Earlier this month, the U.S. government fired a salvo at China in the ongoing trade way between the two countries. The Trump Administration but a ban on Huawei products, prompting giants like Google and Microsoft to cut ties with the Chinese company.
While Google cutting Android support from Huawei caught the headlines, Microsoft also cut support on Windows 10. If losing Android scuttled Huawei's smartphone ship on a global level, Microsoft's decision ended any PC hopes the company had.
There have been reports the Chinese government is willing to hit back against the U.S. by banning Microsoft, Apple, and Google products in the country.
In terms of Microsoft, China will reportedly stop using Windows and instead use a proprietary operating system. While the government cites security concerns, the more obvious reason is retaliation against the United States.
Not that those security concerns are without merit. For all the moaning the U.S. does about Chinese cyber-spying, its own cyber network has its own share shadows. Either way, the Chinese government has mandated the People's Liberation Army with crafting its own OS through the Internet Security Information Leadership Group.
This seems like it will be an entirely new platform, not even Linux-based, because the Chinese are worried the U.S. government has already compromised the open source OS.
Fallout
There's no doubt that Huawei's ambitions were severely hit by U.S. companies turning their back on it. In terms of mobile, the company has been forced into creating its own operating system and trying to convince users to adopt it. While that may be possible, Huawei's mobile prospects outside Asia are all but dead.
While China is a huge market, U.S. companies have struggled to gain traction in it, especially Google and Microsoft. In other words, a ban on their services in the country will unlikely cause too much financial harm. Certainly not on the scale of problems Huawei now faces.
