The chief architect of Computer Associates' uniquely cross-company Linux Technology Group Sam Greenblatt took a flying trip to the Orient a few days ago and, following in the footsteps of CA's role model in the Linux arena, returned with an "understanding of cooperation" with the China's Institute of Software and Academy of Sciences - for which read the government-backed Red Flag, the native Unicode-based Chinese Linux distribution that derives from Red Hat.

Sam is quite taken with China's Linux support. He says the country, whose Bamboo Curtain still makes it hard for Western observers to, well, observe, has 10,000 engineers working on the operating system. He expects their work to make the operating system a "non-issue, totally unbreakable and bulletproof, in six years so that no one will have to worry about it."

They are currently working on advanced clustering, networking, and mobile widgetry that Sam figures will be thrown into the Linux pot - and Red Flag - with the 2.7 Linux development work, now that the 2.5 kernel has been closed and should morph into 2.6 when it's productized.

CA also expects to support Turbolinux, now owned by a Japanese company with roots in China, and Oracle's Miracle Linux operation in Japan.

A few weeks ago Oracle China and Red Flag set up what they called a "strategic alliance," akin to Oracle's deals with Red Hat and SuSE in the name of United Linux, that will deploy the Oracle Unbreakable Linux infrastructure on Red Flag Linux with Oracle doing the technical support.

Oracle's China Development Center and Red Flag have certified Oracle9i on Red Flag's distribution and are supposed to be working on certifying the rest of Oracle's wares on Red Flag's new Data Center cut including Oracle 9i application Server, Collaboration Suite, and E-business Suite.

Oracle and Red Flag are supposed to set up a joint support lab. They are also supposed to be recruiting local ISVs. And they are supposed to have identified likely prospects in the government, transportation, utility, and energy sectors.

• Red Flag Chief Reportedly Out