Chinese Firm Launches Cloud-Based Mobile OS 33
An anonymous reader writes "China-based company Alibaba looks to take on the might of Apple and Google with a cloud-based operating system. According to the company, its Aliyun OS will be based on the Linux kernel, and will also be compatible with Android apps. Launched alongside the K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700, Alibaba is hoping that a 0% slice of developer profits will encourage adoption, and says it hopes manufacturers will take the platform to global markets."
Translation (Score:1)
Translation: Yet another company takes Linux and other open source projects, throws their own logo and some custom linking code on it and declares "We've built our own OS!"
Re: (Score:2)
But this is ridiculous. It runs Android apps they proclaim! Well, that's likely because it's fucking Android with some custom logos.
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt it highly. It runs Linux, runs Android apps. This is a rebranded Android OS.
Chinese cloud smartphone (Score:1)
What a perfect method to spy on the user. Just silently change the cloud software, no way for the user to verify. Send them your data on a silver plater.
Re: (Score:2)
on a silver plater
English not being my native language, I had to look this one up:
plater
[pley-ter; for 2 also plat-er]
–noun
1. a person or thing that plates.
2. an inferior race horse.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
two "l"'s actually platter, a type of plate larger than a dining plate on which food is served,
I knew what "platter" was, I was just curious whether there was such a word as "plater" and if it existed, what it meant! :)
I find that just because the spellchecker doesn't highlight something certainly doesn't imply that it is correct. Just look at how many people there are that can't seem to distinguish between "their" and "there" or "it is", when written as a contraction and "its", the possessive pronoun. I guess after all proofreading is still useful!
Apps Are 'Cloud Based' Too (Score:2)
“Cloud apps live in the cloud, which means users don't have to download them and it is easier for the developer to make changes or updates as the end user doesn't have to change anything,” a spokesperson for the company told PC Pro. “The apps on the handset are more like a bookmark.”
I guess that means every change to the UI has to be sent to the phone? That's going to be a lot of bandwidth ... and slow. I guess they're aiming to part of the top 5% of users [slashdot.org] whose unlimited data is being throttled ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
bandwidth use is likely to be less of an issue in use than burning cpu for browsing phonebook as if you were browsing a heavy website.
I'd bitch more about the JS burning the cpu, than the quota. however, this may be a way around some patents? not that they matter in china. but globally, as the phone wouldn't actually be shipping with much software..
Security is NOT an issue with The Cloud. (Score:2, Funny)
Wait a minute. I'm a manager, and I've been reading a lot of case studies and watching a lot of webcasts about The Cloud. Based on all of this glorious marketing literature, I, as a manager, have absolutely no reason to doubt the safety of any data put in The Cloud.
The case studies all use words like "secure", "MD5", "RSS feeds" and "encryption" to describe the security of The Cloud. I don't know about you, but that sounds damn secure to me! Some Clouds even use SSL and HTTP. That's rock solid in my book.
An
Uncle Hu (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You can trust Uncle Hu.
Trust Uncle who?
(sorry)
That's Doctor Hu you insensitive clod.
Re: (Score:2)
And all you have to do is surrender all your data and privacy to the Chinese government, who will in no way use it to spy on you and make dissident "disappear". You can trust Uncle Hu.
And this is diffrent from Google how?
it's all about control (Score:2)
if china wanted to eat up android and iphone they would simply need tosell powerful hardware at no profit and a free / as in freedom variant of android plus the i/o options we've seen on the nokia n900. Users would say "hey i can do anything with this new phone!". After three years the market is theirs. Something like this worked for them before, as you can see every time you read "made in china".
Profit is not the objective, control is.
Since the trend in recent centuries is a decrease of freedom for the ave
Re: (Score:1)
Since the trend in recent centuries is a decrease of freedom for the average citizen (don't think about the ballots, or the miniskirt: think about being able to feed yourself, to build a house, to get clean water from a well....)
People have access to cleaner water, and a healthier diet now, than 200 years ago...and china is selling hardware. It's called Android, and iPhone
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Cleaner water... compare this to 200 yrs ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AtrazineUSAMap.png [wikipedia.org]
Why take a slice from the developer . . . (Score:2)
. . . when you can just take the development! Really, who is going to trust a:
1) Free
2) Chinese (with all the IP protection that supplies!)
3) Cloud
4) Startup
service with their lifeblood development work? Anyone?
Re: (Score:2)
FWIW, Alibaba isn't exactly a startup. They're probably the largest exporter of low-cost Chinese tech to the west, and have been for years.
Re: (Score:2)
I was more referring to the actual service. I figure most news-worthy chinese companies are probably quite well-established. Regardless of how much tech they export, though, it's still startup for cloud hosting.
Buzzword generator (Score:2)
I have also been working on a buzzworkd generator. I included words: Cloud-based, linux kernel, android, Mobile, platform, global marked. the OPs also included the words: virtual machine, apps, chinese, smartphone. What a powerful buzzword generator!
I am also impressed by the bold juxtaposition of buzzwords in one sentence: Android compatible Cloud-based linux kernel.
I hope nobody here on /. will destroy this beauty with any attempts at understanding what it is, or what it possibly can mean.
censorship in the cloud (Score:1)
Subject (Score:2)
Quick, I need 39 more guys - I've got a fantastic plan.
Alibaba? (Score:1)
Just what customers want (Score:1)