BharOS – An Indigenous Operating System

 

                                                    Image Credits - TechThirsty   

                                                                                                          

JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops) IIT Madras-incubated company had developed an indigenous mobile operating system known as BharOS. The BharOS project aims to reduce the dependence on foreign operating systems in smartphones and promote the use of locally developed technology.

IIT Madras-incubated company had developed an indigenous mobile operating system known as BharOS. The BharOS project aims to reduce the dependence on foreign operating systems in smartphones and promote the use of locally developed technology.

 

History -  

 

The world has evolved drastically and what helped it to get evolved so fast is the technology. Technology has become a part of our life which can’t be separated. Technology has made our life so easy & convenient that we can’t even imagine our life without it. May it be electronics, cars or IOT enabled devices. Of the appliances related to technology have become so smart that we rely on them. Let’s have an example of smartphones, earlier smartphones were used for calling but now smartphones can even detect a crash and ask for help itself.

Phones have become smart and made our life easier and convenient. Phones have evolved so far. Software has played an important role in this evolution. Software plays a key role with hardware to turn a phone into a smartphone. Today a smartphone experience majorly depends on what software it uses. In 1992, IBM announced the very first smartphone. In 2007, Apple launched its first iPhone. It was the sleekest smartphone with the PC like internet browsing capability. iPhones became so popular because of its iOS, features & services it provided.

 

                      

                                        

 

In 2008, Android developed by Google came in the market as an answer to the iOS. It made smartphones available in various price range. iPhones were considered premium those days and they used to be sold at a higher price. In the affordable price range windows, Bada, Tizen were the OS used to come with the smartphones. Those OS were close source and that’s why it was difficult for develop apps for them. Also easy to use factor in those OS was missing. Android came as an open source software which made developers easier to develop apps for it and it was easy to use too. Hence android became popular among the users who were not willing to get an iPhone because of budget.

 

Need of BharOS -


Whenever a person buys an android phone, Google pushes its own apps like play store, drive, dialer, messages, calendar, etc.  which cannot be uninstalled. This was considered as an anti-competitive attempt by Google where user was unable to choose from apps and services which he/she wants to in his/her smartphone. Due to this, Google is also into some legal trouble with CCI (Competition Commission of India) and NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) 

To avoid this thing, and have more user oriented, Made in India OS which focuses on privacy and security of end user, IIT Madras-incubated company JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops) had developed an indigenous mobile operating system known as BharOS. The BharOS project aims to reduce the dependence on foreign operating systems in smartphones and promote the use of locally developed technology.

BharOS won’t be having any preinstalled apps & it’ll give more control to the user to choose from the apps & services to be on the phone. Minister for telecommunications and information technology Mrs. Ashwini Vaishnaw and education minister Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan launched the operating system in a public event.


Will it Replace the Android, iOS?

 

                Image Credits - Wallpaper Cave                              Image Credits - rapptr





As android is an open-source software, its source code is easily available. Making some changes and useful iterations to it developers have developed BharOS for India. BharOS will be having a similar look and feel to Google’s Stock Android. It will not completely replace iOS or Android as of now. It will be an option for users to choose from android, iOS and BharOS.

 

Why one should choose BharOS ?

 

An option will be available for users to choose from the OS present around. As this OS is made in India hence, it will encourage Indian smartphone brands. It will reduce the dependency on the foreign brands for software. This eventually reduces the production cost of the smartphone.

Also, users will have the control to choose from the apps and services available. Purpose of BharOS to have an alternative to the Google play services and supporting android apps at the same time.

The good thing about BharOS is Security updates and bug fixes will be automatically installed rather than users having to manually check for updates and install them.

 

The Negatives –

 

Around 71% of smartphones are currently running over the Android OS. As BharOS is there for an alternative to Google’s android and its play services, it’s a bit difficult to move completely from android to BharOS. Google play services also play a vital role providing a better smartphone using experience. Play services are an indivisible part of android system and the BharOS isn’t compatible with play services natively. Users may sideload the apps by google but it may question the security and privacy of the smartphone.



                      Image Credits -  Tech Life                                   Image Credits -  Phandroid


 

Incompatibility to the paly services may be the deal breaker for many of the users as many of the individuals use Drive as a cloud storage, Gmail, YouTube for entertainment as well as for content creation, Google ads to advertise a business through it, etc. for various purposes.

As Google is an established brand and provides stable experience. Over time it has gained the trust of the users. It’s a bit difficult for BharOS to provide a proper alternative to all these services and gain the trust of the users.

 

Summary -

 

We use our phones to store a lot of personal and sensitive data. And, because we trust the apps and operating systems on our phones, we usually leave them alone. Sometimes, apps and operating systems on our phones produce warnings about their behavior. These warnings tell us that the apps or operating systems are violating our privacy. After considering all the information, it is clear that J & K Ops Pvt. Ltd. has made significant progress in resolving the Android operating system issue.

 

The company has done a good job in resolving this problem by becoming more independent on the Android operating system. This OS will be ready to use soon. Let’s see how well it performs in the Indian smartphone market and competes with tech giants like Apple and Google.  

 

 

Credits and References -

Prathamesh Kale (Team Tech Tuesday)

 

1. Wikipedia – BharOS 

2. Wikipedia - Android

3. Mint

4. Tech Crunch 


NOTE:-

This blog is meant for Educational purposes only. We do not own any Copyrights related to images and information; all the rights go to their respective owners. The sole purpose of this blog is to Educate, Inspire, Empower, and create awareness in the viewers. The usage is non-commercial(Not For Profit), and we do not make any money from it.


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