If this gets enough traction, it will pump the percentage of Linux based machines, maybe making Linux a more attractive platform for business applications.
If we also add the fact that, thanks to SteamOS, Linux is becoming a decent platform for gaming, we might end up seeing Linux in the desktop as a real alternative for the general public.
If this gets enough traction, it will pump the percentage of Linux based machines, maybe making Linux a more attractive platform for business applications.
Isn’t HarmonyOS a clean-slate microkernel? The previous press release said it scaled down to 128 KiB of RAM and that’s not something Linux can do (you can just about run Linux in 4 MiB but it’s painful).
The main product is AOSP, with Huawei’s own app store etc. on top. The inevitable result of telling a Chinese company it can’t use American or Google tech, when that tech is based on FOSS: they take the FOSS bit and build their own replacements for the banned parts.
There is also a tiny RTOS which runs on some smartwatches and so on.
The marketing dept claims these are the same thing and waves their hands a lot while talking about multi-kernel internet-of-everything and a load of other bogus invented wannabe buzzwords.
I’d write an article about it, but the legal risks would be horrendous.
What makes me sort of sad is that Blackberry X and QNX could be all that Huawei’s vapourware promises to be. I really want to see BBX updated and modernised. I liked my Passport device a lot.
If RIM sold QNX to Huawei, or Huawei simply bought RIM, Huawei’s claims could easily come true. But OTOH that would mean the end of the Canadian tech co, and this cool tech becoming Chinese and maybe never being seen again. That would be sad.
I’d write an article about it, but the legal risks would be horrendous.
I’m somewhat curious about that, but probably shouldn’t ask on a public forum. If you make it to Cambridge some time, I’ll buy you a beer…
What makes me sort of sad is that Blackberry X and QNX could be all that Huawei’s vapourware promises to be. I really want to see BBX updated and modernised. I liked my Passport device a lot.
QNX was such a missed opportunity. The microkernel was fantastic and the asynchronous model for system calls was, in the ’90s, what io_uring is almost evolving into now. I remember their demo for Neutrino that ran on a single floppy disk and provided a complete multitasking OS with a GUI.
If RIM sold QNX to Huawei, or Huawei simply bought RIM, Huawei’s claims could easily come true. But OTOH that would mean the end of the Canadian tech co, and this cool tech becoming Chinese and maybe never being seen again. That would be sad.
I’m not sure what the Canadian export rules are, but they’re usually not too different to the US ones, so that might not be possible.
Although QNX was amazing for its time, the techniques that it implemented are now very well understood. A reimplementation would not be a massive undertaking. Unfortunately, Huawei never seems to copy the technology that I want people to copy.
If this gets enough traction, it will pump the percentage of Linux based machines, maybe making Linux a more attractive platform for business applications.
If we also add the fact that, thanks to SteamOS, Linux is becoming a decent platform for gaming, we might end up seeing Linux in the desktop as a real alternative for the general public.
True enough.
It won’t be the first attempt at Android on x86:
https://www.android-x86.org/
https://blissos.org/
https://www.fosshub.com/OPENTHOS.html
https://pc-androidemulator.com/phoenix-os/
https://primebook.in/primeos
… but this one has a big backer.
Isn’t HarmonyOS a clean-slate microkernel? The previous press release said it scaled down to 128 KiB of RAM and that’s not something Linux can do (you can just about run Linux in 4 MiB but it’s painful).
No. Really, it’s marketing vapourware.
The main product is AOSP, with Huawei’s own app store etc. on top. The inevitable result of telling a Chinese company it can’t use American or Google tech, when that tech is based on FOSS: they take the FOSS bit and build their own replacements for the banned parts.
There is also a tiny RTOS which runs on some smartwatches and so on.
The marketing dept claims these are the same thing and waves their hands a lot while talking about multi-kernel internet-of-everything and a load of other bogus invented wannabe buzzwords.
Thanks. Most of what I found was marketing double speak, it makes more sense now.
NP.
I’d write an article about it, but the legal risks would be horrendous.
What makes me sort of sad is that Blackberry X and QNX could be all that Huawei’s vapourware promises to be. I really want to see BBX updated and modernised. I liked my Passport device a lot.
If RIM sold QNX to Huawei, or Huawei simply bought RIM, Huawei’s claims could easily come true. But OTOH that would mean the end of the Canadian tech co, and this cool tech becoming Chinese and maybe never being seen again. That would be sad.
I’m somewhat curious about that, but probably shouldn’t ask on a public forum. If you make it to Cambridge some time, I’ll buy you a beer…
QNX was such a missed opportunity. The microkernel was fantastic and the asynchronous model for system calls was, in the ’90s, what io_uring is almost evolving into now. I remember their demo for Neutrino that ran on a single floppy disk and provided a complete multitasking OS with a GUI.
I’m not sure what the Canadian export rules are, but they’re usually not too different to the US ones, so that might not be possible.
Although QNX was amazing for its time, the techniques that it implemented are now very well understood. A reimplementation would not be a massive undertaking. Unfortunately, Huawei never seems to copy the technology that I want people to copy.
According to Wikipedia, it has two forms. One with a LiteOS-based microkernel, and one on an Android-based Linux system.