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Chinese Firm Launches Cloud-Based Mobile OS
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: 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!"
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
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.
“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 whose unlimited data is being throttled ;-)
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.
And don't forget that you have to use Web Services to access The Cloud. Nothing is more secure than SOA and Web Services, with the exception of perhaps SaaS. But I think that Cloud Services 2.0 will combine the tiers into an MVC-compliant stack that uses SaaS to increase the security and partitioning of the data.
My main concern isn't with the security of The Cloud, but rather with getting my Indian team to learn all about it so we can deploy some first-generation The Cloud applications and Web Services to provide the ultimate platform upon which we can layer our business intelligence and reporting, because there are still a few verticals that we need to leverage before we can move to The Cloud 2.0.
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.
Monstar L
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 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....) the chinese have simply skipped a couple generations of too "independent" phone models.
We should import it, calling it "mark of the beast".
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
. . . 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?
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.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
How convenient, a one stop shop to delete the pesky embarrassing dissident mobile photos and videos.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
Another Linux with another name.
Quick, I need 39 more guys - I've got a fantastic plan.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
I was under the impression that alibaba is nothing more than an international trade portal. I think someone got confused here, I know I am.
Just what customers want, to be part of the Chicom cloud.
an ill wind that blows no good