Original title: China has no self-developed operating system Ren Zhengfei: Strategic backup
In sihai.com computers and mobile phones, the operating system is like the general manager. Every time the power is turned on, the operating system is the first one to work. It commands all kinds of hardware to work according to the user's action. The computing requirements of the software are translated by the operating system, and instructions are sent to various hardware.
But China does not have its own operating system.
The lack of self-developed operating systems is not only a pain in China, but also in the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Germany and India. The operating system is naturally monopolized and the winner takes all. The United States took the lead and occupied the high ground.
It seems easy, but in fact it has accumulated for many years
It's not hard to write an operating system. College students can also develop simple operating systems. Moreover, the source code of Linux system is open, so you can develop your own operating system with a little change.
But, 'like a car, anyone can build a four-wheel platform, and the appearance is not difficult to design. But when you run, you can find that a good car can't be built casually. "Said Shi Lei, an it critic and founder of wpdang.
If a novice writes the mobile phone's operating system, I'm afraid it will run out of power in an hour. "We usually use Android and other operating systems, which can use the least power, the most reasonable frequency and the shortest time to calculate," Shi said. '
A simple user behavior, such as inputting two words in wechat, will be converted into a series of instructions and sent to the CPU, etc. If the operating system does not pass, it will crash.
The wisdom of the operating system is hidden in a line of program statements. You can't see the pros and cons of the code at a glance, but when it comes to execution, it's also 10000 lines of code. Some of the problems are constant, and some of them are perfect, avoiding all the pitfalls. The gap comes from the experience accumulated by a lot of manpower and money. A lot of patents of Microsoft and apple are trial and error, and later comers will find that this is the only way. 'said Shi Lei.
American advantages: post-50s programmers, Post-70s companies
Shi Lei said that the reason why the United States monopolizes the operating system is very simple: it started early. 'the advantage of mobile operating system comes from the era of personal computer. The advantages of apple and Microsoft began in the 1970s, laying the foundation for today's technology. '
Shi Lei, for example, said that Android is made by Google based on Linux and is licensed to all mobile phone manufacturers for free. However, Microsoft made a fortune by relying on Android. It collected patent fees from many mobile phone and pad manufacturers, ranging from a few dollars to more than ten dollars per device. Because of the patents it applied for when it developed DOS in the 1980s, Linux could not avoid them. Today's software also has to be compatible with the underlying file system developed by Microsoft decades ago.
Forty years ago, the vast majority of excellent programmers were in the United States, so the various standards of the personal computer era were created by the United States.
'just like foreign engines do well, because there are a group of skilled technicians. The development of the operating system also requires skilled technicians, that is, programmers. 'shi Lei said that he often goes to the United States to attend developers' conferences and finds that one of the biggest differences between the United States and China is that the most common programmers are post-50s and post-60s.
'Many white haired developers have been exposed to computers since childhood. There are also some programmers whose father is a programmer. 'said Shi Lei.
When Chinese universities came out of the first group of programmers, computer departments of American universities had trained more than 30 graduates. 'ordinary people see the prosperity of China's IT industry and think that the technology gap is not big, but it is not.
There is no market for the operating system, but self-developed can meet the emergency
There are hundreds of big brands in the automobile industry. The operating systems of mobile phones and personal computers are monopolized by three American companies. According to the data released by Gartner, a market research company, in 2017, the market share of Android system reached 85.9%, and that of Apple IOS was 14%. Only 0.1% of other systems. That 0.1% is basically from the United States: Microsoft's windows and blackberry.
South Korea's Samsung tried to break the monopoly by launching the tizen system in 2013, but now Samsung's mobile phones are still using Android.
Shi Lei said that the rise of Android is due to historical opportunities and Google's vision. In 2008, when Apple's mobile phone was just launched, Google realized that the era of big screen was coming, so it first made a free and open source system, which let many mobile phone manufacturers taste the sweetness and quickly expand the market with Android.
There is little space in the field of operating system because software manufacturers only develop versions for the most popular operating systems to make money.
Without Google paving the way, smart phones will not be so popular, and the price for Chinese mobile phone manufacturers to use Android for free is that they may be "cut off" at any time.
In 2012, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, answered, "why do we still make terminal operating systems when there is no ecological space?" he said that we should try to use foreign good things, including high-end chips and operating systems, but we should have strategic backup. "When other people cut off our food, the backup system should be available.".