Huawei HarmonyOS open source countdown can it become the strongest opponent of Google’s ecology?

On May 24, at the Hongmeng Developer Innovation Contest Awards Ceremony, Wang Chenglu, President of Huawei’s Consumer Business Software Department, said in a speech that HarmonyOS will soon be open source.
“In the south, we will have more chips and modules, and there will be SDKs. We will soon open source the system and the Open Source Foundation will officially announce it. It may be fully open source for all developers in a very short time.” Wang Chenglu said.

In 2012, Huawei began to plan its own operating system “Hongmeng”, and in May 2016, HarmonyOS formally established the project. On December 16 last year, Hongmeng OS officially released the Beta version for mobile phone developers, which also means that the timetable for the commercialization of Hongmeng system on Huawei mobile phones is further shortened, and it also means that China’s exploration of its own ecological operating system has begun. Landing. But since its birth, the controversy surrounding Hongmeng has never disappeared. What does Hongmeng mean for tens of millions of developers in China? Is the opening of the HarmonyOS 2.0 source code worth the effort to follow up? What is the commercial feasibility of Hongmeng’s ecology? They are all questions to be solved before developers. Wang Chenglu stated in the above-mentioned meeting that Huawei will never make another Android or another IOS. It is of no value to build the same operating system for smart terminals. Hongmeng operating system is a full-stack modular design, no matter it is vertical or horizontal, it is completely decoupled. “All of our connections today are shallow connections, and we can only shake hands. The operation of a program requires data, computing power and IO capabilities. All connections today are just the next simple instructions. Hongmeng operating system is not only able to carry out Simple connection, we can achieve data integration, distributed database, distributed file system, distributed computing, so that all connected devices are like one device.” Wang Chenglu said. As one of the developers of the Hongmeng system, the head of the Labo Lado team, Yuyong, told the China Business News reporter that the Hongmeng system integrates distributed capabilities, which is attractive to developers. Yes, from networking to mutual discovery of devices, in the past, it was basically a headache for every developer. Especially in terms of discovery capabilities, other system platforms could not be so “convenient”. “We have been making children’s application products, and are also thinking about how to transfer products from mobile phones, tablets and other platforms to cameras and screenless drawing boards.” Yuyong told reporters. According to the reporter’s understanding, Harmony 2.0 has about 4.6 million lines of key code, which is equivalent to 30% of Android 10 15.25 million lines. At the same time, there are about 18,000 key APIs (application programming interfaces), which is equivalent to more than half of Android 10.36 million. The size of the installation package is reduced to 60%-70%, and various devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, TVs, and sensors can be used. For the Hongmeng system, Huawei’s goal this year is to develop 300 million Hongmeng devices this year, including 200 million Huawei-owned devices and 100 million external devices. But technology may not be the biggest challenge Hongmeng Eco currently faces. Looking at the mainstream operating systems currently on the market, PCs have long been occupied by Windows, while mobile terminals such as mobile phones are divided into two parts: Android and iOS. The development of the operating system is only the first step, and the ecology is the top priority to determine whether the system can continue, and the time left for Huawei Hongmeng’s ecological construction is very urgent. At the same time, while Huawei is speeding up, its opponents are also speeding up. Google released the first test version of Android 12 on May 19 and stated that it has made the biggest design change in Android history. Google said that there are currently more than 3 billion devices in the world are using the Android system. In addition, Google will also work with Samsung to launch a rebuilt Wear OS platform. The Tizen OS used on Samsung’s previous wearable devices will be integrated with Wear OS. At the press conference, more than 10 Chinese mobile phone brands, including Xiaomi and ZTE, all stated that they would be the first to upgrade the Android 12 system. In contrast, although Huawei has stated many times before that it hopes other mobile phone manufacturers will join the Hongmeng ecosystem, no mobile phone manufacturer has publicly stated that it is adapting to the system. Yuyong told reporters that at present, some people are willing to try the Hongmeng system, and some are waiting and watching. “For commercial considerations, everyone will pay attention to the current installation rate of Hongmeng. The ecological construction has left the ecology, and the operating system is useless.” Yuyong told reporters. How to make consumers accept the use of Huawei’s platforms and applications in a short time? How to make the head application cooperate with Huawei? They are all questions facing Hongmeng. “There is still a big problem with low-frequency, rigid-needed products in some subdivisions, and we also need to gnaw hard bones.” Huawei insiders told reporters. “The biggest challenge of Hongmeng’s ecological construction is the current time and scale itself.” Yang Haisong, vice president of Huawei’s consumer business AI and smart full-scenario business department, said at a partner summit earlier that successful foreign operating systems generally use five To build a successful ecosystem in seven years, Hongmeng will strive to complete this process in about one year. This will be the biggest challenge for Hongmeng’s ecological construction. In order to promote the landing of HarmonyOS, Huawei announced on the 24th that it will launch the HarmonyOS University Talent Cultivation Program. Wang Chenglu said that at present, more than a dozen colleges and universities have adopted it as an elective course, but in the future, it is hoped that more colleges and universities will make it a required course.