Huawei unveil Harmony OS - an Android Alternative

[Tsepz_GP]

So the long rumoured Android alternative OS that Huawei has been working on has finally been unveiled and its looking quite a head of its time, being based on similar underpinnings as Google’s future Android replacement, Fuchsia OS.

From Engadget:

in a nutshell, Harmony OS is positioned as a future-proof, "microkernel-based, distributed OS for all scenarios." The platform is open source, and it's actually more of a competitor to Google's upcoming Fuchsia, given that both are microkernel-based and can be deployed to multiple types of devices at once. In contrast, Android isn't as efficient due to its redundant codes, outdated scheduling mechanism and general fragmentation issues.

With a microkernel design, Harmony OS is said to be safer from the get-go as there is no root access available -- the microkernel is protected by isolation from external kernel services. The system also applies formal verification -- a set of mathematical approaches used in security-critical fields -- to reliably spot vulnerabilities, whereas traditional methods are likely to miss some spots.

Despite being a lightweight system, Harmony OS is said to offer some performance boosts. For one, it'll feature a "Deterministic Latency Engine" that can better allocate system resources using real-time analysis and forecasting. Android, on the other hand, is stuck with the Linux kernel's less-intelligent fair scheduling mechanism.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/09/huawei-harmony-os-hongmeng-android/?sr_source=Facebook

Huawei did stipulate that this is mainly for IoT but if they need to deploy it to other devices like smartphones they can do it, which is amazing.

I am just glad to finally have another OS in this race, and it looks like this one takes things up quite significantly, hopefully more OEMs will adopt it to.

What do you guys think?

 

[belodion]

I wish them every success and hope that they have support from the app developers.

 

[Inders99]

I'd welcome it if it was supported. Competition is a good thing and might shake up some of the giants.

 

[Morty2264]

I say go for it! Huawei is an innovative company and I hope they do well. I'd definitely consider buying a Huawei device again.