Science and Technology Cloud Report: Can Domestic Desktop Operating Systems "Replace" Windows?

The original report of the technology cloud.

Have you ever used a domestic desktop operating system? I believe that most people's answer to this question is "no".

Maybe you have learned about the domestic desktop operating system with interest, and know that there are domestic brands such as UnionTech, Kirin, Hongqi, etc., but you still use Windows or macOS, and your impression of the domestic desktop operating system is still in the stage of poor functions and stuck operation.

In fact, China has been exploring in the field of operating systems for more than 30 years, and in recent years, with the support of information and innovation policies, some well-known domestic desktop operating systems have completed the adaptation of mainstream CPUs and architectures, and have been gradually applied to information innovation, finance, telecommunications, medical and other fields.

At this stage, the domestic desktop operating system is no longer what it was back then, and it is no longer a question of "yes or no" and "whether it can be used", but a question of "whether it is good or not".

Recently, UnionTech released an annual functional version update, and the latest desktop operating system V20 Professional Edition (1070) has been upgraded again in many aspects such as design, intelligence, and operation.

So, can the new domestic desktop operating system replace Windows?

Newly upgraded domestic desktop operating system

After 40 years of development, the Windows desktop operating system has formed a near-monopoly position in the Chinese market. It is undeniable that in the consumer market, there is still a gap between domestic desktop operating systems and Windows. However, in the enterprise market, the performance of domestic desktop operating systems has been unyielding.

For example, UnionTech UOS Professional Edition is the Windows Government Procurement Edition or Windows Enterprise Edition, which is aimed at government and enterprise industry users such as government, state-owned enterprises, and finance.

At present, in terms of functions, UnionTech UOS has basically caught up with Windows 7 and partially surpassed Windows 10.

For example, in the latest version of UnionTech Desktop OS V20 (1070), file management supports the expansion of folders in a tree structure, and also has a more flexible file management view, which is convenient for users to find files in hundreds or thousands of directories.

In terms of collaboration, after establishing cross-terminal collaboration, the initiator's keyboard and mouse can directly control the receiver, the mouse can penetrate to another device in the set direction, and the device where the mouse is located can also respond to keyboard input. In addition, two devices in cross-device collaboration can share a clipboard and complete file transfer.

The taskbar on the desktop has also been optimized, adding a large number of functional plug-ins such as eye protection mode, Do Not Disturb mode, clipboard, brightness, performance mode, wireless screen mirroring, music, etc., which can be operated through the quick settings panel or dragged to the taskbar.

In terms of appearance, the 1070 version of the zoom effect adds the animation effect of window opening, closing, maximization, and minimization, as well as static effects such as rounded corners, shadows, and blur, and the display effect of the wine program will be significantly improved. At the same time, its "interface and effect" provides the best effect, balance, and best performance in three modes, which can meet the personalized needs of different users.

In addition, UnionTech UOS also provides a variety of application products, such as centralized domain management platform, enterprise-level app store, privatized update management platform, cloud printing, cloud scanning, rainbow platform migration software, etc., which support customized development and proprietary environment deployment to fully support the business needs of users in key industries.

For example, its built-in system repair tool can automatically fix common abnormal problems in the system; It supports full-machine backup, which can realize "one-click cloning" of the system environment and quickly restore the working environment; It supports one-click data migration from Windows/UOS devices, including files, applications, configurations, etc., and also supports online transmission and offline import.

In the on-site experience activity of UnionTech UOS V20 (1070) version, some users said that if they did not know in advance that they were experiencing a domestic operating system, they could not distinguish the difference from Windows in terms of appearance design and operation experience, and the use experience was very smooth.

In general, the domestic desktop operating system represented by UnionTech UOS has been transformed from usable to easy to use, and can be replaced by Windows in scenarios such as daily office and system management.

It is worth noting that for users in specific industries such as government, finance, and education, UnionTech UOS fully supports mainstream CPU architectures and domestic CPU platforms, and is widely compatible with domestic accessories and peripherals, which has stronger advantages in localization service capabilities, security, customized development and adaptation, and services.

According to the data released at the 2023 China Operating System Industry Conference, UnionTech UOS desktop has shipped more than 6 million units, and 70% of China's party and government, 80% of central state-owned enterprises, 65% of ministries and commissions, 90% of finance, and 90% of education's core and general business systems are running on UnionTech UOS.

Domestic desktop operating systems may usher in new opportunities

It is not difficult to find that the domestic desktop operating system represented by UnionTech has steadily increased its market share in the domestic market and has achieved large-scale application in key industries. From the perspective of technical level, product functions, user experience, etc., the gap with international counterparts such as Windows is gradually narrowing.

Why has the domestic desktop operating system made great progress in terms of functional experience, but it still has not entered the broad consumer market?

At the end of the day, the biggest sticking point is ecology. Ecology is an unavoidable keyword for the operating system, and for domestic operating systems, the core and most related to user experience is the application ecology adapted to the system.

It is easy to build a system, but it is difficult to build an ecology. Over the years, many domestic operating systems have been eliminated from the market because of the lack of ecology and the inability to form a virtuous circle.

The difficulty of ecological construction lies in the fact that, based on historical reasons, most of the software and hardware are not adapted to the domestic operating system, for example, many foreign industry software only have Windows versions, and do not provide adaptation for the domestic system, so the domestic system needs to be continuously reversely adapted.

In the process of adaptation, some software and hardware manufacturers have long ceased to exist or stopped updating their versions, and some manufacturers have insufficient adaptation power due to small scale, all of which have brought a lot of resistance to the construction of the domestic desktop operating system ecosystem.

The ecological barriers that Windows has formed after 40 years of development are not something that can be broken through in a short period of time. If the domestic desktop operating system wants to form a large-scale software and hardware ecosystem, on the one hand, it can accelerate the construction of the domestic ecosystem with the help of the spring breeze of the localization substitution of the national information and innovation industry; On the other hand, it is also necessary to find an opportunity to overtake in a corner.

There is a view in the industry that there will be a leapfrog development opportunity for the operating system every 20 years or so, the computing environment has undergone great changes, and the operating system will also be updated, and the corresponding application scenarios will show an order of magnitude growth, forming a rich industrial ecology around the operating system.

Now, the advent of the AIGC era may be such an excellent opportunity.

Both the AI model and the operating system can be regarded as infrastructure, but the two complement each other, the AI model can give the operating system more powerful intelligent processing capabilities, and the operating system, as the core of the digital world, can provide a stable, efficient, and safe operating environment for the AI model.

Once the domestic desktop operating system is deeply integrated with the AI model, it can create a new operating system paradigm and release new productivity. Just like the previous DOS from the command line to Windows, from Windows to the iPhone, every new way of interaction has led to the emergence of the world's number one operating system company.

At present, international manufacturers have begun to deploy AI large models, such as Copilot, which has been added to the entire desktop operating system by Microsoft. Domestic manufacturers such as UnionTech have also entered this stage synchronously and are standing on the same starting line.

In September last year, UnionTech Software released UOS AI. In the newly released 1070 version, the built-in UOS AI assistant has been connected to 10+ applications to complete the access and management of Baidu, iFLYTEK, Zhipu, and 360 intelligent brain models, and in addition to cloud large models, local models are also supported, and functions such as Wensheng diagrams, voice input and reading can also be used offline, which is more suitable for business trip office scenarios.

Zhao Dongbai, product director of UnionTech Software, said that it is a very big challenge to integrate the interaction between natural language and operating system, and once this challenge is overcome, the operating system will usher in huge industrial opportunities.

At present, UnionTech's idea of building an AI desktop operating system is to do a good job in connecting the AI industry chain: first, to provide an operating system to connect AI models and computing power platforms; The second is to provide an AI middle layer to link applications and AI models; Third, in the operating system scenario, we provide a basket of solutions for customers' rigid and high-frequency needs to help customers make their business AI-based and achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase.

Not only that, the ecological construction around the AI desktop operating system has been started simultaneously. It is reported that UOS AI has built the country's first system-level application development framework, enabling ecological partners to share AI development capabilities. Through the UOS AI Unified API, applications can obtain the AI capabilities of popular models without configuration, including text chat, graphics processing, speech recognition, and synthesis.

In this way, the synchronous start of the domestic desktop operating system in the AI era, as well as the new ecosystem built around the domestic AI industry chain, have allowed us to see a new dawn in the long-term problem of ecological breakthrough of the operating system.

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