Bad news for Microsoft as Huawei starts shipping Matebooks with Linux

Huawei’s struggles with the US government is still far from over, with the company currently only 30 days into a 90-day reprieve from the US Commerce Department’s ban which prevents US companies from trading with the Chinese giant.

While there is a possibility that this reprieve will be extended again and again, there is also the possibility that come December Huawei will no longer have access to Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.

On smartphones, Huawei is working on Harmony OS to replace Android.  While this operating system could run on the desktop it would need a lot more development.

There is however a readymade free OS for the desktop already, Linux, and today Betanews reports that Huawei has started selling their MateBook 13, MateBook 14, and MateBook X Pro running the OS in China.

The company is running the Deepin distribution in particular which is a Chinese branch of Debian, which has been called “the single most beautiful desktop on the market”. The distribution ships many open-source and proprietary programs such as Google Chrome, Spotify and Steam. It also includes a software suite of applications developed by Deepin Technology, as well as WPS Office and CodeWeavers’ CrossOver.

With desktop app usage increasingly moving to the web and users therefore increasingly OS-agnostic, there is an increasing opportunity for companies to push alternative desktop operating systems such as ChromeOS and of course Linux.

There is, of course, little odds than 2019 will the year of Linux on the desktop, but if US trade wars continue to impede the viability of global operating systems companies may have little choice but to look at less encumbered options.