Can the Open-Source Ubuntu System Help Huawei—and Global Smartphone Makers—Break the Deadlock?

Can the Open-Source Ubuntu System Help Huawei—and Global Smartphone Makers—Break the Deadlock?

Google’s sudden ban has made Huawei’s situation even worse. Although the restriction has had almost no impact on users in China, it has been devastating for Huawei’s strategically crucial European market. And this kind of devastating blow could just as easily fall on any other smartphone maker at any time. As globalization continues along a path that no external force can permanently block, Huawei and other phone companies obviously cannot simply retreat entirely to the domestic market. And even if they did, that still would not spare them from being hit. In the face of such pressure, self-reliance is the only option.

Huawei has announced that its own operating system would be released no later than autumn, but first it must have the toughness and resilience to survive what may be its coldest summer yet. Whether this operating system, codenamed “Hongmeng,” can meet Huawei’s hopes and expectations remains an open question. At the same time, for other smartphone makers whose technological reserves are not as strong as Huawei’s, the question is even more urgent: how should they respond?

In my view, compared with Hongmeng, there is actually another operating system that may be more viable for domestic smartphone platforms: the Ubuntu mobile operating system, which has now become something of an abandoned child. The general public knows little about Ubuntu, but in the open-source Linux world, Ubuntu has always occupied a very important place. If one day Microsoft were also to ban Chinese companies from using Windows—though even today many people still use pirated copies of Windows—then turning to the open-source Linux world and choosing Ubuntu (or perhaps CentOS, OpenSUSE, or Fedora) as a strategic direction might still be the best option for Chinese software companies.

And under the influence of the open-source spirit of the Linux world, even a company as powerful as Google cannot ban the parts of Android that are inherited from Linux’s open-source ecosystem. It can only restrict certain frameworks and services provided by Google itself—services that, outside China, have become deeply integrated with Android through extensive customization. The success of Android also demonstrates the greatness and reliability of Linux as an operating system. It is something worth trusting.

When Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, announced that it would develop Ubuntu Touch for smartphones, Linux users around the world were thrilled. Ubuntu also moved away from the KDE and GNOME desktop environments in its 16.04 release and instead developed the more universal Unity desktop environment, with the goal of creating consistency across phones, tablets, and desktop computers. Even more exciting was the fact that Meizu partnered with Canonical to launch the first Ubuntu phone.

Aside from the fact that its compatibility and app ecosystem were far weaker than those of mature Android and iOS platforms, there was actually nothing seriously wrong with the operating system itself. Its only real problem was bad timing.

Under the crushing dominance of Android and iOS, even the alliance of giants like Microsoft and Nokia failed to survive. By comparison, the much smaller Canonical had even less of a chance. Ubuntu’s mobile operating system ultimately proved more successful in demonstrating technical possibilities than in sustaining itself in the marketplace. Faced with many practical constraints, Canonical abandoned the entire project in 2017, including the Unity desktop environment. For Linux enthusiasts around the world, it was a moment of deep darkness.

Yet the Ubuntu mobile system left behind in the open-source community is more like a spark—one still waiting for a chance to be rekindled. And perhaps now is exactly the right moment.

If domestic manufacturers stop harboring even the slightest illusion of luck, then their combined strength should be far greater than Canonical’s once was. If they begin with Ubuntu Touch, which already has a meaningful foundation, then perhaps they could carve out a new space beyond the camps of iOS and Android. Huawei’s experience is only the beginning, not the end. Anywhere outside the United States could potentially face a fatal blow from Google of this kind. And when the open-source spirit of Linux inherited by Android is being undermined so casually by a company like Google, I believe the world needs a third option.

Among all possible choices, Ubuntu surely deserves to be one of them.

Note: The word “Ubuntu” comes from African Bantu languages and originally carries the humane idea of “I am because we are,” or roughly, “all for one, one for all.”