North Korea's domestic operating system draws inspiration from Apple
Red Star, a North Korean operating system, has received a graphical upgrade that makes it similar to Apple's OS X
And now, North Korea’s one and only operating system bears an uncanny resemblance to something you might find on a Mac computer.
The re-skinned Red Star version 3.0 was released in early 2013, but news of it only emerged from North Korea recently thanks to images released by Will Scott, an American computer scientist and guest lecturer at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
Scott said he purchased a copy of the updated Red Star in a southern Pyongyang retailer.
Red Star’s menus and graphical cues all strongly resemble those in OS X, and to the untrained eye, the software’s file manager, email tool and various productivity applications are difficult to differentiate from their Apple counterparts.
Currently, Red Star is only seen and used by a select elite in North Korea. The software is installed in some universities and state-run industries as a means of accessing Kwangmyong, the country’s domestic and heavily censored public intranet.
Although there has been no official reason behind Red Star’s sudden change in appearance, Apple products have found their way into North Korea in the past, and rumours have suggested that late ruler Kim Jong-il’s computer of choice was a Macbook Pro.
Recently released images of Kim Jung-un have also shown the leader seated with what appears to be an iMac atop his desk.