6 ms·

HarmonyOS 6 Full Overview: New Design, AI Features and Privacy Upgrades [video]

21 points by melchizedek6809 11mo ago

brazukadev 11mo ago
Please Huawei, save us from this damned iOS-Android duopoly!
- rubymamis 11mo ago
  We’ve got Linux.
  - rjdj377dhabsn 11mo ago
    Without massive corporate funding for mobile apps, it doesn't have much chance on phones.
    - sph 11mo ago
      Must Valve do everything to bring Linux to the masses? (I would love a Steam phone, though that’s never gonna happen)
      - pjmlp 11mo ago
        Still having issues to bring Linux to game devs. Remember that Android/NDK has the same 3D and audio APIs available on regular GNU/Linux, Swift does Vulkan, Playstation has a POSIX like OS based on FreeBSD. Yet Valve needs to offer Win32/DirectX support via Proton.
        sph 11mo ago
        Game devs are not stuck on Windows because of APIs. They're stuck on Windows because of the Adobe suite and proprietary game engines. All Valve can do is bring Linux to gamers, and game devs will follow, if their tools allow them to.
  - janwl 11mo ago
    Linux is a kernel. We don’t have a usable operating system to go with it besides Android.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 11mo ago
      Point of order: We have several usable OS to go with it, just not that target phones and have good hardware support.
  - surajrmal 11mo ago
    This is like responding to someone calling for an open alternative to Facebook by saying we have kubernetes. Linux is a helpful head start to solving the problems needed but it is not the full picture. And depending on what you need to build it might get in the way and require adjustment/fine tuning which is non trivial. There is just so much that goes into an OS in terms of polish beyond just getting some pixels on the screen and responding to input.
vachina 11mo ago
Tldw: A guy narrating an advertorial video
- torginus 11mo ago
  Dunno, I'm pretty interested in HarmonyOS considering it's a major commercial OS that has come along in a long time, and features a number of technological differences such as a pure microkernel, compared to the existing big 3. Despite that we (I) know next to nothing about it, neither on the user nor the technical side, so a bunch of deep dives would be welcome.
  - pjmlp 11mo ago
    Additionally while much has improved on Harmony documentation it is still not that much available in English.
bossyTeacher 11mo ago
In my opinion, the only realistic change to the current mobile duopoly will be an OS coming from China. Especially, as Google has finally started taking steps to kill Android openness as we know it (reducing contributions to AOSP and disallowing side loading), HarmonyOs has a real chance to shake things up
- crossroadsguy 11mo ago
  So you are saying an OS from China will be on the path of openness and privacy as opposed to iOS and Android? I'd say that's a stretch or wishful thinking. I'd say Europe, if at least few major Govts push it and fund it. But no one knows of course.
  - nsonha 11mo ago
    They said nothing about China pursuing openness and privacy but you're just so eager to present your own wishful thinking as better than theirs
- est 11mo ago
  > kill Android openness Some initial versions of HarmonyOS was partially open source, the "NEXT" version isn't.
- surajrmal 11mo ago
  If you look at who contributes 99+% of aosp patches, nothing has actually changed. The same group of companies are still working on it. There is just less public openness about the process as it happens (eg open source code reviews). A lot of this was already happening but there was a strange duplication of process causing workflow problems depending on which way you were developing. They simplified it to a single process.
  - xethos 11mo ago
    I'm not sure I consider this view to be looking back far enough. Android as an OS that people use has been slowly growing more closed and controlled for... well, almost since its inception. Google has kept an infamously tight leash that OEMs must not stray too far from; the Open Handset Alliance ensures certain Google apps come pre-installed, down to homescreen placement. The OHA mandates OEMs not release "incompatible" versions of Android, or other mobile OS', as well. Should an OEM want to sell Windows Mobile, Amazons FireOS, or Firefox's mobile OS, they will likely lose their license to sell anything with the brand name Android. Google has also been moving away from the 'O' in AOSP for some time as well. Running many AOSP apps means dealing with what Google treats as abandonware, such as the eMail app, Contacts, and the open launcher (replaced with Google's proprietary launcher). I'm certain I don't have to tell this crowd about the death of bootloader unlocking and the ROM scene. Telling me this isn't pushed by Google (which I agree with), and following up with "And Google has no way to prevent this" isn't something I see as believable. Google mandates where the YouTube and Chrome apps get placed on the homescreen; you're telling me that, in order to be licensed as Android, Google can't similarly mandate bootloader unlocking? Nothing changed last week, or even the week before, but the direction isn't terribly difficult to see, IMO.
sgt 11mo ago
Is this the one that is still based on Android or is the new "next" version of Harmony?
- torginus 11mo ago
  According to wikipedia, they moved to their own kernel in the 5.0 release last year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_version_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_version_history
  - sgt 11mo ago
    Okay so it won't run Android apps necessarily or be able to access the regular app stores/Play Store. It will need popular apps to be re-released for HarmonyOS NEXT
    - WhyNotHugo 11mo ago
      > Okay so it won't run Android apps necessarily It does, they implemented a Linux-compatible API and ABI. They claim that apps run unmodified.
    - torginus 11mo ago
      Considering Huawei has hundreds of millions of users in China alone, I don't think getting big companies onboard will be difficult.
      - markus_zhang 11mo ago
        There are pushbacks from other Chinese giants like Tencent. No one wants some single company to have a monopoly in the OS business. But by the look of it, Huawei has a lot of political capital to make it happen, because it is the only company competent enough to push out production OS not entirely based on Linux.
        torginus 11mo ago
shit_on_a_stick 11mo ago
Essential reading for anyone curious about the microkernel architecture in recent versions of HarmonyOS: https://www.usenix.org/system/files/osdi24-chen-haibo.pdf https://www.usenix.org/system/files/osdi24-chen-haibo.pdf
CjHuber 11mo ago
"Privacy"
- est 11mo ago
  end-to-end encrypted, but both ends (can be) remote controlled

brazukadev 11mo ago

Please Huawei, save us from this damned iOS-Android duopoly!

rubymamis 11mo ago
We’ve got Linux.
- rjdj377dhabsn 11mo ago
  Without massive corporate funding for mobile apps, it doesn't have much chance on phones.
  - sph 11mo ago
    Must Valve do everything to bring Linux to the masses? (I would love a Steam phone, though that’s never gonna happen)
    - pjmlp 11mo ago
      Still having issues to bring Linux to game devs. Remember that Android/NDK has the same 3D and audio APIs available on regular GNU/Linux, Swift does Vulkan, Playstation has a POSIX like OS based on FreeBSD. Yet Valve needs to offer Win32/DirectX support via Proton.
      - sph 11mo ago
        Game devs are not stuck on Windows because of APIs. They're stuck on Windows because of the Adobe suite and proprietary game engines. All Valve can do is bring Linux to gamers, and game devs will follow, if their tools allow them to.
- janwl 11mo ago
  Linux is a kernel. We don’t have a usable operating system to go with it besides Android.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 11mo ago
    Point of order: We have several usable OS to go with it, just not that target phones and have good hardware support.
- surajrmal 11mo ago
  This is like responding to someone calling for an open alternative to Facebook by saying we have kubernetes. Linux is a helpful head start to solving the problems needed but it is not the full picture. And depending on what you need to build it might get in the way and require adjustment/fine tuning which is non trivial. There is just so much that goes into an OS in terms of polish beyond just getting some pixels on the screen and responding to input.

vachina 11mo ago

Tldw: A guy narrating an advertorial video

torginus 11mo ago
Dunno, I'm pretty interested in HarmonyOS considering it's a major commercial OS that has come along in a long time, and features a number of technological differences such as a pure microkernel, compared to the existing big 3. Despite that we (I) know next to nothing about it, neither on the user nor the technical side, so a bunch of deep dives would be welcome.
- pjmlp 11mo ago
  Additionally while much has improved on Harmony documentation it is still not that much available in English.

bossyTeacher 11mo ago

In my opinion, the only realistic change to the current mobile duopoly will be an OS coming from China. Especially, as Google has finally started taking steps to kill Android openness as we know it (reducing contributions to AOSP and disallowing side loading), HarmonyOs has a real chance to shake things up

crossroadsguy 11mo ago
So you are saying an OS from China will be on the path of openness and privacy as opposed to iOS and Android? I'd say that's a stretch or wishful thinking. I'd say Europe, if at least few major Govts push it and fund it. But no one knows of course.
- nsonha 11mo ago
  They said nothing about China pursuing openness and privacy but you're just so eager to present your own wishful thinking as better than theirs
est 11mo ago
> kill Android openness Some initial versions of HarmonyOS was partially open source, the "NEXT" version isn't.
surajrmal 11mo ago
If you look at who contributes 99+% of aosp patches, nothing has actually changed. The same group of companies are still working on it. There is just less public openness about the process as it happens (eg open source code reviews). A lot of this was already happening but there was a strange duplication of process causing workflow problems depending on which way you were developing. They simplified it to a single process.
- xethos 11mo ago
  I'm not sure I consider this view to be looking back far enough. Android as an OS that people use has been slowly growing more closed and controlled for... well, almost since its inception. Google has kept an infamously tight leash that OEMs must not stray too far from; the Open Handset Alliance ensures certain Google apps come pre-installed, down to homescreen placement. The OHA mandates OEMs not release "incompatible" versions of Android, or other mobile OS', as well. Should an OEM want to sell Windows Mobile, Amazons FireOS, or Firefox's mobile OS, they will likely lose their license to sell anything with the brand name Android. Google has also been moving away from the 'O' in AOSP for some time as well. Running many AOSP apps means dealing with what Google treats as abandonware, such as the eMail app, Contacts, and the open launcher (replaced with Google's proprietary launcher). I'm certain I don't have to tell this crowd about the death of bootloader unlocking and the ROM scene. Telling me this isn't pushed by Google (which I agree with), and following up with "And Google has no way to prevent this" isn't something I see as believable. Google mandates where the YouTube and Chrome apps get placed on the homescreen; you're telling me that, in order to be licensed as Android, Google can't similarly mandate bootloader unlocking? Nothing changed last week, or even the week before, but the direction isn't terribly difficult to see, IMO.

sgt 11mo ago

Is this the one that is still based on Android or is the new "next" version of Harmony?

torginus 11mo ago
According to wikipedia, they moved to their own kernel in the 5.0 release last year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_version_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS_version_history
- sgt 11mo ago
  Okay so it won't run Android apps necessarily or be able to access the regular app stores/Play Store. It will need popular apps to be re-released for HarmonyOS NEXT
  - WhyNotHugo 11mo ago
    > Okay so it won't run Android apps necessarily It does, they implemented a Linux-compatible API and ABI. They claim that apps run unmodified.
  - torginus 11mo ago
    Considering Huawei has hundreds of millions of users in China alone, I don't think getting big companies onboard will be difficult.
    - markus_zhang 11mo ago
      There are pushbacks from other Chinese giants like Tencent. No one wants some single company to have a monopoly in the OS business. But by the look of it, Huawei has a lot of political capital to make it happen, because it is the only company competent enough to push out production OS not entirely based on Linux.
      - torginus 11mo ago

shit_on_a_stick 11mo ago

Essential reading for anyone curious about the microkernel architecture in recent versions of HarmonyOS: https://www.usenix.org/system/files/osdi24-chen-haibo.pdf https://www.usenix.org/system/files/osdi24-chen-haibo.pdf

CjHuber 11mo ago

"Privacy"

est 11mo ago
end-to-end encrypted, but both ends (can be) remote controlled