Harmony OS Launch and Microsoft Crash
Harmony OS Launch and Microsoft Crash
Huawei's HarmonyOS Next makes the transition to desktops and laptops, Microsoft/Cloudstrike crash leaves China largely untouched as tech self-sufficiency campaign pays off
HarmonyOS Next
Huawei's long-awaited Windows challenger will likely come to PCs this year — HarmonyOS Next makes the transition from phones to desktops and laptops
By Dallin Grimm (Toms Hardware)
According to industry analysts, Huawei is expected to release a PC version of its HarmonyOS Next operating system before the end of the year. Huawei's developer website is seeing a growth in images featuring HarmonyOS running on PC, as spotted by X user and HarmonyOS developer jasonwill101 on X.
HarmonyOS is Huawei's operating system for its phones and tablets. It was created in 2019 after heavy U.S. sanctions forced Huawei out of the United States and blocked its access to the Android operating system. HarmonyOS is based heavily on the open-source version of Android (AOSP) but was far enough away for Huawei to be able to continue producing its high-end smartphones.
HarmonyOS Next, on the other hand, is an Android-free variant of HarmonyOS. The new operating system doesn't use AOSP libraries, can't run .apk files, and is a significant step towards complete independence from US-based software for the vendor. HarmonyOS Next is not currently shipping with Huawei products but is available as a developer sandbox to develop and test apps for native HarmonyOS use. HarmonyOS Next hasn't yet arrived on PC, but recent leaks suggest it soon will, paving the way for a new Chinese homegrown desktop OS.
Images of HarmonyOS Next for PC suggest an operating system taking design cues from MacOS. The system has a familiar status bar and dock bar combo on the top and bottom. The fullscreen/minimize/close buttons live on the right-hand side of programs, mirroring MacOS's traffic light system.
Huawei's recent strategy for HarmonyOS has publicly been phones-first. With HarmonyOS being open-source, much like Android, widespread adoption across the Chinese market and beyond outside of Huawei phones is possible and a big goal for Huawei. HarmonyOS already makes up 16% of the Chinese phone market, which is expected to grow in the coming years.
While Huawei may want to focus development efforts on HarmonyOS towards phones, Chinese governments, local and national, have other plans. The regional government of Shenzhen, the metropolis that links Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland, recently began the 'Shenzhen Action Plan for Supporting the Development of Native HarmonyOS Open Source Applications in 2024.' The action plan includes ways Shenzhen seeks to boost HarmonyOS adoption and development, with a significant goal of Shenzhen accounting for 10% of the HarmonyOS products in China by the end of 2024.
Huawei and local governments like Shenzhen are heavily funding HarmonyOS development, with an optimistic three million jobs being sought to be created in HarmonyOS app development. China's national government's Document 79 wants all of its state-wide institutions to be rid of Western tech by 2027, and a robust HarmonyOS on PC would fill this need nicely. Of course, HarmonyOS is far from the only domestic operating system fighting for first place in China; new competitors like openKylin have begun making waves with native LLM support.
Read more here.
China Escapes Microsoft Crash
Microsoft/Cloudstrike crash leaves China largely untouched as tech self-sufficiency campaign pays off
The Windows error that resulted in a bluescreen on computers became a hot topic on Chinese social media platforms
The Microsoft Windows outage that affected foreign businesses and luxury hotels in China on Friday left the country’s key infrastructure, from airlines to banks, largely unaffected, according to industry sources and social media posts.
As of 6pm local time, there have been no reports in mainland China of infrastructure breakdowns, while many airports in the Asia-Pacific region, from Hong Kong to Australia, were hit with disruptions. The international airports in Beijing and Shanghai were operating normally, according to their websites.
At the same time, the Windows error that resulted in a bluescreen on computers became a hot topic on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, as many foreign business offices across the country were affected by the breakdown.
A Shanghai-based staffer from a foreign company told the Post that her office started to experience computer crashes early Friday afternoon, and that almost everyone was affected. This employee’s laptop display was stuck on a blue screen with the message, “Recovery. It looks like Windows didn’t load correctly.”
The company’s information technology support then instructed everyone to shut down their computers, wait for further instructions and use mobile apps for instant messaging. The employee’s accounting work was subsequently delayed by the outage. “This month’s [financial] report will be late,” according to the staffer.
An employee from another foreign firm also reported experiencing blue screens around 1pm. While some of the employees could later restart their computers, they still could not access the company’s website, which displayed a “502 Bad Gateway” error. The company told staff that “global IT support has activated the highest level of response to address the issue”, according to the employee.
On Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like Chinese social media platform, multiple users complained about the difficulty in checking into international franchise hotels such as Sheraton, Marriott and Hyatt in Chinese cities.
As China’s public services largely remained unaffected, Microsoft’s China website and social media channels did not issue any emergency notices. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
China’s relative immunity to the outage showed the country’s reduced reliance on foreign service providers such as Microsoft and the antivirus company CrowdStrike. In recent years, China has been rolling out a campaign across its government departments and key infrastructure operators to replace foreign hardware and systems with domestic ones.
The outages were caused by a software update from cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike, which hit Windows-based systems worldwide. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz confirmed on Friday morning local time via the social media platform X that his company was working to resolve the problem.
The minimal impact of the Microsoft outage in China has proved that the country has made progress in achieving its goal of “safe and controllable” computing systems, according to one Chinese government employee.
On Weibo, Chinese netizens joked that Microsoft “has given them a half-day off”. One commenter said that “our company just switched to new computers with the HarmonyOS system, so we can’t join in your celebration”.
Read more here.