The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Fresh Jujube Classroom 2024/10/19 13:03:05 Editor: Mengze Comment: 9

Continuing from the previous article: The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 1)

█ 2009-2019: The Second Wave

In the previous article, we mentioned that due to user experience and the software and hardware ecosystem, the first wave of domestic operating systems represented by Red Flag Linux and Blue Dot Linux quickly failed.

Through this failure, China gradually realized that developing domestic operating systems is definitely not an easy task, but a long and difficult process. Especially in establishing an ecosystem, it requires a lot of time and collaboration from all levels of the industry, and the difficulty even exceeds that of the operating system itself.

The relevant government departments have also realized that the autonomy and controllability of the information technology industry is not something that can be achieved alone or overnight, but should be considered comprehensively, planned as a whole, and laid out in the long run.

In January 2006, the State Council issued the "National Medium - and Long Term Science and Technology Development Plan Outline (2006-2020)". Among them, the "Nuclear High Base (Core Electronic Devices, High end Universal Chips, and Basic Software)" project has been established as one of the 16 major special core parts to promote the development of information technology in China, and the goal of developing basic software has been clarified.

During that period, several events occurred that had a profound impact on the development of domestic operating systems.

Firstly, it is the legalization movement.

In April 2006, relevant departments of the country successively issued the "Notice on Issues Related to Pre installed Genuine Operating System Software on Computers" and the "Notice on Government Departments Purchasing Computer Office Equipment Must Purchase Pre installed Genuine Operating System Software Products".

Notification requirements: "Computers produced within the territory of our country should be pre installed with genuine operating system software when leaving the factory," and "government departments must purchase products that have pre installed genuine operating system software when purchasing computer office equipment.

Secondly, there is the Tomato Garden incident.

In August 2008, Hong Lei, the founder of Tomato Home, was taken away for investigation for publishing pirated Windows for profit. Later, the Tomato Garden case was sentenced, and Hong Lei was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 1 million yuan.

Hong Lei was arrested because Microsoft filed a complaint with the National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Public Security. After seeing Hong Lei's fate, other pirated Windows forums have chosen to close or transform.

Thirdly, there is the Microsoft black screen incident.

On October 20, 2008, many people found a system notification appearing on their computers. Microsoft has informed all users that if they use pirated Windows or Office, their computers will go black once per hour. This is the sensational 'Microsoft Black Screen Incident'.

Despite Microsoft's explanation that this move is a friendly reminder to combat piracy, the act of arbitrarily manipulating users' operating systems has still sparked strong dissatisfaction and protests from the public.

The above three things have gradually made the public aware of the importance of operating systems and the necessity of developing domestic operating systems.

In 2009, the promotion policies and measures for the "Nuclear High tech Foundation" major project officially began to be implemented. As the top priority of basic software, the domestically produced operating system has once again received unprecedented support from the government policy level, following government procurement and legalization.

So, the second wave of domestic operating system development, represented by Zhongbiao Qilin, Galaxy Qilin, Deepness, Euler, New Fulcrum, etc., began with great fanfare.

Next, Xiaozao Jun will introduce the development process of several well-known operating system brands at that time.

Winning bid Qilin/Galaxy Qilin/Youqilin/Hunan Qilin

The Kirin family is a very important operating system system in China in the past two decades. There are many related brands, including Zhongbiao Qilin, Galaxy Qilin, Youqilin, Hunan Qilin, etc. These brands actually originated from the National University of Defense Technology and have the same historical origins.

Let's talk about the Galactic Kylin first.

Everyone should know that the University of National Defense Technology is the leading unit of large-scale supercomputers in China. Since the late 1970s, they have led the development of billions of giant computers.

On December 22, 1983, the Computer Research Institute of the National University of Defense Technology successfully developed China's first billion time supercomputer, the "Galaxy," marking China as the third country after the United States and Japan to independently design and manufacture supercomputers.

In 2001, the University of National Defense Technology undertook a major research project under the National 863 Program and launched the development of the Galaxy Kirin brand operating system. This operating system is mainly designed for the dedicated CPUs of Galaxy I and Galaxy II supercomputers.

On December 4, 2006, the Galaxy Kirin operating system version 1.0 was officially released. This system claims to integrate the advantages of Mac, FreeBSD, Linux, and Windows systems, and is also referred to by netizens as the "863 system", "Changsha OS", and "four unlike OS".

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

At that time, someone once revealed online that the Kirin operating system had a similarity of over 90% with the open-source FreeBSD operating system version 5.3 in the United States.

In 2009, Galaxy Kirin released version 3.0, abandoning the FreeBSD kernel and instead using Linux as the kernel.

Let's take a look at NeoKylin, the winning bidder.

The predecessor of Zhongbiaoqilin is COSIX Linux, also known as Zhongruan Linux, which we introduced earlier.

As introduced in the previous article, in 2003, the Zhongruan Linux operating system research and development division of China Software Corporation (China Computer Software and Technology Services Corporation) became independent and established Zhongbiao Software (Shanghai Zhongbiao Software Co., Ltd.).

The investors behind the winning bid for the software include China Software and Technology Services Co., Ltd. (in 2004, China Software Corporation and China Software Corporation were integrated, restructured and listed as a whole, and the listed company was renamed "China Software"), China Electronics Technology Group (CETC), East China Institute of Computing Technology (East China Institute), etc.

After independence, Zhongruan Linux became the winning Linux. At that time, Zhongbiao Linux and Hongqi Linux accounted for the majority of the domestic Linux market share.

In February 2004, Zhongbiao Software officially released Zhongbiao Puhua Linux 1.0 (NeoShine) and Office 1.0. (Note: PwC is a subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group and has invested in the bid winning software.)

On December 16, 2010, the civilian "Zhongbiao Linux" operating system and the military backed "Galaxy Kirin" operating system announced their merger in Shanghai, and began operating under the new brand "Zhongbiao Kirin". (Afterwards, Zhongbiao Puhua faded out of the historical stage and was later taken over by CETC. Puhua Linux will be mentioned later.)

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

After the bankruptcy liquidation of Zhongke Hongqi in 2014, Zhongke Qilin became the main brand of Linux in China. From 2010 to 2022, Kirin operating system has maintained the first place in the Chinese Linux market share for 12 consecutive years.

In December 2014, Tianjin Binhai New Area People's Government and National University of Defense Technology established Tianjin Qilin Information Technology Co., Ltd. with the support of China Electronics Information Corporation (CEC). The University of National Defense Technology has officially authorized the "Galaxy Qilin" brand to Tianjin Qilin.

In 2018, the Kirin operating system won the first prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. This is the highest praise ever received by a domestic operating system.

On December 2, 2019, China Software, a subsidiary of China Electronics Group, announced the integration of its two major subsidiaries, Zhongbiao Software and Tianjin Qilin, and invested in the establishment of a new company - Qilin Software Co., Ltd. (with China Software holding 46% of the shares). This means that both Zhongbiao Qilin and Galaxy Qilin belong to the brands under Qilin Software.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Let's talk about Youqilin and Hunan Qilin.

UbuntuKylin is not directly related to the previously mentioned Zhongbiaoqilin and Galaxy Kylin.

It is a project jointly developed by the University of Defense Technology, the Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center (CSIP) of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Canonical, the parent company of Ubuntu. It is an official derivative version of Ubuntu. The above three parties also collaborated to establish a non-profit organization - CCN Open Source Software Innovation Joint Laboratory.

The first version of Youqilin (version 13.04) was released in April 2013 and is available for free download worldwide, with all source code open.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Hunan Qilin (Hunan Qilin Information Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., also known as the Hunan Engineering Research Center for Operating Systems) was established in 2007, relying on the Computer Research Institute of the University of Defense Technology.

In 2014, Hunan Qilin began its independent brand development path and launched its own brand - Kylinsec operating system. In 2015, Hunan Qilin Xin'an Technology Co., Ltd. was established.

Kirin Xin'an focuses on security and is mainly aimed at government, military, enterprises and institutions.

Xiaozao Jun drew a diagram of the Qilin family relationship for everyone to understand:

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Deepin Linux

On February 28, 2004, a deep technology team composed of a group of folk technology enthusiasts released China's first Linux distribution based on Debian, hiweek Linux, abbreviated as Hiwix, in the open source community.

At that time, Hiwix's slogan was "relieve the pain of beginners and save the time of experienced users". The system features beauty, ease of use, and is committed to serving ordinary users.

According to one of the founders, Leng Ganghua, the word 'hi' in hiweed means' Haier 'or' Hisense '(Leng Ganghua is from Qingdao), and' week 'is related to his former crush.

Later on, the system continued to be updated, gradually accumulating more and more users and gaining recognition. In 2009, Hiwix officially changed its name to Linux Deepin. The reason for changing the name is said to be because week also contains the meaning of "cigar smoke, drugs", which is not quite appropriate.

In August 2011, Wuhan Shenzhidu Technology Co., Ltd. was established. This year, in version 12, Deeptech introduced its independently developed desktop environment, Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), for the first time.

In April 2014, Linux Deepin officially changed its name to Deepin.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

In 2019, Huawei MateBook laptops officially pre installed the Deepin system, marking a significant breakthrough in its commercial applications.

In November 2019, Wuhan Shenzhidu Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing Chengmai Technology Co., Ltd., and ZTE New Fulcrum signed a cooperation agreement to launch a unified operating system project, which was named as the Unified Information Operating System (UOS), Union Operating System）。

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

The company they jointly established is called Tongxin Software Technology Co., Ltd. Liu Wenhuan, the legal representative and president of the company, is also the founder of Shenzhidu.

After the birth of Tongxin, Wuhan Shenzhidu continued to release the Deepin community version, targeting community users. Meanwhile, UniTrust UOS is aimed at commercial users, equivalent to the commercial version of Deepin.

On January 16, 2020, the official version of Unisoc UOS 20 was released for the desktop and server markets. UOS is based on the Linux kernel and supports multiple platforms such as laptops, desktops, and servers, with excellent compatibility and openness.

Draw a relationship diagram as follows:

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Zhongke Fangde

On December 25, 2006, Zhongke Fangde Software Co., Ltd. was established in Beijing, specializing in the research and development of operating systems. This company is the project legal person unit of the National Engineering Research Center for Basic Software, behind which is the Software Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

As mentioned in the previous article, the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences is also a major shareholder of Red Flag Linux. The establishment of Zhongke Fangde actually formed an internal competitive relationship with Zhongke Hongqi. Later, Red Flag Linux went bankrupt and liquidated, and the three parties also had a heated argument.

Zhongke Fangde's operating system products include Fangde High Trust Server Operating System, Fangde Ark Security (Server) Operating System, etc.

PwC Linux (i-soft)

Puhua Basic Software Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Puhua) was established on October 20, 2008, and is a subsidiary invested and established by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC).

After the bankruptcy liquidation of Zhongke Hongqi in 2014, Puhua Basic Software took over some of Zhongke Hongqi's research and development capabilities, laying the foundation for the launch of Puhua Linux.

In September 2014, the Puhua series operating system 3.0 was officially released, including different versions such as desktop and server versions.

It is worth mentioning that PwC has successively participated in controlling bid winning software, Renmin Jincang, and Japanese TurboLinux. TurboLinux was once one of the world's top suppliers of high-end Linux products and solutions.

ZTE's New Start

In 2004, ZTE Corporation established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Guangdong New Support Technology Service Co., Ltd., specializing in the research and development of Linux operating systems and related technologies.

In 2010, Guangdong New Support and ZTE jointly launched the Linux operating system, New Start CGSL (Carrier Grade Server Linux), which is suitable for telecom grade servers.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

The new pivot operating system is suitable for multiple hardware platforms, not only for servers and desktop systems, but also for embedded and other fields. It has been widely deployed in various fields such as government affairs, finance, power, and transportation.

Huawei Euler

In 2010, Huawei internally released the server operating system Euler OS based on CentOS source code for its ICT products.

From 2013 to 2016, Euler OS was in the 1. x series and was first commercially available on a large scale internally. In the years following 2016, Euler OS developed into the 2. x series.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Anolis OS (Dragon Lizard Operating System)

The Dragon Lizard operating system is a Linux distribution launched and developed internally by Alibaba Cloud. The specific launch time is unknown (possibly around 2011), and its main purpose is to replace CentOS.

On October 19, 2021, Alibaba Cloud released a new operating system called "Dragon Lizard" and announced its open source. The Dragon Lizard operating system is positioned on the server-side and has had a large installation volume in recent years.

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

The above is only a partial list. There are also operating systems such as TencentOS, Yiming Linux, and Sipu in China. Due to space limitations, we will not list them one by one. You can also refer to the table below:

The ups and downs of domestic operating systems (Part 2)

Overall, from 2006 to 2019, with the support and promotion of the "Nuclear High Base" project, domestic operating systems quickly emerged from the shadow of the first wave and new technological forces emerged.

This new force has absorbed the lessons learned from previous experiences. They pay more attention to user experience and are more rational, maintaining a relatively stable development speed.

In the most important ecological aspect, they are also more patient and have been continuously advancing and accumulating.

During this period, there were also some significant changes in the external environment.

In June 2013, former CIA employee Edward Snowden exposed the US government's Prism program to the media. According to his identification, the US intelligence agencies have been continuously monitoring Internet activities and user information of communication operators at home and abroad since 2007.

This is the well-known Prism Gate incident. The plan was exposed, shocking the world. The autonomy and controllability of domestic information technology have become more urgent.

On March 4, 2016, 24 domestic units specializing in the research and application of key software and hardware technologies jointly initiated the establishment of a non-profit social organization and named it the "Information Technology Application Innovation Working Committee".

In the era of innovation and entrepreneurship, we are starting comprehensively. The independent research and development of information technology has entered a new stage.

2020 present: New trends

2020 is the first year of the landing of the domestic information and innovation industry.

In February of that year, Red Hat, which was acquired by IBM, announced on its official website that it would terminate the established maintenance plan for CentOS, causing a stir both domestically and internationally. CentOS, as an important distribution of Linux, is widely used in China.

The shutdown of CentOS has had an impact on many businesses in China, but at the same time, it is also a rare opportunity. Domestic operating systems from various brands can significantly increase their market share by replacing CentOS.

Around 2020, there were two significant development trends in domestic operating systems.

Firstly, it is to increase support for multiple types of platforms.

The operating system and hardware platform architecture are closely related. Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship is the collaborative development and replacement of software and hardware.

Computer CPU platforms, in addition to x86, also include ARM, MIPS, RISC-V. Based on different platforms, various domestic CPUs such as Haiguang, Zhaoxin, Feiteng, Loongson, Shenwei, Kunpeng, etc. have been developed domestically. When governments and enterprises use these platforms for procurement, they obviously also need the support of operating systems.

So, during this period, domestic operating systems increased their support for multi platform expansion to ensure that they could meet the compatibility requirements proposed in bidding and procurement.

Secondly, it is to build a 'root community'.

The root community is a community system that does not rely on other upstream distributions and is built directly from the Linux kernel and other open source projects, at a higher level.

Creating a root community allows for greater autonomy and minimizes reliance on external technologies.

The OpenSUSE community (led by German commercial companies), Fedora community (led by American commercial companies), and Debian community (not controlled by commercial companies) that we often hear about belong to the root community.

Building a Chinese led root community and involving domestic operating system companies in the open source community can transform them from participants to builders and leaders, thereby enhancing the discourse power and status of domestic operating systems.

Based on this trend, in recent years, the development of open source and root communities in China has been very rapid:

On December 31, 2019, Huawei launched the openEuler open source community as a founding enterprise and contributed its Euler OS related capabilities to the openEuler community. On November 9, 2021, Huawei officially donated the openEuler operating system to the Open Atom Open Source Foundation.

According to official data provided in June this year, the cumulative installed capacity of the system has exceeded 6.8 million sets in the past four years. Many domestic server operating system manufacturers release commercial versions based on openEuler OS, such as Galaxy Kirin Advanced Server Operating System, UOS 20, PwC Software, Zhongke Fangde, Kirin Xin'an, etc.

In September 2020, Alibaba Cloud, Tongxin Software, and three major telecom operators launched the "Anolis OS" community. As of August 2024, the installed capacity of Anolis OS, the Dragon Lizard operating system, has exceeded 8 million sets.

In December 2021, more than 20 companies including Tencent and Inspur established the "OpenCloudOS" community. As of December 2022, the cumulative installed capacity of OpenCloudOS community and its derivative versions has exceeded 10 million nodes.

In June 2022, the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center jointly established the "openKylin" operating system community with more than ten units, including Puhua Basic Software, Zhongke Fangde, Qilin Xin'an, Ningsi Software, Yiming Software, ZTE New Fulcrum, Yuanxin Technology, China Electronics Technology 32nd Institute, Jide System, Beijing Linzhuo, and Advanced Operating System Innovation Center.

The final words

By this point, the article is basically coming to an end.

Overall, after decades of development, domestic operating systems have significantly improved both in terms of technological level and market acceptance.

However, there are still significant challenges in completely replacing existing mainstream operating systems, including the richness of the ecosystem, optimization of user experience, and expansion into international markets.

The road ahead is full of thorns, and it is unknown who will reach the end.

Finally, Xiaozao Jun still needs to pose a few soul piercing questions——

Are the operating systems we mentioned above truly domestically produced or fake domestically produced?

All along, many people have questioned and even criticized these operating systems in China, saying that they are shell cheating and money fraud. Is this true?

Is an operating system developed based on the Linux kernel considered independent research and development?

Xiao Zao Jun, please share my own opinion for reference and discussion only:

Firstly, whether it is the Blue Dot, Red Flag, Zhongruan, Surfing in the first wave, or the Depth, Kirin, New Fulcrum, Euler, etc. in the second wave, they are all based on Unix or Linux kernel, which is beyond doubt.

Rewriting the kernel is actually not impossible. When Linus first wrote the Linux kernel, he was only 21 years old and had only around 10000 lines of kernel code.

The reason why we didn't start writing from scratch in China is mainly because when we started developing operating systems, the Linux kernel had already taken shape and had a good global user base. Its architecture and technology have been validated and it already has a certain ecosystem.

If we really start writing from scratch, the ecosystem needs to accumulate from scratch. The key is that with distributions of Windows, Unix like, Linux kernel, and Apple OS abroad, it is difficult to accept another new ecosystem. At that time, it will truly become us working behind closed doors, and it will lead to the fragmentation of the entire IT ecosystem.

The Linux kernel is the result of the long-term participation of global developers. At present, the code volume is about 30 million lines, and there is also a lot of code contributed by Chinese people. In recent years, domestic operating system manufacturers have also made necessary modifications and optimizations to the kernel.

Developing based on the Linux kernel is not like some people say, it's just a 'shell'. The workload involved here can be large or small. Developing desktop environments, optimizing performance, enhancing security and stability, and customizing features are all technically challenging.

Several major operating system brands in China have code volumes of over 100 million lines. Taking openEuler as an example, version 23.03 has a total of 730 million lines of code. The workload here is too hurtful and ignorant to be called 'shell stuffing'.

Of course, all along, we have been searching for open source code, making small modifications, and then marketing and packaging it, claiming to be "independently developed" and "completely domestically produced", in order to deceive national funds. There are also many such things. But we cannot generalize and kill with one stick.

There is a big difference between making operating systems, chips, and building atomic bombs. Operating systems and other software and hardware are all market-oriented things. We not only need to ensure that we can use it ourselves, but also find ways to make foreign users use it, and we need to be able to generate our own blood. So, choosing to use a popular Linux kernel abroad is not a problem.

The Linux kernel code is open and cannot hide backdoors. You don't have to worry about being tricked by certain countries, and your security can be guaranteed. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, we have also established a root community that does not rely on distribution controlled by other national institutions or enterprises, which further enhances security and reduces risks.

So, to summarize:

1. Developing based on the Linux kernel is an inevitable and correct choice for current domestic operating systems.

2. At present, there are many operating systems in China, strictly speaking, they cannot be called completely domestic operating systems, but should be called domestic Linux operating systems or domestic Linux distributions.

3. The level of localization ratio is measured by the amount of code. If the amount of original code is very low, you can also call him a 'shell'. But currently, several major companies in China are definitely not "nested", with massive amounts of code and effort inside.

4. At present, the mainstream operating systems in China can be considered as self-developed, but not completely self-developed. Unless you completely write the kernel yourself and turn it into pure blood.

5. Domestic production requires everyone's support. Scammers harm the country, and so do trolls harm the country. If possible, I hope everyone can give some opportunities to use domestic operating systems, provide feedback, and show more understanding and tolerance.

That's all, thank you for your patient reading!

reference:

1. A Brief History of Computer Development in China "by Tao Jianhua, Liu Ruiting, and others, Science and Technology News;

2. Review of the Development of Chinese Desktop Operating Systems: Half a Century of Floating and Sinking, Waiting for a Spark to Ignite the Prairie ", hot technology;

3. The rapid development of domestic operating systems makes it too early to participate in global competition, "Yan Cui, Securities Times;

4. 2022 China Operating System Development Research Report, EO Think Tank;

5. Domestic operating systems are about to change, "Zhou Xiangyue, from Shuzhi Frontline;

6. Zhongke Hongqi - A Typical Death of a Domestic Operating System ", commented by Yuanchuan Technology;

7. Official websites of various manufacturers;

8. Baidu Baike, Wikipedia, etc.

This article is from WeChat official account: WeChat official account (ID: null), by Xiao Zaojun

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国产操作系统的沉浮往事（下）

鲜枣课堂 2024/10/19 13:03:05 责编：梦泽

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