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Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

theregister.com

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Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

exactly how we can read the MacOS, Windows and all the Google apps code that are bundled with virtually every Android phone, right?

If you live in the west and criticise your government, nothing happens. If you live in China and criticise your government, even in private, you can go missing or end up in a camp

Try telling that to all those people punished for protesting against Gaza genocide. Not to mention Julian Assange.

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article explicitly cites it in the second last paragraph. It was a bit more than political pressure, though: Huawei was added to the entity list and it would be a crime for US companies or citizens to do business with them.

That’s clearly not the case though? A lot of Huawei gear is still installed and operating, as of today, in US telecom networks. Even the pentagon is contracting with many companies using Huawei gear.

I guess it is a crime from the date they were added to the list, but not a crime to keep using devices purchased earlier.

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#55

>Unlike previous iterations of HarmonyOS, HarmonyOS NEXT no longer supports Android apps. That's kind of big, HarmonyOS would not be just another Android flavor anymore. > we're sorry to report that Huawei told us it currently has no plans to offer Harmony OS NEXT outside of China That's to be expected. If you live outside of China and don't know Mandarin, the apps are not usable.

What would they offer outside China? They still don’t have access to android.

I never remember the clear lines.

I think they're bared from US distribution and PlayStore being Google is a no-go.

But they're not banned in the EU nor SEA or anywhere outside the US really, and the open source part of android is also probably fair game.

It feels like refocusing on the Chinese market only is a business move more than a limitation of what they can do.

Perhaps Xiaomi is putting too much market pressure to make it viable to them ?

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#56
post #2

Notably, this is a microkernel, multiserver operating system[0]. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_NEXT

Huawei is very present at EuroRust and seem to look for a lot of people to hire.

I guess it makes sense, I was curious why they would want people to work on e.g. Servo since Firefox is already available on Android... now I know :) Their team there made a pretty good impression for the record, they were knowledgeable and pitched their projects quite well (several of them quite interesting).

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#57
post #52

Hey, Tim Sweeney now has a third platform he can put the Epic Games Store and Fortnite on! ... except I bet we'll never see either of those come to HarmonyOS.

His friends at Tencent might have the desire and capability to do so.

If I were a CCP official I'd even relax some video game regulations when played on HarmonyOS to increase adoption. Under the guise of it having more 'safety' features or something like that.

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#58
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I don't have much technical expertise in the kernel/OS space, but I wouldn't be surprised if the NEXT OS is better than Linux. On the other hand, their dev experience is akin to opening a router paper manual. There is an opportunity here but I am not sure how it can be unlocked.

> I wouldn't be surprised if the NEXT OS is better than Linux. I wouldn't be surprised if it's full of shortcuts with privilege escalations or contradicting exceptions. Not because it's Huawei, but because it's a single company developing BOTH the Operating System and the hardware it is supposed to be deployed in. When it comes to meeting a production deadline of a product, the pressure to apply a quick workaround is…

>it's a single company developing BOTH the Operating System and the hardware it is supposed to be deployed in

That's what Apple has been doing for nearly 20 years now.

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article explicitly cites it in the second last paragraph. It was a bit more than political pressure, though: Huawei was added to the entity list and it would be a crime for US companies or citizens to do business with them.

That’s clearly not the case though? A lot of Huawei gear is still installed and operating, as of today, in US telecom networks. Even the pentagon is contracting with many companies using Huawei gear.

Usage of their equipment is one thing, technology export to a blacklisted company is another.

The telecom providers arguably put quite some pressure to maintain such a distinction, since they purchased and paid for said equipment.

But for i.e. Google it would have been a crime to provide dedicated technology access (early-access code, Google Services, etc.) for Huawei to then integrate into their products.

Re: Huawei makes divorce from Android official with HarmonyOS NEXT launch

#60

I think it is good that we have a non-Google, non-Apple OS for mobile phones out there though I am guessing that the surveillance state will be in full operation in Harmony OS as well.

The reason Huawei has a distinct non-Google Android flavour poisons the whole endeavour. Huawei is registered on the US Entity List.

You can have the surveillance gulag of Google, or the surveillance gulag of the CCP. Pick your poison.

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