The first domestically developed system: from heroes to cottages, and finally return to the original intention

Three easy life

2024-04-30 19:22Posted on the official account of Hubei Sanyi Life

Foreword: The Hopen OS system ushered in the darkest hour

Starting from the fall of 2023, we have taken you back to the history of the first domestically developed operating system in the history of domestic consumer electronics through five articles, taking the collectibles we have on hand as an example.

As we mentioned earlier, Hopen OS has undergone a total of multiple target market transformations from computers to TV set-top boxes, to handheld computers, and then to smartphones from the beginning of its birth to the market struggle, and then to the abandonment of various partners.

From the end of 1998, when the relevant enterprises were formally established, to the completion of the research and development of NEC's last HopenOS engineering machine in 2005, and the abandonment of the market, in as long as 7 years, the biggest problem of this "domestic operating system" is that it has never been able to establish a consumer-oriented third-party software ecosystem. So much so that almost all HopenOS devices at that time had the embarrassment of "nominally being smart phones, but in fact they can't let users install software by themselves".

And judging from the several mobile phones in the Hopen OS 3.0 period at hand, there is actually a high degree of hardware homogeneity in the Hopen OS ecosystem, and different brands and models of Hopen OS mobile phones are exactly the same in terms of processor, screen, and even camera specifications. This not only makes it difficult for relevant manufacturers to make differentiated experiences, but also reflects the dilemma that Hopen OS is not active in hardware adaptation and has too few hardware partners.

Split the new company, Hopen OS's self-rescue attempt

In 2004, the leading company behind Hopen OS, Kaisi Haopeng, independently split its mobile phone-related business to form a new company called "Beijing Bodong Communication".

According to public information, the main purpose of this split is to reduce the "seriousness" of the Hopen OS mobile phone business, so as to attract more investors, especially overseas partners, and revitalize the ecology of Hopen OS mobile phones.

Judging from the results, we can't say that the independence of Hopen OS's mobile phone business is useless, because on the one hand, it did inject a little confidence into some established overseas partners, prompting "Hopen OS veteran users" such as NEC to make another effort in 2005 and make some new devices (although they were not released).

More importantly, through this split, Beijing Bomobil Communications successfully helped itself find a good "next home", that is, the famous MediaTek.

It was acquired by MediaTek, and then it became familiar to everyone

In 2006, MediaTek China Co., Ltd. wholly acquired Beijing Bodong with a 100% shareholding ratio and renamed it MediaTek Bodong Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Since then, some of the design and technical assets of Hopen OS have been absorbed by MediaTek.

Do you remember the shortcut design at the bottom of the screen that we emphasized many times when we showed the Hopen OS smartphone? After learning about MediaTek's acquisition, I looked back to see if this design immediately felt familiar.

That's right, judging from the current known information, MediaTek has indeed integrated it into its own design framework after obtaining the relevant technology of the Hopen OS mobile phone version, and has become the "iconic element" of MediaTek mobile phones for a long time.

And don't think that the MediaTek mobile phone program mentioned during this period is "copycat" and "parallel import". In fact, as we have said before, even these early "copycat machines" of MediaTek still have their own operating systems, and even have their own third-party software development tools and exclusive packet formats.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the software ecological problem that Hopen OS has not been able to solve for 7 years, but after it was merged into the MediaTek technology system, it was solved by the simple and crude way of "copycat machine".

Not only that, with MediaTek's strong cost control capabilities and intimate program R&D and delivery services at that time, whether it was a small-scale copycat mobile phone manufacturer or a really ambitious first-line brand, it could make quite creative and differentiated products with the help of those MediaTek mobile phone platforms at that time. So to a certain extent, the hardware homogenization problem that has plagued Hopen OS for many years has suddenly disappeared.

Having said all this, do these mean that the first domestic independent operating system ended its life by "integrating" into MediaTek's early copycat design?

In the name of the universe, MediaTek also ignited the dream of developing its own operating system

Not really. In fact, after MediaTek acquired some of the assets of Hopen OS, it was not completely focused on copycats, in fact, they were also focusing on "holding back big moves".

In 2011, MediaTek Chairman Tsai Mingjie once showed a touchscreen mobile phone called "Cosmos" in front of the media. At that time, many people thought that it was just another small brand supported by MediaTek. However, with the lifting of the ban on related technical data, it was discovered that "Cosmos" is actually a set of its own operating system redeveloped by MediaTek after integrating the previous copycat operating system (also known as MTK OS) and Hopen OS-related technologies.

We have the MediaTek Cosmos system at hand

According to public information, the Cosmos system adopts a full touch screen operation logic, the interface has been greatly redesigned, and it also has a variety of card-based application logic. Of course, it also supports its own vxp software package format, and is still compatible with the mre software extension of the previous MTK OS.

Cosmos actually has its own software stack, but it's not well known to the general public

The problem is that iOS and Android have already started a period of rapid development in 2011. MediaTek's Cosmos has a good system fluency, a gorgeous interface, and rich game APP resources based on the previous copycat era. But after all, it still failed to attract the attention of the mainstream market, so much so that many merchants selling Cosmos models at the time only called it a "semi-smart phone", which means a touchscreen phone that looks like Android or iOS, but does not have the latter two mainstream software installed.

Cosmos can be compatible with the previous MediaTek mre game ecosystem

From the typography of the setting options, you can vaguely see the relevance of Cosmos to Hopen OS

As a result, the end of the Cosmos system can be imagined, and MediaTek did not dwell on it for too long, and soon embraced the Android ecosystem. And this also means that the Hopen OS assets acquired by it are naturally equivalent to falling silent again.

The Hopen OS phone is over, but it's finally back to its original intentions

Do you think that's the end of the story? No, no. As we mentioned earlier, Hopen OS was not an operating system focused on mobile phones from the beginning, in fact, its exploration in the fields of handheld computers and mobile phones is more like various attempts by related companies for commercial considerations. Even if it is finally acquired, it is only a separate business branch of mobile phones, and the real "head" of Hopen OS is still in the hands of Kaisi Haopeng.

Because of this, it can be seen on the official website of Kaisihao that although Hopen OS has basically stopped mentioning product information related to mobile phones since 2010, they have actually never stopped developing new versions of the system. Whether it is rumored to have adapted to 3G mobile phones, or even compatible with early Android software Hopen OS4.0, or later Hopen wireless sensor operating system and Hopen Internet of Things system, in fact, they have achieved a considerable degree of commercial success and become the setter of some industry standards.

In 2021, Kaisi Haopeng even posted on the official website to announce the "restart of the Nuwa plan", claiming to start the iterative upgrade of the Hopen OS embedded system again. After nearly a year of silence, the new Hopen OS in 2023 announced that it has completed the adaptation of multiple domestic processor architectures and application scenarios, and won the award of excellent products at the 25th "Hi-Tech Fair".

After nearly 30 years of development, Hopen OS has returned to its original positioning

Of course, this does mean that after nearly 30 years of hard work, Hopen OS has indeed given up on the consumer market to a certain extent, and no longer wants to compete with overseas competitors for the share of consumers. It has reverted to the position it had when it was first unveiled at the end of 1998, silently serving the not-so-"smart" application fields such as industrial equipment, the Internet of Things, and critical infrastructure, to ensure the basic security and controllability of these fields.

From this point of view, of course, we can still say that Hopen OS has failed in the mobile phone market, but Hopen OS's own spirit of repeated defeats and defeats, as well as its final positioning of "returning to the original intention", are worthy of our respect for the originator of this domestic operating system.

[Some of the pictures in this article are from the Internet]

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