Well, here it is. I’ve been saying for 18 months now that Fuchsia clearly felt like a whole lot more than “just” a research operating system, and that I believed its developers’ ultimate goal is to replace Android, which is a dead end. This Bloomberg article by the usually well-informed Mark Gurman is the clearest indication yet that such is, indeed, the end goal.
But members of the Fuchsia team have discussed a grander plan that is being reported here for the first time: Creating a single operating system capable of running all the company’s in-house gadgets, like Pixel phones and smart speakers, as well as third-party devices that now rely on Android and another system called Chrome OS, according to people familiar with the conversations.
According to one of the people, engineers have said they want to embed Fuchsia on connected home devices, such as voice-controlled speakers, within three years, then move on to larger machines such as laptops. Ultimately the team aspires to swap in their system for Android, the software that powers more than three quarters of the world’s smartphones, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. The aim is for this to happen in the next half decade, one person said.
CEO Sundar Pichai hasn’t signed off on all of this just yet, so it’s by no means 100% guaranteed – and a lot can change in five years. That being said, it’s getting easier and easier to see which way the wind’s blowing.
There’s also reports of Fuchsia’s security and privacy oriented design getting in conflict with Google’s ad-driven business model.
The company must also settle some internal feuds. Some of the principles that Fuchsia creators are pursuing have already run up against Google’s business model. Google’s ads business relies on an ability to target users based on their location and activity, and Fuchsia’s nascent privacy features would, if implemented, hamstring this important business. There’s already been at least one clash between advertising and engineering over security and privacy features of the fledgling operating system, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ad team prevailed, this person said.
It’s sad to hear that, but in the end, not exactly surprising.
If Google have been learning from what Microsoft is doing with Windows 10 and themselves with the Chromebook and what Apple has done with IOS and then going…. if we do ‘x’ and then ‘y’ we will get somewhere?
And that somewhere is their version of IOS. Namely, a locked down OS that they totally control and can charge for as well as getting all that lovely data for their Advertisers?
It will offer the same sort of user experience as they get now with Android desktops. Sort of like a PC or Mac but with huge overtones of the phone OS and totally locked down.
They can cast Android adrift and it will gradually wither and die leaving them able to go head to head with Apple.
Well that are my thoughts on the matter which are naturally not worth even a bent penny.
It’s BSD licensed… Here is the source code:
https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror
Not to say there wont be some components that are closed source, but that would make it no different from Android as far as that goes.
Edited 2018-07-19 20:17 UTC
Then, what’s the point ?
Imo it is mostly to just get as far away from Java, or anything that even smells like Java, as they can possibly get at this point. I don’t blame them. No one is going to sue them over Dart.
Java is baked into Android so deeply that I don’t think they have much choice. They will certainly be able to run Flutter apps on Android (they already are), but at some point if they really move their developer base mostly to Flutter, you then the problem that 90% of your OS serves no purpose anymore.
If Flutter is their future than you want an OS optimized around it – that is exactly what Fuchsia is.
First of all the Java issue was their own doing, by ripping off Sun, and then not buying the company when they had the chance.
Secondly, Fuchsia is also doing away with Linux.
It is micro-kernel based, implemented in a mix of C++, Go and Rust, without any drop of GPL related code.
If it ever goes commercial expect the devices to be even more closed than current Android ones.
How are you enjoying the BSD patches from PS4?
I don’t know of any specific donations from Sony for FreeBSD, but many other companies have contributed back over the years. For example, Netapp, Juniper, Netflix, ixsystems, etc. Not to mention that Netapp has contributed at least $100,000 to the project this year alone.
Google built Android devices are pretty much the most “open” ones available (exception being the ones sold by Verizon, but that is Verizon’s doing). Is someone forcing them to do that? Does them using Linux force them to make their boot loaders unlockable? What does “being more closed” even mean for a device intentionally sold with an unlockable bootloader?
I personally think they are going to keep doing things more or less they way they are doing them now. Beyond maintaining the integrity of the firmware they install on their devices, they really don’t seem to care what you do with the device if you choose to install your own firmware, and they don’t seem very interested in keeping you from doing that (quite the opposite actually). Why would them switching to a different OS change that?
I expect things to remain the status quo… If you buy a device from Google you can do whatever you want with it, including wiping the OS and installing your own if desired.
Edited 2018-07-20 16:33 UTC
I don`t own any Pixel Chromebook, but Lenovo one and installing other OS isn`t so simply. It`s not easy to unlock and install clear GNU/Linux. And what I`ve found on forums – other Chromebooks are similar. It`s really harder than installing, let`s say, Ubuntu, on “normal” notebook.
That’s actually not true. On a typical laptop you have to find some key combination to enter the UEFI/BIOS, then enable it to boot from external USB devices. Maybe you also need to disable secure boot to allow unsigned application code to be executed. Then you continue with your Linux installation.
On a Chromebook, you power it on, hit Esc + Refresh, then wait until a dialogue asks if you want to enable Developer Mode by hitting Ctrl + D and then you’re good to go. SeaBIOS will simulate a typical BIOS to the Linux kernel, since you cannot supply the kernel as a coreboot-payload.
Enabling Developer Mode may take a few minutes to disable all the security and encryption and to setup SeaBIOS.
Sure, it takes a bit more time, but it definitely isn’t complicated.
The process seems to be pretty similar on all Chromebooks: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-install-linux-on-a-chromebook-and-unlo…
Sun open sourced Java https://www.javaworld.com/article/2071768/why-open-source-java-.html
Have you been off the grid for the last 10 years?
Just fine, thank you. They’re quite useful.
They’ll probably release Fuchsia and hail it as the second coming of Christ. And, if their past behavior is any indication, they’ll then release something else to replace Fuchsia in several years, and then repeat this process half a dozen more times.
It’s impossible to predict what Google will do here. It was obvious at the IO fireside this year that the Android team didn’t know anything about Fuchsia; if anything they sneered at it. I’m sure Google is going full steam ahead with both, and may or may not decide to switch to Fuschia in future, but this article sheds no light on that. It can’t, because Google has no idea itself.
Did the Android Team know nothing about Fuchsia or did they act like they didn’t know because of a CLA?
I was just in Haiku, saying this. When BeOS was ridiculed for being ultimately a toaster OS, really when an OS reached a certain level of sophistication you go beyond the “God” paradigm. The problem is then how to popularize Allah in pop-culture.
Fuchsia as a definition sounds more according to Allah-paradigm, rather than “God” doesn´t it.
More at http://www.nyt.cloud BBS!
Make sense… nnnnnnnow!
Seems a lot like the guy who made TempleOS.
My thoughts too, after his recent few comments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fuchsia
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/3W_Institute
One is an attempt to force everyone to upgrade from a corpse, or else be deleted.
The other is a sci-fi organization.
Unless search/ads stops being the big money maker for Google and Alphabet, they’re not going to switch their priorities.
I wish Apple keeps making their money off their hardware and keep Mac OS/iOS at least decent privacy-wise, because at least they don’t have to make money otherwise.
Then again, their share holders have a mandate to maximize revenue, which I half expect any day now.
In 5 years from now also expect both Android and Chrome OS to look and work very different from what they are today. One good example is the split screen mode, which recently became common ground on Android.
While Google can pump large amounts of resources on Fuchsia, Android and Chrome OS are moving targets. Add to this the expected department in-fights and the moment Google will have to make a decision may look very interesting.
Also, if Google finally decides to go with Fuchsia, expect a few forks from Android. Thanks $DEITY for Open Source.
To me it sounds great. Android has been amazingly successful, and its mission is accomplished. But that isn’t stopping Google, or certain parts of Google, from saying, ok, maybe we can start again and develop a platform that can go further, and be better.
The security situation in IT is like a slowly growing cancer, and at some point it is going to kill the patient if something isn’t done. If that means starting again with microkernels and safer languages and systems architectures, then there’s no point delaying.
I say this as an avid Apple fan in general. I don’t care who dominates as long as the tech they dominate with is generally great stuff. It is a scandal that people have come to think it is normal to use smartphones which have been abandoned by the manufacturer after a short time, and that this is justified in some way.
I want to be able to look at smartphones in the shops and recognise that they are built on really good foundations.
Have bugger all to do with Linux, and everything to do with the development model in relation to Google and 3rd party vendors. IF nothing changes and each has their own fork as is pretty much the case now, it’ll be the same problem all over again.
If they can’t solve this problem with Android/Linux I doubt they’ll solve it with Fuchsia. IT isn’t really a technical problem.
Edited 2018-07-21 18:31 UTC