Huawei will replace Windows with homegrown HarmonyOS in upcoming PCs

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Big if True: Huawei officially launched the first version of HarmonyOS in 2019, debuting it alongside the company's Honor Smart TVs. Now, the Chinese conglomerate is reportedly ready to take its ambitious project for a fully independent operating system to the next level.

Huawei is nearly ready to ditch Windows and adopt HarmonyOS as its primary PC operating system. According to Yu Chengdong, who heads the company's consumer business group, the PCs currently being sold by Huawei will be the last to feature Microsoft's "Western" OS. The next batch of Huawei computers will include HarmonyOS Next, the upcoming iteration of the operating system, which is expected to launch by the end of 2024.

HarmonyOS was initially developed from Android's Open Source Project (AOSP) and the Linux kernel, which provided a high level of compatibility between the new OS and existing Android apps. The original distributed operating system is now being reshaped as HarmonyOS Next, a microkernel-based system with no traces of AOSP code or residual Android compatibility.

The operating system will exclusively support its own format of native applications, which, according to the project's page, include a mix of JavaScript (JS), TypeScript, and an optimized compiler designed to speed up the execution of JS code. Analysts estimate that Huawei is responsible for around 10 percent of the 40 million PCs sold annually in China, with Lenovo and HP being the other major players in the local market.

Lenovo, the Beijing-based giant currently holding the top spot in the global PC market, doesn't seem interested in replacing Windows with HarmonyOS (Next) anytime soon. However, this could change in the future, as the US and other Western countries might decide to increase pressure on Chinese technology companies through new sanctions and trade limitations.

Huawei has invested significant resources into HarmonyOS Next, but the new operating system may not be ready to replace Windows or even Android for end users. According to a recent report, Huawei's ambitious "declaration of independence" has produced very few gaming apps.

The operating system apparently lacks support from game developers, and the few apps available for the platform are either in demo form or missing essential features. Developers are being pressured to ship new "patriotic" code, but the user experience is suffering, and consumers are not exactly thrilled with the final results.

Meanwhile, the Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times (GT) is portraying HarmonyOS as a product accepted by "many customers" already. GT claims that more than 10,000 apps and services are available on the platform, and high-profile clients, such as the Shanghai municipal government, are developing HarmonyOS native apps to provide administrative services.

Masthead credit: VGC, CNET

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Huawei will replace Windows with homegrown HarmonyOS in upcoming PCs

 

[VariableSpike]

So basically weird Chinese Android which seems like it can only run webapps or forms of such if all the apps are going to be made of javascript or typescript-alike stuff, not exactly a programming language setup for running applications in an os, more so the web (not saying it can't, node.js and so on exists, but its certainly not the first pick and no surprise it doesn't have very many games if there is no access to a more low level programming langauge and associated apis etc.)

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

So basically weird Chinese Android which seems like it can only run webapps or forms of such if all the apps are going to be made of javascript or typescript-alike stuff, not exactly a programming language setup for running applications in an os, more so the web (not saying it can't, node.js and so on exists, but its certainly not the first pick and no surprise it doesn't have very many games if there is no access to a more low level programming langauge and associated apis etc.)

People (weird people) still think JS is a real programming language, so everything's possible here :-D

 

[VariableSpike]

People (weird people) still think JS is a real programming language, so everything's possible here :-D

I use it for web development in its intended environment, but am able to appreciate its not exactly...full-fat haha Especially not when people just use it to ram in web apps via electron as "real" applications and hog memory and resources, unless Huawei have amazing API developers who can efficiently set them up for accessing every hardware device or system resource in an efficient fashion (I.e. impossible), then its doomed to fail

 

[toooooot]

Their advantage is that the market is there, ready for their products to be offered.
But would it catch up though? Maybe, they will keep their computers perfectly compatible with windows while offering it as an extra option.

 

[seeprime]

Apparently the laptop is equal to a four year old one with an AMD or Intel processor. You can still buy such laptops for three hundred, or so, bucks from Amazon. I wonder what Huawei will actually sell their gimped Linux laptops for, not what the CCP is paying.

 

[Win7user]

Yeah, I don't think we (USA) need more of anything, Chinese. Especially, software operating systems, or hardware for that matter.

 

[ZedRM]

They can keep that crap. I'm betting the Chinese won't like and won't buy it either..

 

[ZedRM]

Huawei's dubious "declaration of independence" has produced very few gaming apps.

Fixed that for you! That nonsense is a red herring at best..

 

[TempleOrion]

Oh noes! No gaming apps!? They might have to do useful work on them instead...

 

[lazer]

So instead of M$ taking your info and selling it, so China will take your info and USE it....
Linux is best.

 

[ferrellsl]

"The OS seems to be popular enough in China". What a naive statement or is the author trying to be misleading? It isn't like most of the Chinese citizenry have a choice over what operating system they can use. You use what the party says you're going to use. HarmonyOS should be named CCP-OS.