AliOS (formerly YunOS and Aliyun OS) is a

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

developed by

Alibaba Cloud Alibaba Cloud, also known as Aliyun (), is a cloud computing company, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group. Alibaba Cloud provides cloud computing services to online businesses and Alibaba's own e-commerce ecosystem. Its international operations are re ...

, a subsidiary of Mainland Chinese company Alibaba Group. It is designed for smart cars and

Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

(IoT) devices, and it had been used as a

mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablet computer, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal computing, personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobi ...

History

On 28 July 2011,

confirmed the existence of its own mobile operating system, the YunOS. The system was described as the result of three years of development and uses Alibaba Cloud's self-developed distributed file system and virtual machine, making it fully compatible with Android-based applications. With its YunOS, the company is challenging the dominant Android in China and is also looking to expand into Western markets. It was first used in the K-Touch W700 in 2011. As of May 2012, 1 million YunOS-powered smartphones have been sold. It was expected to become the second biggest operating system in China by shipments at the end of 2016, with 14% of the market. The latest publicly available version of YunOS, YunOS 5 Atom, as a forked version of Android 6.0, was released on 10 December 2015. In October 2017, Alibaba Group decided to upgrade its operating system strategy to focus investment on the burgeoning

sector. As part of the move, Alibaba rebranded its YunOS operating system as AliOS, an operating system offering OS solutions for automobile, industrial and IoT devices. At the same time, Alibaba introduced an open-source IoT edition of AliOS, named as AliOS Things.

Overview

AliOS revolves around the idea of bringing

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

functionality to smart devices. According to the company, AliOS will feature cloud-based e-mail, Web search, weather updates, and GPS navigation tools. In addition, the AliOS services will synchronize and store call data, text messages, and photos in the cloud for access across other devices, including personal computers. Alibaba says it will offer customers 100 GB of storage at launch. AliOS would allow users to access applications from the Web, rather than download apps to their devices. In the meantime, AliOS Things, as a lightweight IoT embedded operating system for the IoT field, would be suitable for all kinds of small loT devices, and can be widely used in smart home, smart city, new travel and other fields.

Relations with Android

According to

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, AliOS is a forked but incompatible version of its open-source Android operating system. Google therefore attempted to prevent Acer Inc. from shipping an AliOS-powered phone, arguing that Acer, a member of the

Open Handset Alliance The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a consortium of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. Member firms include HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Google, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, T-Mobile, ...

, had agreed not to produce phones running incompatible Android versions.

Andy Rubin Andrew E. Rubin is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Rubin founded Android Inc. in 2003, which was acquired by Google in 2005; Rubin served as a Google vice president for 9 years and led Google's efforts in ...

, who at the time was in charge of the Android division at Google, stated that while AliOS is not part of the Android ecosystem, it uses runtimes, framework and various tools from Android. Alibaba disputes the claim that AliOS is a version of Android by stating the following:

"Aliyun OS ow ''AliOS''incorporates its own virtual machine, which is different from Android's Dalvik virtual machine. AliOS' runtime environment, which is the core of the OS, consists of both its own Java virtual machine, which is different from Android’s Dalvik virtual machine, and its own cloud app engine, which supports HTML5 web applications. AliOS uses some of the Android application framework and tools (open source) merely as a patch to allow AliOS users to enjoy third-party apps in addition to the cloud-based AliOS apps in our ecosystem."

However, as of September 2012, the AliOS app store still contains some pirated Android applications, including many from Google.

AliOS Things

AliOS Things is the IoT version of AliOS announced and open-sourced in 2017. It is designed for low power, resource constrained MCUs, as well as connectivity

SoCs SOCS (suppressor of cytokine signaling proteins) refers to a family of genes involved in inhibiting the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Genes * CISH * SOCS1 * SOCS2 * SOCS3 * SOCS4 * SOCS5 * SOCS6 * SOCS7 Suppressor of cytokine signaling 7 is a ...

. AliOS Things comes in two editions, one based on the Linux kernel and the other based on Rhino, Alibaba's

RTOS A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS) for real-time applications that processes data and events that have critically defined time constraints. An RTOS is distinct from a time-sharing operating system, such as Unix, which ...

kernel.

Controversy

In 2015 November, following Chinese

State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterpr ...

's policy, dozens of third-party applications installed by users on their own YunOS

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...

es were automatically removed and blocked from re-installation.

References