The day where I can use a Chinese made laptop with RISC-V running Linux-libre will be glorious .
Getting rid of Windows
Damn, that comes with some pretty incredible implications about domestically made chips
Huawei already makes Linux phones using ARM chips so the groundwork is already laid.
For sure, I very much expect a lot of RISCV based designs on the market in the near future. This also opens up possibility for doing SoC style architecture like Apple M series. Moving away from the legacy x86 design creates a lot of possibilities for performance and power usage improvements.
NASA recently standardized on RISC-V for future space-based computers.. The idea is to have a standardized CPU that’s radiation-hardened, has a minimal power draw when inactive, but has the computing power necessary to handle high-performance operations with reliability at critical times (course corrections, landing sequences, command-and-control of sensors when doing rapid flybys, etc). And they want to be able to use multiple CPU vendors without having to make hardware or software redesigns of their own.
ridiculous that they haven’t done this already. Also there have been like 2 previous announcements like this already, aimed at not using Windows for government stuff.
The Intel and AMD stuff is bigger news I think.
It also really should be more far-reaching. Why should people’s personal data be susceptible to surveillance?
If they promoted using Linux on personal computers, it might encourage video game developers to ensure better compatibility with Linux as well, although that obviously isn’t important in the grands scheme of things.
I imagine it’s a really difficult task to migrate decades of data and processes that were built around using windows. It’s not just the internal stuff the government uses, but also making sure you can still interoperate with all the contractors. Like if the government works with a company and they send a word doc, can you still read it, etc. I’m not surprised it’s taking a while to do.
I do think that this is necessarily going to lead to a lot more Linux usage in China though. Once the government starts using it in full, a lot of resources will be poured into polishing rough edges. And migrating off x86 opens up a lot of possibilities for Linux as well. For example, companies like Huawei could start making RISCV based laptops that work similarly to M series from Apple. This architecture allows for much faster and more power efficient chips.
