It has been 3 years since Google’s Fuchsia project appeared on GitHub which came without any announcement or documentation. It is supposed to be an operating system meant to replace Android, Chrome and other operating systems Google is running on smart devices. These theories sprung up as Fuchsia’s source code suggests it to be a kind of universal operating system. That means there will be a single operating system on your smartphone, your laptop or any other Internet of Things device you have.
But Google has decided to demystify its supposed Android Killer at the Google I/O developer conference this week. Senior Vice President of Android and Chrome Hiroshi Lockheimer shed some light on Fuchsia during a live recording of a new podcast from the Verge. He said
We’re looking at what a new take on an operating system could be like. And so I know out there people are getting pretty excited saying, ‘Oh this is the new Android,’ or, ‘This is the new Chrome OS,’” Lockheimer said. “Fuchsia is really not about that. Fuchsia is about just pushing the state of the art in terms of operating systems and things that we learn from Fuchsia we can incorporate into other products.
While we are certainly disappointed that it is not exactly the development we were hoping for. But the project gives an indicator of where Google thinks the future lies. The company has been working on technological integration for some time now. Its announcements at I/O like live captions for videos suggests it’s trying to be more inclusive with its software and such an operating system could help achieve that.
Lockheimer’s comments suggest that Google is thinking beyond smartphones and PCs. More devices are being connected to the Internet every day and Android is not the solution. He said
It’s not just phones and PCs. In the world of [the Internet of Things], there is an increasing number of devices that require operating systems and new runtimes and so on. I think there’s a lot of room for multiple operating systems with different strengths and specializations. Fuchsia is one of those things and so, stay tuned.
As for people who are still confused at Fuchsia is all about, it an operating system. The difference is that unlike Android, it is not based on a Linux kernel and rather a microkernel called “Zircon”. Two developers recently managed to run the operating system in the Android Studio Emulator, but it is still in its nascent stages. So, it might not be the news we wanted to hear, it is good to see that Google is working towards its vision.
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