How many Hongmeng OSes are there? Let me talk about the Hongmeng OS in my eyes

why write this article

Recently, I saw two news related to the Hongmeng operating system, saying that Loongson has been adapted to the Hongmeng operating system, and there is also a tablet using a Unisplendour CPU that also supports the Hongmeng operating system. For details, see:
Historic moment! The strongest domestic alliance: What is the significance of Godson supporting the opening of Hongmeng?
The world's first open source Hongmeng tablet is here, but I advise you not to buy it yet

Many people think it's so great. Didn't Huawei announce a long time ago that the number of Hongmeng os devices exceeds 100 million? But note that what is mentioned here is OpenHarmony, which is not the same as the one on Huawei mobile phones.
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Moreover, there have been all kinds of scolding wars on the Internet. Some people say that Huawei is the hope of domestic production and must be supported. The most important thing is that various discussions about Hongmeng come up every once in a while. Every time Huawei releases a new device or version of Hongmeng, there will be a burst of criticism.
Is Huawei's Hongmeng OS real? Or is Huawei using Android to deceive consumers?
I am a programmer personally, and the content of my work has something to do with Hongmeng, so I will talk about this issue from my own perspective. Purely personal opinion, if you feel wrong, I must be wrong, don't doubt, don't argue.

How many Hongmeng OS are there?

Ordinary people don't understand the technical details, and Huawei's publicity has done a certain amount of cleverness, resulting in misplaced public perception, and disputes are inevitable. Before any debate, it is necessary to define what the object of the debate is. Some debates exist because they are not talking about the same thing.

Let's first take a look at how many kinds of Hongmeng OS there are.

1. Ideal Hongmeng

This can also be called "PPT Hongmeng". Yu Chengdong’s PPT at the HDC2019 conference is a comprehensive description of Hongmeng to the outside world. But pay attention, what was released at this conference is more like an IP. From then on, everyone knows that Huawei has a powerful operating system called Hongmeng. However, the microkernel and other visions written in the PPT have not yet been realized, and there is still a long way to go. Many people who don't do development think that Hongmeng was released a few years ago, so it should be very mature. It is the light of domestic production, and they are proud of it. In fact, what Huawei wants at present is this purpose. At the critical point of being sanctioned, it is a marketing campaign to stabilize market confidence.
Although it is marketing, it is not all bragging. Huawei is also doing some practical things, which are the two Hongmengs behind.
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2. AOSP Hongmeng

It can also be called "Shell Hongmeng", which is the Hongmeng operating system that everyone can see on Huawei mobile phones. The debate on whether Hongmeng should install a case comes from here. Huawei cannot develop an operating system comparable to Android in a short period of time, and consumers cannot accept mobile phones with a 10-year experience regression. Therefore, after releasing "Ideal Hongmeng", Huawei made changes based on the Android code and added "PPT Some of the features in Hongmeng launched this most controversial operating system.
There are many discussions about the Hongmeng operating system for mobile phones. The result of this discussion is that many people have turned black on Huawei, and feel that Huawei’s consumer patriotism: How do you think about
Hongmeng OS 3.0 switching to English and changing from HarmonyOS to Android System?
Why can't I find the word Android in the Hongmeng system, and some netizens still think that Hongmeng is an Android casing?
Hongmeng 3.0 announced to be compatible with Android 12, what is its main system kernel?
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I understand that Huawei's "AOSP Hongmeng" is like "Mi UI". Competed with Android, but some felt cheated, so there were more arguments. However, Huawei cannot come up with an operating system that can completely replace Android in a short time, so it can only avoid these debates.

3. Open Harmony

This Hongmeng operating system is not the same as the one on the mobile phone. The Godson mentioned in the news at the beginning supports this operating system. The underlying kernel of this operating system has two kinds of kernels (linux and liteos), and js is used to develop applications instead of Android's java. This is not a shell Android, it is a real self-developed. However, many internal ideas have been borrowed from Android, and many places have re-implemented the Android mechanism. At the same time, some distributed ideas announced in "Ideal Hongmeng" are also realized in this operating system, but at best it is only a Linux-based embedded operating system, which does not meet the standard of "Ideal Hongmeng".

At present, this operating system is completely open source, and ordinary people can also download the code, the address is: OpenHarmony open source address
But this operating system is not yet mature, and the supported hardware is still relatively small, and the open source community only maintains a few development boards: OpenHarmony Development board list

The reason why Loongson adapts to OpenHarmony can still make news is that the fundamental reason is that OpenHarmony supports less hardware, and one more is big news. Overall it's immature and needs a long time to polish.
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Summarize

At present, Hongmeng is a big IP of Huawei, and its long-term plan is what the "ideal Hongmeng" looks like. However, ordinary consumers use "AOSP Hongmeng" with Huawei mobile phones, but think they are using "ideal Hongmeng". Huawei also confuses "ideal Hongmeng" and "AOSP Hongmeng" in marketing, which has aroused the disgust of many people. However, Huawei, as a company targeted by the United States, must find a way out, and this way out cannot be built overnight, so it launched "AOSP Hongmeng" as a temporary countermeasure to the enemy, and declared that the way out has been built, and it is not afraid of US sanctions. , to maintain consumer confidence in Huawei. However, OpenHarmony is also being promoted in private, and when it matures in the future, it will become a trump card that is not afraid of sanctions.

The conclusion is : Huawei’s propaganda is misleading, but Hongmeng is not air

I personally hope that Huawei can increase its investment in OpenHarmony, and don't stop there just because of the shield of "AOSP Hongmeng".

Digression

How many companies want to develop their own mobile phone operating systems, but only Android and Apple have made it, and even Samsung can't handle it. Therefore, in the short term, Huawei will still use "AOSP Hongmeng" to pretend to be "ideal Hongmeng", while promoting OpenHarmony.

Written during overtime, this article has not been proofread, please forgive me for typos.