Catching up with Microsoft and Apple from "available" to "easy to use"
When will the domestic operating system be installed in people's homes?
Our reporter Cao Zheng
The domestic operating system has made frequent moves recently: from setting a record of 14 seconds of boot time, to creating an autonomous and controllable "root" community, to forming the first "ecology" in China that exceeds the number of adaptations of 500,000, the domestic system is accelerating the installation. More people's office computers.
Is the domestic system easy to use?
What are the gaps with international mainstream systems such as Microsoft and Apple?
When can it be applied on a large scale?
From the perspective of the industry, the operating system technology itself is no longer an insurmountable difficulty. The most difficult thing is how to enrich the ecology.
Although most of the usage needs can be met in the office scene, it will take time for the promotion to be implemented in the home and other scenes.
The difficulty of the domestic system is to enrich the ecology
After installing the operating system, a new computer needs to download and install various software such as Word, WeChat, QQ, etc., and also need to connect to various hardware devices such as printers and mice.
If you take a house as an analogy, the operating system is equivalent to the foundation of the house, while various software applications and peripherals are the home appliances and furniture in the house.
If there is only a foundation and no home appliances and furniture, the house will not be able to live in it.
In the same way, it is not enough to have an operating system, and a system without software applications is just an empty shelf that cannot be used.
Several software engineers explained to reporters that the key factors in choosing a system are stability, security and software ecology, among which ecology directly affects whether the system can be used or not. "For example, a user needs PS most in their daily work, but PS is not suitable for this at all. system version, then he will never use this system." In professional terms, domestic systems need the "ecology" built by these software, peripherals, etc.
Liu Wenhuan, general manager of Tongxin Software, one of the largest domestic operating system companies, bluntly said in an interview with reporters that operating system technology itself is no longer insurmountable, and the real difficulty is how to enrich the ecology.
For software companies, the cost of developing different system versions is comparable, but developing for a system that is used by many people is bound to be more cost-effective than developing for a system that is not used by many people.
"Without the market, no one will come to do production with you. There may be individual manufacturers, but not most of them will do it." Liu Wenhuan said.
Fortunately, with the promotion in recent years, the domestic operating system has accumulated a large number of users.
According to data released by Tongxin Software, the number of users has accumulated in the millions.
This in turn attracted a large number of domestic and foreign manufacturers to join.
A few days ago, Tongxin’s number of ecological adaptations exceeded 500,000, becoming the first operating system manufacturer in China to exceed 500,000 ecological adaptations. Tongxin’s UOS ecosystem has also become one of the largest independent operating system ecosystems in China.
Family scene promotion is still difficult
"We expect that the number of ecological adaptations may exceed 1 million in one to two years." Liu Wenhuan said that the scale of the current ecosystem is still an order of magnitude worse than the ecosystems of Microsoft and Apple that have matured for 20 to 30 years, but it has basically It can meet the needs of the office field. "The 100,000 applications used in daily office may meet the needs of more than 90% of users."
In addition, starting from next year, the Tongxin system will also be implemented in business terminals in the banking, taxation and other industries, and at the same time, it will increase its promotion in the fields of electronic teacher management, online teaching, and examinations in the education field.
However, the implementation and promotion of family scenes still has a long way to go, and the reason is still "ecology".
According to industry analysis, home users have different software application requirements than office users.
For example, a complex industrial office requirement may be 1,000 applications. As long as these 1,000 applications are solved, they can be used normally; but home users are different. There are countless applications such as games and brokerages. As long as the user needs If an application cannot be used, then he will not use the system.
However, with the increasing number of users of the domestic system, more and more developers also see the opportunity of the domestic system, step up the development of the adaptation version, and accelerate the formation of the ecology, which can naturally achieve a virtuous circle.
3 to 5 years or reach the international mainstream level
It is unavoidable that, even with leapfrog development in recent years, the domestic operating system is still far from mature operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Apple OS.
Although the Windows XP and Windows 7 systems were discontinued in 2014 and 2020, respectively, the level of domestic systems could not catch up with the two until the moment when the servers were discontinued.
From the perspective of technical benchmarking, taking Tongxin UOS system as an example, it is basically equivalent to the level of Windows 7, and some aspects are even better.
"We have changed from 'unavailable' to 'available', and we are moving from 'available' to 'easy to use'. Among the millions of users shipped, 70% are actually using the system." Liu Wenhuan said bluntly , In the past, the domestic operating system was three generations away from the best in the world, but now it is one and a half generations away.
The speed of catching up is very fast, and it is expected to reach the international mainstream level within 3 to 5 years.
For computer users, using a certain system is often stable and faithful.
If one day, the domestic system is equal to Microsoft and Apple, what advantages should it use to attract more users?
"It is unrealistic to surpass Microsoft and Apple on a global scale, but it is possible to surpass or even replace it in China or in some application scenarios in China." Liu Wenhuan said that he will rely on the existing foundation to pass Product innovation accumulates energy and attracts more users.
Tongxin Software has started to develop the next-generation operating system.
The next-generation system is built on the basis of the new root community. Compared with the traditional one, the whole structure has a big subversion and is suitable for ordinary users. At the same time, it will also consider how to integrate with the mobile terminal, introduce more innovation points, and solve other systems. of insufficiency.