On October 20, 2008, many Chinese netizens received a computer notification from Microsoft, saying that if they used pirated Office, the computer would not only "black screen once an hour", but also a permanent pop-up prompt for piracy.
This invasion in the name of defending the genuine version not only triggered user anger, but also aroused the discussion and reflection of the IT community, the legal community and even the whole people. While waiting for the black screen, netizens created their own memes, "I may be a beneficiary of software piracy," to satirize Microsoft pop-ups. For a time, tv and newspapers were following up on the developments, and CCTV summarized it in eight big characters, "Man is a knife trick, I am a fish meat."
"China has been hijacked by Microsoft!" Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, shouted. He has been campaigning for domestic alternatives for many years, and called on the industry to "have no independent and controllable software, and ensuring information security is just empty words."
Just a week after the black screen incident, the China Computer Society publicly stated that it "advocates the use of genuine versions, but opposes Microsoft's black screen." At the symposium to discuss countermeasures, 90% of experts questioned Microsoft's "hacking methods" and believed that they could not ignore the law to punish piracy on their own.
The legal community generally believes that Microsoft is "unfounded by the law", and experts have refuted Microsoft's actions from various angles such as copyright law and anti-monopoly law. More lawyers reported to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine three times in a row after the incident, believing that the black screen meant that the hackers had also left a backdoor, pointing out that the Microsoft system was flawed.[12]
Although the black screen operation eventually ended with the Chinese government's persuasion, the discussion of the "black screen shame" in society left the collective memory of "technology is subject to people".
This is the first time that China has experienced a large-scale and even national "card neck" incident. At that time, no one knew that after more than a decade, "hijacking" would penetrate deep into the capillaries of software. But fortunately, one company not only uses software with completely independent property rights to fill the gap of domestic design software, but also unites a number of industry head enterprises to open co-creation, to achieve domestic substitution and seize the opportunity.
Looking back at the long thirty years of domestic substitution, it is a transformation from passive beating to active attack.
01
From the "Go IOE" movement to the "Card Neck"
After the trade war, various cases of stuck necks have made the voice of domestic substitution and independence resound in the air. However, domestic substitution is not a new concept, as early as the 90s to explore the domestic operating system, to the domestic initiative to launch the "to IOE", have witnessed the pace of domestic substitution.
Although the black screen incident has made a large-scale popular science education alternative to domestic production, the first real successful precedent began with the server and database.
In 2013, the "prism door" of the United States was exposed, and technology giants such as Apple and Google were "accomplices", and the world was shocked to feel that it was in the airtight monitoring. The US surveillance of China has gone beyond universities and even penetrated into business and politics. This depth charge bomb makes the Chinese people feel the urgency of software autonomy and control. Therefore, The country spontaneously promoted a "de-IOE" campaign.
"IOE" refers to IBM's minicomputers, Oracle Oracle's databases, and EMC's high-end storage. "Going to IOE" was first practiced by Ali, and later became a wave sweeping the financial industry.
With the soaring volume of Taobao business, traditional IOE is difficult to meet the needs of e-commerce and the cost of equipment is high. Ali is unwilling to let "IBM's iron shelf (server) lie down to take away Taobao profits", and does not want the core business to be controlled by others, so since 2009, it has begun to use domestic solutions to "IOE".
The solution replaces minicomputers with cheap PC servers, Replaces Oracle with self-developed databases (OceanBase), and Alibaba Cloud hosts EMC storage. In 2013, Alibaba's last IBM minicomputer rolled off the production line, and Alibaba Cloud also moved from self-use to commercial use.
In the same year, the "prism gate" made the world pay attention to information security, and "de-IOE" also evolved from individual behavior to industry consensus. Especially in the financial industry, IOE has always been the golden structure of IT, and overseas manufacturers hold the pricing power of the system. As a result, "going to IOE" has become a top-down long march for the financial industry.
Although the government advocates that banks reduce IOE dependence on domestic brands, compared with the replacement of individual enterprises, financial security is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and it is related to the underlying technical route, which is very difficult to promote.
First of all, the four major commercial banks in China, from the central bank to the workers and peasants, were the first to build business platforms and data centers without IBM. When you want to go to IOE, you first face the sky-high replacement cost, not only to rewrite the code, reorganize the technical architecture, but also involve how to safely transfer data [4].
In addition, because the various links of IOE cooperate with each other and cannot be replaced individually, it is difficult for domestic brands to come up with a complete set of solutions in a short period of time, and it is difficult to meet the needs of large systems. For example, the business volume of the four major banks of the Workers' and Peasants' Construction Is more than 100 million yuan every day, and the major headquarters also has branches and tens of thousands of outlets [3]. With such a huge amount of data, only IBM's mainframe is stable and secure enough.
The high cost of technology replacement and the immature domestic solution make the road to IOE for large banks protracted. Internet banks and small and medium-sized banks with small business volumes rely on open source databases and domestic servers to achieve ioE substitution in small steps.
However, the successful experience of Xinchuang Software has not been reproduced in the field of chip semiconductors. When the US sanctions struck, the technical attack was constrained, the survival time was compressed, and the road to domestic substitution fell into anxiety again.
On August 7, 2020, Huawei ushered in a tragic moment. Since TSMC is no longer OEM, Yu Chengdong publicly said that the HiSilicon Kirin high-end chip has been "out of print", and the Mate40 is afraid to become the song of Huawei's high-end mobile phones. This also means that for a long time, domestic mobile phones will be difficult to compete with Apple in the field of high-end machines.
The entity list not only choked Huawei's throat, but also sanctioned a number of Chinese companies such as chip semiconductors and artificial intelligence, which also forced the transformation and upgrading of domestic high-tech industries.
Although they are all domestic alternatives, unlike the "de-IOE" movement, the former is a prepared active innovation, and the latter is a passive response to survival.
Although it is difficult for the financial industry to "go to IOE", because it has not yet been cut off, the government has the initiative to replace it, and domestic brands have enough time to accumulate. However, the industry that was stuck in the neck after the trade war is in a passive position, and it is necessary to fight a battle under the constraints of many parties.
Just like Huawei has long supported HiSilicon to take on the heavy responsibility of high-end chip design, due to the US side's salary withdrawal and the ban on TSMC OEM, HiSilicon's high-end chips cannot be streamed or even produced. Self-research cannot go through, and the path to external manufacturers such as Qualcomm has also been blocked. This passive situation is difficult to reverse in the short term.
The supply cut not only caught enterprises off guard, but also lacked preparation for the industrial chain. In a dilemma, Huawei can only avoid the US technology ecology, create a production line without US technology, and produce a chip with a 28-nanometer process [5], while the high-end chip process previously manufactured by TSMC is only 5 nanometers, and Huawei still has to climb the slope in the field of mobile phone chips.
Whether it is active innovation or passive transformation, we have been learning from history. In 1999, Xu Guanhua, then minister of science and technology, pointed out to the point that "China's information industry lacks cores and souls." Among them, "core" refers to the chip, and "soul" is the operating system. Before the chip, there were pioneers who used the failure experience of domestic operating systems to guide the only way to domestic substitution.
02
Inspiration of domestic operating systems
In May 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice joined forces with 19 other states to file a monopoly charge against Microsoft, arguably the largest antitrust case in the United States of the 20th century. The investigation and allegations surrounding Microsoft lasted nearly 10 years and ended in a 2001 settlement that Microsoft didn't have to break up, just came up with a $1.8 billion settlement.
In the Microsoft antitrust case, Bill Gates' hearing was videotaped
The most sensational allegations have not curbed Microsoft's monopoly, and the industry commented that "the only thing that can bring Microsoft down now is suicide". The worries brought by Microsoft's monopoly to The domestic peaked after the "black screen incident" in 2008. Ni Guangnan, a domestic helmsman, called on the industry that China must have an operating system with its own knowledge software.
What is even more anxious is that the attempts around the domestic operating system at that time were fruitless. First, the state-led COSIX system in 1989 was too poor to adapt to the latest equipment because the hardware base was too poor. There was also a group of people who made a Chinese version of Windows by chance, but they were quickly beaten by Microsoft's official Chinese version.
For a time, the haze of domestic operating systems shrouded China. It wasn't until the mid-1990s that open-source Linux systems took a turn for the better. The Chinese people found that they can do secondary development based on the Linux system, although it is not an independent property right, but at least it is autonomous and controllable.
At that time, the "anti-Microsoft" sentiment was spreading around the world, and Linux products attracted much attention. The most well-known Linux products in China are Xteam and Blue Dot with private enterprise background, and ChinaSoft and Hongqi from the national team.
This group of domestic Linux companies soon "gold list title": in 2000, Blue Dot was listed in the United States just half a year after its establishment, and the stock price rose by 400% on the day of the IPO, with a market value of more than 400 million US dollars. The following year, Xteam went public in Hong Kong, and its stock price tripled in one month.
However, the real highlight of the domestic operating system was the bid for Beijing's government procurement in 2001. Yu Cisheng, director of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, was promoting the procurement, and caused a sensation in the IT industry because of the choice of domestic software such as Hongqi Linux to kick Microsoft out of the game.
The government's move was not only to ensure information security, but also because Microsoft's "store fraud" at that time - if you want to buy an operating system, you must buy office software. Coupled with the growing call for domestic support for domestic software, the domestic operating system has a head start.
However, the domestic operating system ultimately failed to form a trend of fire. The reason is, first of all, because of the lack of supporting software for domestic Linux, which leads to the inability to build an ecosystem and a poor user experience.
According to Ni Guangnan's assistant Liang Ning, Yongzhong Office and Kingsoft WPS, which were developed based on Linux at that time, were incompatible with Microsoft's document format, and it became a big problem to open historical files. To this end, Yu Cisheng summoned technicians from China, Japan and South Korea to study and crack Microsoft's document format, but the results were not ideal, and users complained [9].
In addition, Linux systems that lack software are like wasteland, and developers are digging for gold at Microsoft, and even large companies rarely develop Linux versions. For example, the national software QQ, until 2008, there was no Linux version, and the domestic system at that time was already "the tears of the times".
However, the root cause of the failure lies in the vacillation of the policy line.
At that time, Microsoft changed its arrogant posture after losing orders, and achieved "two blossoms of government and enterprises" through frequent executive visits to China, government-enterprise cooperation and domestic investment. The domestic system is difficult to use and difficult to carry out business. As China and the United States pick up, government procurement is once again leaning towards Microsoft.
First in 2004, the Beijing government order was given directly to Microsoft, and then there were places to ensure that Microsoft won the bid, using Microsoft's parameters to set the bidding requirements. Later, in the face of the upper inspection, it was already "domestically produced when inspecting, and replacing Microsoft after inspection". The government's wavering attitude has also affected the procurement of computer companies, leaving domestic Linux in a state of neglect.[9]
In 2013, Zhongke Hongqi went bankrupt and dissolved, and other domestic Linux failed to break through Microsoft's blockade. Today, Windows accounts for more than 75% of the world's desktop operating systems, macOS is more than 15%, and Linux is no longer important.
This failure reminds us that the operating system is a huge project that needs to "collect firewood for everyone", and it needs enterprises to open up wasteland, coordinate the industrial chain, and collect firewood for developers. More critical is to be vigilant against the vacillation of the policy line and strengthen the determination of domestic substitution from top to bottom.
Different from the dazed groping in the 90s, enterprises are now making up for shortcomings, the support of policy parties is firmer, and the consensus of the industry on domestic substitution is more unified. On the other hand, "supply cuts" have spread from small probability events to hidden worries in more industries.
This makes the promotion of domestic substitution more relaxed, and also makes the "active layout" possible.
03
Counterattack in the cracks
Since the "Microsoft black screen" incident, the call for domestic replacement of "independence" has been endless. But it wasn't until after the trade war that "independence" really became a national consensus. In summary, domestic substitution has gone through three stages: the initiative represented by "de-IOE", the hasty response after the trade war, and the precaution after reaching a consensus.
On March 12 this year, the foreign design software Figma suddenly announced the cut off of supply to DJI, and a large number of enterprises in the "entity list" were affected. The move is intended in response to U.S. sanctions, which not only prevent businesses from using services, but also from accessing their own files.
This indicates that the "supply cut" is spreading to the subdivision field. Compared to on-premises software, cloud design software is the underlying production tool of the new era. This taste of "technology being controlled by people" is the same as the Microsoft black screen incident of that year, and the urgency of software supply is even stronger. This also blows the horn again for the independent control of domestic software.
Fortunately, the rise and replacement of domestic software is the trend of the times. After figma supply cut-off, the domestic design tool MasterGo responded quickly and supported enterprises to import Figma files and subsequent edits. This not only protects the design assets of domestic designers and enterprises, but also ensures the information security of enterprises, and no longer worries about being "unplugged" at any time.
In the era of the digital economy, the domestic substitution of design software is crucial. From the business development of small enterprises to the information security of large industries, it is all in the autonomous control of software. Engineering documents and design drawings that cannot be extracted alone can get stuck in the necks of thousands of enterprises.
The Blue Lagoon behind MasterGo is already a unicorn in the field of cloud design software, with a penetration rate of 98% in the head technology enterprises. MasterGo is not only a domestic alternative to Figma, but even a better choice.
In the eyes of the Blue Lagoon and MasterGo teams, performance and service are the two pillars of a good cloud-native production tool. In terms of performance, MasterGo supports 500 people to collaborate on design online, as well as large projects with layers of 100,000 levels. Its service team is more on standby 72 hours, compared to the feedback speed of overseas products for one week, MasterGo's response is more efficient.
MasterGo also launched the "Domestic Design Software Co-creation Plan", which unites 12 industry leaders such as the Meituan Design Committee and Baidu Mobile User Experience Design Center to create design software with higher performance and better product experience for digital creation teams.
The reason for co-creation is first of all to break down the barriers between software developers and end users, so that the product is more "user-friendly". For a long time, the enterprise market has been sales-oriented (SLG), and under enterprise procurement, it is difficult for users to choose their favorite products. Blue Lagoon has always relied on product-driven (PLG) to open up the market with performance and service. Moreover, the hard requirements of the large factory team are higher and the applicable scenarios are more complex, which helps Blue Lake to further polish out good products.
More importantly, the support of head enterprises for domestic substitution has a far-reaching impact on the industry. Based on the rich ecology of large factories, domestic substitution will be truly tempered. This trend will also sweep the industry, with the introduction of talents, the learning cost of tools will be reduced, domestic software will be widely used.
Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future.. The failure of the domestic operating system reminds us that to achieve domestic substitution, we need both software ecology and industrial chain coordination, and it is also related to the consensus of society. The co-creation of MasterGo and big manufacturers has solved the practical dilemma that domestic operating systems have faced.
The co-creation plan can enhance the software performance of MasterGo, thereby improving the user's experience; and the influence of the big factory will further enhance the consensus of the society on domestic substitution; it is crucial that the co-creation will also use the ecological resources of the big factory to gather more resources to achieve a virtuous cycle of the industrial chain, so that the domestic alternative will be on a broader stage.
Nowadays, MasterGo is serving the domestic digital creation ecosystem through co-creation, and will have the opportunity to participate in international competition based on the Chinese market in the future. At that time, it will be the time for domestic alternatives to really stand up and achieve overtaking in curves.
From the Figma supply cut incident, if one day even the Adobe series of software is cut off, only the new domestic forces can turn the tide. The blue lake MasterGo's forge ahead and the active attack of the "co-creation plan" have provided an example for the rise of domestic alternatives.
04
End
Looking back at the arduous trek of thirty years of domestic substitution, some common experiences can be reviewed.
First of all, domestic substitution is an extremely complex project, which requires enterprises to be brave in opening up the wilderness and requires the industrial chain to support the coordination, and technological breakthroughs can never be the work of one family.
In the field of domestic operating systems, even if there is a product, it also needs to be surrounded by many developers and software to be available and iterative. In the field of chip semiconductors, even with the design capabilities of high-end chips, contemporary manufacturing and supporting EDA software are stuck in the neck, and it is also necessary to support key players in the industrial chain to break through the blockade of American technology.
More importantly, domestic substitution should not only be vigilant against the vacillation of the policy line, but also need top-down support.
Domestic substitution is often the industry with the highest degree of technology integration, which requires a long cycle and high investment. It is difficult to rely on experts to grind their mouths and enterprises to break their legs, and only with the consistent support of the government can we introduce more capital technology and manpower and material resources, so as to gather armpits into a coat.
From the domestic operating system, to the "go TO IOE", and then to the domestic substitution after the trade war, the policy has reached a consensus of "independence and autonomy" from the hesitation of "whether to replace". And this also makes the domestic substitution really usher in the east wind.
Nowadays, domestic substitution is shifting from simple substitution to self-innovation, and this milestone not only allows China to gain the right to speak, but also helps to establish a new order and norms for the industry.
[1] Microsoft claimed that the first week of genuine verification 5% of users netizens made black screen desktop spoofs, Beijing Morning Post
[2] Take Alibaba Cloud to IOE, Caixin Weekly
[3] Banks have a hard time going to IOE, Caixin Weekly
[4] "De-IOE" 7 years How long will it take for banks to domesticate IT architecture? , 21st Century Economic Journal
[5] Huawei: The Long March after supply cuts, Caixin Weekly
[6] The Once and Future King：Now the Only Way Microsoft Can Die is by Suicide，Cringely
[7] Ten "revolutionary" stories in the sixty years of domestic computers, the power of science and engineering
[8] A passage about the past of domestic chips and operating systems, Liang Ning
[9] Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide（March 2022），Statcounter
[10] Hidden Pain of Great Powers: How Hard Is It to Be an Operating System? , rice to wear the boss
[11] Look at the "Microsoft Black Screen Incident", CCTV