Recently, news has been leaking out about a new operating system from Chinese firm Huawei that uses a micro-kernel design for versatility in consumer markets.
Today, Jon Porter at The Verge reports that in anglophone markets, the new operating system will be called HarmonyOS. In China, it will be called “Hongmeng.”
It’s expected to be built into a range of devices – not just laptops and smartphones, but wearables like watches and small speakers.
Citing the launch of ‘smart screen products,’ Huawei is hyping some Internet of Things related mini wearables that could be powered by the HarmonyOS operating system.
Huawei top brass are confident about the power of this new OS to change tech: in a TechCrunch piece today, Manish Singh covers remarks by Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei consumer division touting the superiority in HarmonyOS design over competitors, for instance, the assertion that the OS is “more powerful and secure than Android,” that Harmony has a significant performative edge over Google’s Fuschia, and that the micro-kernel design encapsulates key functionality in a very small footprint for IoT versatility.
Here’s how the company describes the technology in a corporate tweet:
“A modularized #HarmonyOS can be nested to adapt flexibly to any device to create a seamless cross-device experience. Developed via the distributed capability kit, it builds the foundation of a shared developer ecosystem…”
As for headwinds, Huawei staff cite challenges in app migration to these new platforms and the reconfiguration of code to craft the kinds of functionality that Harmony OS supports.
Will the HarmonyOS propel Huawei to new heights? The company has been getting an inordinate amount of press already, after blacklisting by the American White House seems to have fired partially based on the interconnected nature of the world tech market. Keep an eye on everything Huawei-related to see how this company fares through the end of 2019.
