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Huawei may have a backup OS in case it has to drop Android
It'd be hard to blame Huawei executives if they're feeling very nervous lately. The US has created havoc for ZTE by renewing an export ban over trade violations, potentially depriving it of its Android license and leaving it without a platform. How would Huawei avoid a similar fate? Simple: it would use its own operating system instead. South China Morning Post sources have claimed that Huawei has been developing its own mobile operating system (there are reportedly tablet and PC equivalents) ever since it and ZTE faced an American investigation in 2012. It's considered an investment for "worst-case scenarios," the insiders said.
The company hasn't released this OS because it isn't up to Android's level of quality and app support, the sources added.
Huawei hasn't confirmed or denied the software's existence, saying only that it "has no plans" to launch an in-house OS in the "foreseeable future" -- if there is one, there's no rush to use it. There was a purported meeting leak in 2012 that referenced a new platform.
See also: ZTE and the Unknown Unknowns
Related: U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
(Score: 5, Interesting) by tekk on Tuesday May 01 2018, @12:23AM
I bought an Xperia X specifically to run Jolla's Sailfish OS. Real multitasking, pretty, and it's an actual Linux system (Wayland+Qt+glibc+busybox.) Runs smoothly, way lighter than Android, if you license it from Jolla you get android compatibility (I'm not sure how it works techically speaking, whether it's a reimplementation of the android APIs or just a port of the android runtime to normal Linux systems,) so they may or may not be able to use it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by KiloByte on Tuesday May 01 2018, @12:47AM
My Gemini [indiegogo.com] is finally on its way from factory to Europe; I don't plan to boot Android even once. I wonder how phone stuff will work in practice.
This one has a full-blown physical keyboard that Huawei's devices lack, but you don't need to ship an off-the-shelf distribution unmodified.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by drussell on Tuesday May 01 2018, @12:49AM (6 children)
Weird... The US "powers that be" are being idiots and forcing others to develop their own solutions?
I don't like Huawei or ZTE and have never purchased their hardware, nor do I intend to anytime in the near future, but if the US wants to shoot itself in the foot by alienating everyone and everything on the planet, I say... good luck and good riddance!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 01 2018, @12:54AM (3 children)
You're forgetting that Trade Wars™ are good, and easy to win.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Tuesday May 01 2018, @01:14AM (1 child)
Right up until the point where the other side starts to react. Then they aren't so easy to win. And also not so good - but we've digressed already. What were we saying again?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @06:33AM
> What were we saying again?
You may have blinked and skipped a news cycle. Mr. Zombie was sarcastically quoting some idiot. [twitter.com]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday May 01 2018, @06:20PM
Hell yeah Trade Wars [wikipedia.org] is a good thing.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:50AM
It would not be the first time - see "Chinese exclusion policy of NASA" [wikipedia.org].
As results:
- the Chinese started to develop their own technologies and space programs (pushed out from ISS - develops a space station on its own [wikipedia.org]).
- China remained and established other such collaborations with Europe and Russia (for Moon and deep-space) [gbtimes.com] (to the point of Russia considering dropping out with US and focusing on China [popularmechanics.com]).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:56AM
Google Pixel and Pixel XL were manufactured by HTC [wikipedia.org], which... wait for it... is the westernalized name for "宏達國際電子股份有限公司". True, Taiwan is not quite mainland China... (yet. It will be unfortunate when it will be, but I think it's inevitable on long run)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:13AM
I don't know about you but the Android operating system is a nasty beast. There may be room for another major mobile operating system. The question is would it get any traction?
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Arik on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:17AM (4 children)
Wow. Android doesn't even ship with gcc or make, and this is even *worse?*
I'm trying to imagine how that could be possible.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:36AM (3 children)
It's pirated Win10 Phone, duhhhh
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Arik on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:29AM (2 children)
Named after the facial expression of anyone trying to use it, no doubt.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:28PM (1 child)
You really have to wonder why big organizations come up with long names without ensuring their likely abbreviations don't have bad or unintended connotations... *especially* in the "native language" of the organization.
Microsoft once released the Critical Update Notification Tool... I mean, seriously?
I'm also thinking that time the then-newly merged right-wing party in Canada called themselves the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance. They didn't have the brains to think ahead and realize "party" would inevitably be tacked on the end, even if not part of the official name, so of course they became known as CRAP even after they quickly changed the official name.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday May 01 2018, @06:33PM
Well they had to release her. Continuing to keep her chained in the basement wasn't going to end well.
"so of course they became known as CRAP even after they quickly changed the official name."
Wouldn't that be CCRAP though? C-CRAP? CANADIAN CRAP.
I can't imagine why they weren't a big hit.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Informative) by iWantToKeepAnon on Tuesday May 01 2018, @01:34PM (3 children)
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday May 01 2018, @06:00PM (1 child)
I am confused too. Android is FOSS, so it's not like the US can do anything to stop Huawei, at least not without setting groundbreaking precedents (what's to stop the US from banning export of Linux then?)
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 01 2018, @06:41PM
Linux was originated and developed by a Finn. The beauty of Open Source is that it's out there for everyone. Someone decides to stop developing X and market paid version Y? Just, fork the original. Sure, the US could do something Really stupid and try to block freely available software, but again that would be really stupid.
We import Linux and / or it belongs to the world and / or whatever you want to call Open Source, etc.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by toddestan on Wednesday May 02 2018, @03:23AM
It wouldn't surprise me at all if they are doing just that. Most of the development work would involve replacing things like the Google Play Store and perhaps some of the Google apps which they presumably would not have access too. It's also likely they wouldn't be able to use the Android trademark and would have to call it something else, which could be the source of the confusion.