
Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall - octosphere
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/21/huaweis-alternative-os-to-android-set-to-roll-out-as-early-as-fall/
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maeln
> It will work with Android apps and web apps as well

I guess it is fair to assume at this point that they based it on the OSS part
of Android ?

Let's see if they manage to solve the Play Service pickle also. A lot of
application assume you have them, I don't know if a lot of dev' are going to
repackage their app "play-service" free for one vendor (wouldn't be surprising
for popular app tho').

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cphoover
> em, I don't know if a lot of dev' are going to repackage their app "play-
> service"

A lot of devs will repackage their apps if it means reaching a market, what
10x the size of the United States (Europe and Asia) ?

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maeln
Except it will just be huawei for now. We are talking about just one vendor,
not the whole Asian/European market.

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karmakaze
Android was just Google for 3 years and I imagine Huawei will be moving much
faster. If they see the value in the OS (as opposed to Apple's HW strategy) it
can have a Android-sized market share rather than an iOS-sized one which is
significant outside our bubbles.

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djsumdog
I really hope this happens and that it's not just an ASOP fork and is
successful outside of China. It'd be great to have a real, third, alternative
operating system that has major support. I'm sick of both Android and
eyeProducts.

KDE Plasma is supported on barely anything. PostmarketOS is doing amazing
stuff; very commendable -- but we still don't have usable OSS drivers for any
mobile radios. I honestly liked Microsoft's mobile offering and wish they
didn't totally screw that up. HP has essentially killed off Palm/WebOS.

Anyone who's making a real attempt at a 3rd major mobile OS is commendable.

~~~
mkbkn
I have used Sailfish OS on a smartphone and it's awesome so far. I love it.

Russian govt is using it in their offices. I hope more countries seek out
alternative OSes.

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djsumdog
Sailfish seems to be limited to the EU. It's almost impossible to find their
phones on the US eBay (and it seems like they might not work on our LTE
networks either .. same with the Fairphone)

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mpol
Can't you just but a Sony Xperia XA2. Then use a VPN service from Europe and
purchase a license. It should not be too difficult, not?

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AimForTheBushes
> an Android app recompiled for Huawei's OS is said to perform 60% faster.

I'll believe it when I see it.

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rchaud
I'm not sure if I'd even notice if a single app performed faster at this
point. Outside of games (of which the most popular ones are built on 2013-era
game engines), most apps people use are extremely utilitarian and don't bog
down in this era of octa-core processors and 4GB RAM.

~~~
officeplant
Hell if they could get discord performing better on my pixel 3 I'd be happy.

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azinman2
>“It will work with Android apps and web apps as well — an Android app
recompiled for Huawei's OS is said to perform 60% faster.”

So they’ve been sitting on this magical OS that somehow is compatible yet way
faster than Android... that also runs everywhere? Why haven’t they released it
then until now?

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wccrawford
Because Google wouldn't allow them to put official Google apps on it. They
only allow them on licensed instances of Android itself. And that's still an
important market.

~~~
djsumdog
Yep, it would have kicked them out of Google's tightly controlled and terribly
named "Open Handset Alliance."

Samsung couldn't even include a secondary location provider if they wanted to
stay in the OHA!

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rodmena
I worked for years with numerous Huawei platform in telecom industry. I can
assure you this will be a crap.

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hugh4life
Has little chance of success outside of China UNLESS it's open source and the
appstore and update infrastructure is outside of China for non-Chinese
customers.

~~~
sdinsn
Yeah, no one would ever use this unless they could audit it. Huawei's security
concerns are real.

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fredgrott
Let's see this strategy has been tried for about 7 years now..is it working
yet? Just new device oem trying it nothing more rinse repeat

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tantalor
If AOSP is legally controlled by Google, despite being open-source, how can
Hauwei legally sell a phone in the US derived from AOSP without violating the
import ban?

Does the import ban not include free software? That seems like an oversight
that would be quickly and easily corrected.

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pergadad
Google has no contractual way to prevent someone from using software released
under a fully open license. Therefore the US gov has no way of forcing Google
to do something they simply can't do.

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tantalor
Yes, however they can refuse Hauwei permission to sell the phones in the US.

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Grazester
Hauwei phones cannot be sold in the u.s. if I am not mistaken.

Anyway Google cannot prevent them from using Asop.

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Apocryphon
Funny, because for a long time Tizen was supposedly Samsung's ace in the hole
to create an Android alternative. It hasn't worked out very well, but Huawei
could be better at software than Samsung is.

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gvand
In all honesty an excuse my french, if they manage not to turn all this in a
shìtshow of epic proportions for their customers it would be quite an
achievement I think.

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tacone
So they've been banned from using Google proprietary apps and ARM cooperation
and in turn they are forking the entire open source operating system?

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ForHackernews
Is this just going to be an ASOP fork?

If they have FLOSS replacements for Play Services, this could be an exciting
development.

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bengale
Will it work without ARM?

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captainbland
For the time being I understand that the ban doesn't actually stop Huawei from
using ARM chips - it stops ARM from co-operating to help them build their own
chips, e.g. their Kirin line of processors. So either they could just fork
their design and stop keeping in lock-step with ARM (while maintaining a level
of compatibility) or just start sourcing parts from third parties.

~~~
qmarchi
Not entirely true either, as the ban only applies to the US and ARM is a
British company, with a Japanese parent company, so there's no conflict. They
just can't use Qualcomm chips.

As for Fabs, they can't still use TSMC, Samsung, and the numerous smaller
companies in mainland China.

~~~
djsumdog
Wait, why not Samsung? They're still based entirely out of South Korea, right?

~~~
nickpsecurity
There's quite a few outside of China per this list:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants)

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oever
Will Chinese manufacturers also be prohibited from using Windows?

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Theodores
There is silence from Microsoft, including a silent removal of Huawei laptops
from their retail offerings.

Fingers crossed, there will be an Ubuntu (South African) version of a high end
laptop coming soon. Not sure what the CPU will be for that though.

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vatueil
According to The Information, via XDA, Huawei's OS is called "Project Z" but
it's "far from ready":

[https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-android-alternative-
fa...](https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-android-alternative-
fall-2019/amp/)

> _The Information‘s report differs greatly from what was reported earlier.
> Rather than being ready this Fall or early next year, they claim the OS is
> “far from ready.” It is reportedly being referred to as “Project Z”
> internally. The report also claims this OS would rely on 3rd-party
> developers to create apps for it, which may shoot down the idea of Android
> apps being able to run on the OS._

> _According to the report, Huawei has been working on Project Z for several
> years, but its original intention was to be for their home Chinese market,
> and not a full Android replacement. If all of this is true, Huawei’s post-
> Android future may not be as positive as they’d like people to think._

(The Information: [https://www.theinformation.com/articles/huawei-consumer-
elec...](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/huawei-consumer-electronics-
chief-braces-for-tough-time))

Curiously, according to XDA's original Chinese source Huawei's CEO said the
new operating system has a microkernel ("微内核") and that it's designed to
support a wide range of devices using a single OS, including "mobile phones,
computers, tablets, TVs, cars and smart wearable device":
[https://weibointl.api.weibo.cn/share/72019470.html?weibo_id=...](https://weibointl.api.weibo.cn/share/72019470.html?weibo_id=4374500504258689)

If that sounds familiar, you might recall Google Fuchsia with the Zircon
microkernel:

[https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/5/9/18563521/goog...](https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/5/9/18563521/google-
fuchsia-os-android-chrome-hiroshi-lockheimer-secrets-revealed)

> _Fuchsia is designed to run on smart home devices, wearables, or possibly
> even augmented or virtual reality devices._

Notably, Huawei has already tested Fuchsia on its devices before:

[https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-testing-fuchsia-os-
kir...](https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-testing-fuchsia-os-
kirin-970-honor-play/amp/)

> _A new commit in the Fuchsia source code has revealed that Huawei has
> managed to boot the Zircon kernel on the Honor Play... You can check out the
> relevant commit here:_ [https://fuchsia-
> review.googlesource.com/c/zircon/+/228577](https://fuchsia-
> review.googlesource.com/c/zircon/+/228577)

Perhaps Huawei's "Project Z" is based on Fuchsia and Zircon?

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luizfzs
Based on history, it may be a pirate reverse-engineered Android OS.

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blck
I don't think you have to reverse engineer an open source operating system...

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MikusR
At this point Android is as open source as Windows.

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NikolaeVarius
Please point me at anything that resembles source code that I can compile to
produce a bootable variant of Windows.

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MikusR
Please point me at anything that resembles source code that I can compile to
produce Play services.

~~~
NikolaeVarius
I was not aware Play Services was required to run Android. I have test phones
that run Android without Play Services just fine.

How does that make Androids open source status anywhere near Windows?

