Huawei's Android-free PC alternative for Windows will reportedly ship later this year with a macOS-inspired design
Huawei could give Microsoft's Windows operating system a run for its money with an Android-free alternative.
![HarmonyOS Next for PC](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/p2bBT62zA3d8euX2Yikmrh-320-80.jpg)
What you need to know
- Huawei will reportedly unveil a Windows competitor later this year.
- HarmonyOS Next emulates Apple's macOS style across its status and dock bar.
- The operating system is Android-free and uses its own microkernel.
If Microsoft won't give users what they want, Huawei may do so. While it might seem like a stretch, Huawei could potentially be on the verge of giving Microsoft's Windows operating system a run for its money.
Huawei might get back to developing its own operating system for PCs later this year. As you may know, Huawei is no stranger to the landscape since it has been developing HarmonyOS, which is used across its assorted devices, including smartwatches and smartphones (via Tom's Hardware).
According to HarmonyOS developer Jason Will on X (formerly Twitter):
"The increasing appearance of HarmonyOS PC version UI layouts on Huawei's developer website suggests that HarmonyOS Next for PC is definitely set to launch in Q4 this year."
The increasing appearance of HarmonyOS PC version UI layouts on Huawei's developer website suggests that HarmonyOS Next for PC is definitely set to launch in Q4 this year. pic.twitter.com/oEmRAsN0CCJuly 16, 2024
Huawei hasn't sailed smoothly in the category, especially after the US blocked access to its Windows and Android operating systems. This prompted the company to develop its own software that allows developers to make apps and distribute them across multiple products and devices.
Years ago, Huawei was one of the most interesting brands making cutting-edge Windows laptops and tablets with excellent displays, slim designs, and haptic touchpads that often made great options for those looking to switch from Apple (mostly because they look a lot like MacBooks, ahem).
Unlike HarmonyOS, which is based on the open-source version of Android (AOSP), the anticipated PC version of Huawei's operating system — HarmonyOS Next, is Android-free and fully dependent on its own microkernel. This means that Huawei is on the precipice of achieving total independence from US-based software since it will only support apps in its own native format.
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Per the images shared, HarmonyOS Next looks pretty neat and has seemingly copied Apple's macOS style across its status bar and dock bar.
To this end, Huawei's HarmonyOS Next is available as a developer sandbox for developers to build and test native mobile apps. It's unclear when the company plans to ship it to its products.
HarmonyOS is open-source, which potentially leads to widespread adoption. It currently holds 16% of the Chinese phone market, with projections of exponential growth in the next few years.
Microsoft's shortcomings with Windows 11 could be Huawei's strength with HarmonyOS Next
While Microsoft's Windows service is arguably the most popular operating system, the company has seemingly failed to get users to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 (despite its big AI push).
As we all know, the tech giant is set to cut support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. In a perfect world, the apparent option for most users would be to upgrade to Windows 11. However, users have blatantly expressed their reluctance to upgrade to Windows 11, citing stringent hardware requirements and flawed design elements across the OS.
Microsoft is seemingly hell-bent on pushing shiny new features to Windows 11 instead of fixing some of the issues highlighted by users regarding the operating system's shortcomings. For instance, users have openly hated the Start menu, including former Windows experiences lead. The Redmond giant announced that it was slowing its role in shipping new Copilot experiences to Windows 11 to improve and enhance existing experiences based on feedback.
During its special Surface and Windows event, Microsoft unveiled a host of crazy Windows 11 AI features shipping exclusively to Copilot+ PCs, including the controversial recalled Windows Recall, Live Captions, and more. For some, this has further widened the system requirements for Windows 11, ultimately making upgrading even harder. Global PC shipments only recently started showing a subtle uptick, but projections suggest a 5% growth by 2025 as the economy stabilizes after the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, a Chinese-born PC operating system would likely only "succeed" in China as Western markets are increasingly skeptical of spyware making HarmonyOS Next, even if "open source," dead in the water in non-Chinese markets. From that point of view, Microsoft may lose some market share in China, but it will be safe for the rest of the world.
Kevin Okemwa is a seasoned tech journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya with lots of experience covering the latest trends and developments in the industry at Windows Central. With a passion for innovation and a keen eye for detail, he has written for leading publications such as OnMSFT, MakeUseOf, and Windows Report, providing insightful analysis and breaking news on everything revolving around the Microsoft ecosystem. You'll also catch him occasionally contributing at iMore about Apple and AI. While AFK and not busy following the ever-emerging trends in tech, you can find him exploring the world or listening to music.
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GraniteStateColin People outside China should not use an operating system from China. This is a national security risk. Just as long-standing exploits are found years later in Windows, Linux, and even Cisco hardware, holes and exploits that are known to the Chinese government can be buried in any of the Chinese equipment or software without being found by researchers in other countries.Reply
China can, and we should assume will, use these to gather information on people in other countries, use them to deliver malware to other systems on the network, or have it as a trigger where they can crush the communication infrastructure in other countries in the event of a conflict. Hopefully, none of these will ever matter or happen, but because of the risk, unless you live in China, you should avoid Chinese tech devices and software, especially if you live in a country known to have a potentially adversarial relationship with China, like the U.S., Taiwan, India, and other such countries. -
fjtorres5591 This is most likely a domestic use only product.Reply
Rather lije Red Star Linux.
Given how much they are cooying Apple, they'd better not distribute to any country with Trade Dress IP laws. Apple will sue them out of that market. -
GraniteStateColin
Good point. Probably not being developed to compete abroad, but to get Chinese customers and users out of paying license fees to American (or any non-Chinese) companies.fjtorres5591 said:This is most likely a domestic use only product.
Rather lije Red Star Linux.
Given how much they are cooying Apple, they'd better not distribute to any country with Trade Dress IP laws. Apple will sue them out of that market. -
fjtorres5591
...plus Keeping the company afloat without western tech.GraniteStateColin said:Good point. Probably not being developed to compete abroad, but to get Chinese customers and users out of paying license fees to American (or any non-Chinese) companies.
You can't serve two masters, your government and the paying customers simultaneously. Note how both MS and Apple regularly butt heads with overreaching governent aparatchicks in the US and other countries. Their primary focus is serving their customers as best they can. They accomodate the bureaucrats but only up to a point.
Huawei serves the CCP, first and formost, customers be da**ed.
(Keeps them.out of jail, don'cha know? 😎)
That works in China but not in the major tech markets. -
praz01
This simply didn't age well. It seems Microsoft is the biggest risk to your business out there at the moment with banks, airlines and governments out of service right now. When the dust settles from the last few days we will likely see a very different ways of working landscape where productivity will move away from OSes to SaaS services, so customers are able to continue operating when their unreliable operating system fails them. It's also less likely they will pander to the whims of cyber security, given end-point protection has cost most companies more money over the last few days than they could have ever potentially saved.GraniteStateColin said:People outside China should not use an operating system from China. This is a national security risk. Just as long-standing exploits are found years later in Windows, Linux, and even Cisco hardware, holes and exploits that are known to the Chinese government can be buried in any of the Chinese equipment or software without being found by researchers in other countries.
China can, and we should assume will, use these to gather information on people in other countries, use them to deliver malware to other systems on the network, or have it as a trigger where they can crush the communication infrastructure in other countries in the event of a conflict. Hopefully, none of these will ever matter or happen, but because of the risk, unless you live in China, you should avoid Chinese tech devices and software, especially if you live in a country known to have a potentially adversarial relationship with China, like the U.S., Taiwan, India, and other such countries. -
fjtorres5591
A common day one reaction.praz01 said:This simply didn't age well. It seems Microsoft is the biggest risk to your business out there at the moment with banks, airlines and governments out of service right now. When the dust settles from the last few days we will likely see a very different ways of working landscape where productivity will move away from OSes to SaaS services, so customers are able to continue operating when their unreliable operating system fails them. It's also less likely they will pander to the whims of cyber security, given end-point protection has cost most companies more money over the last few days than they could have ever potentially saved.
Unfortunately, the facts don't bear this out.
The issue has nothing to do with the OS but with poor quality control at CLOUDSTRIKE, which led to this (previously) trusted supplier of mission-critical software deploying a corrupted/bad updated kernel level driver that prevented the OS from completing bootup.
As it turns out, the OS itself offers a simple fix: boot up in local-only Safe mode and using Recovery roll back the system to the last known good configuration, or if you don't have recovery files (a bad practice, generally) manually delete the corrupt file.
This kind of issue has nothing to do with the idea of local computing or anything other than GIGO and quality control. It happens all the time with software on all platforms including SAAS products. (Hosting services suffer their own outages regularly.)
Pretending that orgs should abandon local server systems in a full embrace of remote mainframes is no different that claiming the ISS must be abandoned because Boeing's STARLINER QA produced a buggy flawed vehicle.
You might be justified in switching to a different mission critical software supplier or use more than one supplier (as NASA does in the access to space sector) but not in abandoning an effective system. You just need better risk mitigation policies.
For single user systems, this means things like automated cloud backup and recovery files. There are no silver bullets and no bulletproof solution. Just good risk mitigation.
GIGO rules. -
praz01
I couldn't work out the point you were driving at but I got the general feeling that you think that it will return to business as usual. I couldn't disagree more. When you're dealing with an incident of this magnitude there is one thing that is for certain. Things will change! 8 million computers were affected most at enterprise level. When I return to work tomorrow, the following will take place in the following order.fjtorres5591 said:A common day one reaction.
Unfortunately, the facts don't bear this out.
The issue has nothing to do with the OS but with poor quality control at CLOUDSTRIKE, which led to this (previously) trusted supplier of mission-critical software deploying a corrupted/bad updated kernel level driver that prevented the OS from completing bootup.
As it turns out, the OS itself offers a simple fix: boot up in local-only Safe mode and using Recovery roll back the system to the last known good configuration, or if you don't have recovery files (a bad practice, generally) manually delete the corrupt file.
This kind of issue has nothing to do with the idea of local computing or anything other than GIGO and quality control. It happens all the time with software on all platforms including SAAS products. (Hosting services suffer their own outages regularly.)
Pretending that orgs should abandon local server systems in a full embrace of remote mainframes is no different that claiming the ISS must be abandoned because Boeing's STARLINER QA produced a buggy flawed vehicle.
You might be justified in switching to a different mission critical software supplier or use more than one supplier (as NASA does in the access to space sector) but not in abandoning an effective system. You just need better risk mitigation policies.
For single user systems, this means things like automated cloud backup and recovery files. There are no silver bullets and no bulletproof solution. Just good risk mitigation.
GIGO rules.
1. Impact assessment to understand which systems are still not operational. The workaround you mentioned is not a solution across a fleet of 10000 systems. Also LKGC doesn't fix this, you have to go down recovery option then delete offending files. Critical systems will hopefully be back up now but it's going to be weeks before everything is back up.
2. Review of compensation to recoup losses. Any back up strategies RTO/RPO would not have mitigated operational downtime of this magnitude. All redundancies were out as well. For realtime data systems such as financial services the RTO/RPO is unacceptable. Only Mac and Linux systems were unaffected.
3. Tactical controls will be drafted. Staggered rollout of updates. DR kept back from latest/greatest release. Better SLAs with vendors. Etc.
4. Strategic planning and risk assessment where expensive consultants will be bought in who will look at the data and identify that organisations that decentralised their IT systems and adopted modern ways of working came out on top will recommend just that. Tell me one SaaS service that was down (you said SaaS services aren't immune).
So in short there will be divestment away from OS based productivity in favour of SaaS. E.g. migration from SAP to Salesforce ERP. -
Ron-F
However, China is an important business partner in many countries, especially — but not exclusively — in Africa. Added the fact there is a strong isolationism movement in the US, there is a chance to a China made OS find a breach into international market.GraniteStateColin said:People outside China should not use an operating system from China. This is a national security risk. Just as long-standing exploits are found years later in Windows, Linux, and even Cisco hardware, holes and exploits that are known to the Chinese government can be buried in any of the Chinese equipment or software without being found by researchers in other countries.
China can, and we should assume will, use these to gather information on people in other countries, use them to deliver malware to other systems on the network, or have it as a trigger where they can crush the communication infrastructure in other countries in the event of a conflict. Hopefully, none of these will ever matter or happen, but because of the risk, unless you live in China, you should avoid Chinese tech devices and software, especially if you live in a country known to have a potentially adversarial relationship with China, like the U.S., Taiwan, India, and other such countries.
Regarding the possibility of Chinese spying in your computer, many cases of CIA shenanigans kind of weaken the case for US developed software. -
TheFerrango I can finally give my data to the chinease instead of having americans monopolising them.Reply
At any rate, this will be good if anything because China's massive size means it will have a huge market share and finally give Microsoft some credible copetition. -
GraniteStateColin
Wrong. CrowdStrike was at fault. In fact, it may even be that the only reason CrowdStrike was able to cause this problem is because the EU (in a somewhat China-like action) didn't let MS keep the security locked down, forcing them to open this up to competitors. You can argue that there are benefits to the forced opening of parts of the OS and government meddling, but there are also downsides as what just happened with CrowdStrike.praz01 said:This simply didn't age well. It seems Microsoft is the biggest risk to your business out there at the moment with banks, airlines and governments out of service right now. When the dust settles from the last few days we will likely see a very different ways of working landscape where productivity will move away from OSes to SaaS services, so customers are able to continue operating when their unreliable operating system fails them. It's also less likely they will pander to the whims of cyber security, given end-point protection has cost most companies more money over the last few days than they could have ever potentially saved.