinese government doesn't have backdoors.[24] The project does remain fully open source allowing anyone to review, modify or change the code to meet their standards.[42]

See also

References

  1. ^ "deepin 20.9 is officially released!". 17 April 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Deepin Transplantation". Wiki. Wuhan Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "About us – Deepin Technology Community". Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  4. ^ "【开源专访】Linux Deepin：做更好用的Linux桌面系统-CSDN.NET". www.csdn.net. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  5. ^ New developments in RISC-V! deepin Successfully Adapts LicheePi 4A
  6. ^ deepin Successfully Adapts to Apple M1, Our Journey of Adaptation! (Part 1)
  7. ^ https://twitter.com/linux_deepin/status/1735137051094438048 [bare URL]
  8. ^ Wallen, Jack (14 February 2014). "Linux Deepin is a fringe Linux distribution that could steal your heart". TechRepublic. Retrieved 16 May 2021. And then there's Linux Deepin (formerly Hiweed Linux).
  9. ^ a b Ye, Josh (2 September 2020). "Meet the Chinese operating system that's trying to shift the country off Windows". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Union Tech acquires Deepin, a well-known Linux-based OS maker in China". cnTechPost. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Alibaba, DCHQ, MediaTek, PayPal and Deepin Technology Join Linux Foundation – The Linux Foundation" (Press release). The Linux Foundation. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.[dead link]
  12. ^ Dubey, Yetnesh (13 September 2019). "Huawei Linux Laptops Running Deepin Linux Now Available". Fossbytes. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  13. ^ Yiu, Enoch (29 June 2021). "Loongson files US$542 million IPO in Shanghai to fund chip growth". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  14. ^ Ye, Josh (18 March 2020). "Meet the Chinese operating system that's trying to shift the country off Windows". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  15. ^ Borisov, bobby (20 August 2022). "Deepin 23 Introducing New Package Format". lunuxiac. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  16. ^ Afolabi, Jesse. "Deepin 15: A Beautifully Crafted Linux Distribution for Everyone". tecmint. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  17. ^ "360 Security Guard(Indigenous System Edition) – Deepin Technology Community". Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  18. ^ Bhartiya, Swapnil (12 January 2015). "Deepin Linux: A Polished Distro That's Easy to Install and Use". Linux.com. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Interview with Deepin project leader Wang Yong | MUZI". muzi.info. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  20. ^ a b "Deepin Linux: As Gorgeous as It is User-Friendly". 21 September 2018.
  21. ^ a b "Deepin 15.10 is a Beautiful Linux Distro That'll Make Windows Users Jealous". 29 April 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Deepin Linux 15.8: A functional and elegant desktop". 8 June 2023.
  23. ^ "Statement on cancelling CNZZ statistics in Deepin Store – Deepin Technology Community". Deepin.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  24. ^ a b c Germain, Jack M. (31 May 2019). "Deepin Linux: Security Threat or Safe to Use?". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  25. ^ Kourafalos, Odysseas (5 November 2020). "Deepin Linux Review: Stylish Distro or Spyware?". Make Tech Easier. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  26. ^ "The 12th DDUC: Deep Love, Evolving Together – Deepin Technology Community". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  27. ^ "Deepin Builds a Better Linux Desktop | Reviews | LinuxInsider". www.linuxinsider.com. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  28. ^ Verma, Adarsh (29 April 2019). "deepin 15.10 Is A Beautiful Linux Distro That'll Make Windows Users Jealous". Fossbytes. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  29. ^ a b "Deepin Linux 15.8: A functional and elegant desktop". 8 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Deepin Desktop Environment – ArchWiki". ArchWiki. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  31. ^ "Manjaro Community Editions". Manjaro. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  32. ^ "Deepin Desktop Environment – ArchWiki". wiki.archlinux.org. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  33. ^ "Deepin Tool Kit: Deepin Tool Kit Widget". docs.deepin.io. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  34. ^ "Original Applications – Deepin Technology Community". Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  35. ^ "Deepin Installer – Deepin Technology Community". Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  36. ^ "Deepin Linux: A Polished Distro That's Easy to Install and Use". Linux.com | The source for Linux information. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  37. ^ Evangelho, Jason. "A Linux Noob Reviews: The Deepin 15.8 Installer". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  38. ^ "Linux Deepin is NOT spyware". Deepin. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018.
  39. ^ "Statement on cancelling CNZZ statistics in Deepin Store – Deepin Technology Community". 20 July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  40. ^ "Deepin 15.4 review – All that glitters is not gold". www.dedoimedo.com. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  41. ^ "Deepin Linux: As Gorgeous As It Is User-Friendly". Linux.com | The source for Linux information. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  42. ^ "Wuhan deepin Technology Co., Ltd". GitHub. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
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