Riding the wind of rebirth

“For the current home information system environment, our system is indeed too large,” Zhou Zhi patiently explained. “But this is based on the fact that the current home information system environment is generally measured in 10G units. As long as the home storage environment can reach hundreds of gigabytes and the memory can reach gigabytes, is this still a problem?”

"All problems are relative. The biggest advantage of a large system is its comprehensive functionality and complete peripheral drivers."

"Moreover, most of our current application environments are set up for enterprise information office use, with the system concentrated on the server. For the server system, our operating system is not large, and all users share it through terminal login. If you add up the total number of system users, the per capita capacity of the operating system in the entire system is much lower than that of the Windows and iOS operating systems. Currently, enterprise group users are the main users of our operating system. Therefore, this disadvantage is not a disadvantage for our current users, but rather an advantage."

"However, this problem also needs to be solved at the level of personal operating systems." Hu Changfeng also admitted that what Zhou Zhi said was true, but still raised his own doubts: "As far as the current personal operating systems are concerned, our own products are still somewhat different from the WIN series and the iOS series."

“Yes, if we're just talking about personal operating systems, our system does indeed lag behind the Windows and iOS series.” Zhou Zhi straightened up: “Our current solution to this problem is to introduce new tools and methods that we call ‘cloning’.”

"clone?"

"We first install the basic operating system on the most representative models, such as x86 series models that are compatible with Windows, Apple models that are compatible with Apple iOS, and COS models that are compatible with our own non-linear computing chips. After installing the operating system, we copy the installation data from the hard drive in the form of a QR code to form a large installation file, and then use a porting tool to replicate it onto the user's host. In this way, the user's host can have a basic operating system at a very fast speed."

"The remaining installation work is actually just adjusting the hard drive size, installing peripheral drivers, and adapting some clocks and upgrade packages. It's easy and convenient, and can greatly improve the user experience."

"The problem of slow installation caused by the large size of the system can be basically solved by this method."

"That's not a bad idea. It actually skips the tedious operating system installation process by copying the data. They really know how to use their brains," Hu Changfeng laughed.

"This is a method that Yang He came up with. They have been working on the front line of installation for a long time and are also annoyed by the tedious operations. The R&D personnel in the laboratory will not think about these problems, so practice makes perfect."

"So, the first two problems have been basically solved. The only remaining issue is poor maintainability."

"We have also conducted in-depth research on this topic, but after our research, we found that the answer to this question is completely different from what everyone imagined."

"Oh?"

"Our research has revealed that the so-called poor system maintainability, if we only look at the maintenance steps for solving problems, is actually quite similar across the three operating systems. The reason why our system stands out in this aspect is ultimately due to something else."

"Where?"

"The problem lies in the user's familiarity with the system," Zhou Zhi said. "We have summarized this issue into a specific term—the operating system ecosystem." "The so-called operating system ecosystem refers to the comprehensive system built around the operating system, including software and hardware adaptation, developer communities, application support, and many other aspects. It is not only the key to the success of the operating system, but also the core of the collaborative development of the upstream and downstream of the industry chain."

"It can be said that software adaptation, hardware adaptation, and user intuition constitute the core elements of the ecosystem."

"Right now we're just talking about user intuition. Users here are divided into many levels, including system developers, application developers, application users, and so on. The more familiar these users are with the system, the better their experience will be during the development and use process. Conversely, they will develop better products, produce higher usage rates, and become more dependent on the system."

"To achieve such intuition, there is another layer of meaning, which is that the scale of system software adaptation and hardware adaptation must be large enough, the level must be deep enough, the types of tasks that can be carried out must be numerous and complex enough, and the processing must be convenient at the same time."

"There's another layer, which is the sheer number of users."

"All these factors will provide a positive incentive for the development of the operating system, just like a healthy ecosystem in which all members can thrive and have the best experience."

"Conversely, if any level fails to make significant progress, it could lead to the collapse of the system."

"We have learned a profound lesson from this." Hu Changfeng pointed out the truth: "The two early projects failed because the ecosystem was not established. There was only supply and no demand, which meant that we could produce wafers, but there were no supporting chips; we could produce chips, but there were no supporting designs; we could support designs, but the products did not meet market demand and there were no supporting users! In the end, the entire industry could not be developed."

"But when we shifted our thinking and considered the entire chain from wafer to user, we selected smart storage chip cards as a widely applicable product, and then rebuilt a comprehensive cultivation path from production to consumption. Even though our earliest smart storage chips could only store 256 bits of data, they still captured a broad application market such as bank cards, electronic tickets, campus cards, and corporate attendance cards."

"That's right!" Zhou Zhi clapped his hands and laughed: "This is the effect of considering the problem from the perspective of industrial ecosystem!"

"It seems you've done in-depth thinking and research. Come on, tell me in detail." Hu Changfeng laughed. "You just praised Yang He, now I want to praise you. Like Yang He, you and Xiao Miao have been fighting on the front lines of the application market for a long time. What you just said applies to you as well—R&D personnel in the laboratory don't think about these issues, so practice makes perfect!"

"Thank you for the compliment, Lord Hu." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Then I will report our current research results to you."

"First of all, the good news is the basis and source of our confidence. As I just reported to you, in terms of technical architecture and capabilities alone, our operating system is already comparable to Windows and macOS. Especially in large-scale business systems such as B/S that are built with servers and terminals, our advantages far exceed those of Windows and macOS, and it has become the preferred ecosystem architecture for this type of system."

"But next, we'll talk about our shortcomings."

"First and foremost, there's the extreme scarcity of personal user applications. Data shows that there are currently over a million applications on both the Windows and macOS platforms. Our current application library has fewer than fifty thousand applications." (End of Chapter)