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Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

arstechnica.com

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Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#141

Post by taneq »

chronogram wrote: post #54

> Another major nit I have to pick with HarmonyOS is its lack of access and transparency. Just accessing the SDK and emulator required me to go through an insane process that involved uploading a photo of my US passport and credit card to Huawei’s servers so that I could be approved to access the SDK after a two-day waiting period. Most companies just have a download link. You don’t get to run the emulator locally on…

> Just accessing the SDK and emulator required me to go through an insane process that involved uploading a photo of my US passport and credit card to Huawei’s servers so that I could be approved to access the SDK after a two-day waiting period.

My sample size is tiny, ymmv etc. but a few big-Chinese-company-designed products I've bought (DJI drone, wireless security camera) have been like that. Not "thanks for buying the product, please enjoy, there's an app if you want and we value your privacy." Instead it's "you WILL install the app and you WILL give it access to contacts, camera, microphone and everything else, then you WILL create an account on our web site where all of your personal information WILL be stored, and only THEN may you use the thing."

I don't know if it's just my bad luck with these products or if the Chinese market is much more accepting of this kind of invasive authoritarian treatment.

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#142

Post by roenxi »

indymike wrote: post #134
roenxi wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be the sort of person who takes a principled stand against intellectual property, so not see Huawei's behaviour as inconsistent with protecting consumer privacy? I don't personally trust Huawei to behave responsibly. But I don't really trust any other company either. Android is basically a Google anti-privacy play. Western IP law is arguably just a tool to delay Chinese progress (speaking from an internatio…

> Android is basically a Google anti-privacy play. Nope. Android is a mobile OS and is pretty well done versus the many other oses it replaced. > Western IP law is arguably just a tool to delay Chinese progress (speaking from an international perspective) I'm pretty sure IP law wasn't created to "slow down Chinese progress". It is there to provide an incentive for invention and creativity. The whole point is to grant…

IP law favours incumbents. Ignoring IP law has been the fastest way to secure Chinese prosperity, and that is what they did. It makes sense and it doesn't tell us how a Chinese company will treat their customers.

Note that despite the argument that IP law promotes invention and creativity Huawei is a world leading tech innovator in 4G. Despite obviously having little respect for IP law. They'll probably discover the importance of IP law now that they have taken the lead but it IP law appears to have been more of a hindrance in getting the innovation started.

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#143

Post by rapjr9 »

Moving running apps across devices is a big security risk. Look up "Mobile Agent" research on Google Scholar. There are some severe security problems with moving running apps between devices. Foremost is the problem of a compromised host that corrupts the apps and then sends them on their way to attack other devices. It is very difficult to protect your app against a corrupt host operating system. There may be some known solutions to the security problems with mobile agents, but I suspect Huawei spent most of the last two years working on other things instead of rewriting Android from the ground up to provide security for running apps that can jump between devices. Even if they did it is all new and not proven in the field. In fact there is another name for apps that can jump between devices, worms. What a great way for an attacker to spread an infection, worm capability built into the OS! And don't tell me it will all be under user control when the app can popup "click here to listen to your music on your TV!" which is a legitimate reason to allow any app to jump devices.

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#144

Post by em500 »

Lio wrote: post #94
mosselman wrote: post #7

Fascinating to see how much is 'inspired' by Apple's design and Microsoft's for the document app. I'd feel dirty in so blatantly copying someone else's design, but Huawei doesn't share those concerns. Maybe for good reason.

The problem is that, in general, when a company doesn't respect intellectual property laws or obviously makes use of industrial espionage (and I'm not suggesting either is true for Huawei) they are sending a clear signal that laws do not apply to them. So as a customer why would I trust any company with my most personal health, banking or own intellectual property if that company sees no reasonable limitations to its…

I think practically speaking such concerns are way overblown. There are tons of megacorps with lots of very ethically questionable practices (not just tech wrt privacy issues, think about money laundering banks, food and energy companies causing environmental damage). The majority of consumers don't seem overly concerned unless they are very directly victimised by said practices.

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#145

Post by jp0d »

ChrisRR wrote: post #122

This thread is full of suspiciously pro huawei and pro china comments and a lot of legitimate concerns are being downvoted. I've never seen so many grey comments

Try saying anything against China on this platform and you risk getting flagged and downvoted. I've experienced that already.

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#146

Post by em500 »

533474 wrote: post #55
mosselman wrote: post #7

Fascinating to see how much is 'inspired' by Apple's design and Microsoft's for the document app. I'd feel dirty in so blatantly copying someone else's design, but Huawei doesn't share those concerns. Maybe for good reason.

Let the best win, isn't that our modern capitalism's answer? If Huawei is copying they will always lag behind. Still, are they really copying? or are they piecing innovations together into a new improved product? Give them a break and a chance to bring something new - sanctions and all, it is pretty impressive they have persevered.

> If Huawei is copying they will always lag behind.

I think the cause-effect here is reversed. They are copying because they're behind, in this particular area. No doubt they're vigorously defending their own IP in 5G.

Companies, countries, individual race car drivers all slipstream when they're behind. It's a matter pragmatism and economics, not of morality and principles. Recall that Steve Jobs considered Android itself "a stolen product".

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#147

Post by Raqbit »

als0 wrote: post #118
teddyh wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was . https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27280567

Technically, “was” is wrong because the new Nest Hub doesn’t run any part of Android. These are Flutter apps targeted specifically for Fuschia. There’s no evidence yet that they will run Android on top of Fuschia.

They are actually working on porting the Android Runtime (ART) to Fuchsia. [1]

[1] https://android.googlesource.com/device/google/fuchsia/

Re: Huawei replaces Android with HarmonyOS, which is also Android

#150

Post by dantondwa »

Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #105
swiley wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried doing iOS dev years ago. Apple had me fax them my driver's license. You can whine about the FSF all you want but I've never had to do that to use gcc.

This has meme potential! Talking about some major corp and hoops one has to jump through to do X, react with "say about the FSF what you will, but..." ; Made my day. What are you even talking about? How is this a meaningful comparison?

It is meaningful, inasmuch as it shows the stark difference between developing for an extremely free ecosystem (in this case, free software using GNU tools) and an extremely closed one, like Apple's, where (apparently, as I didn't know about this, but it is realistic) you have to mail them your driving license. Free software protects you forever exactly from something like this and the FSF has been speaking about this possibility for decades.
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