Google ramps up development of Fuchsia for 2023

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Ahead of the new year, Google is gearing up to make the Fuchsia operating system available to more developers.

Since 2017, we have been closely following the progress of Google’s “Fuchsia” project. This is an effort to create a completely new operating system and kernel rather than relying on existing options such as Linux. During that time, Fuchsia has grown steadily from an interesting experiment to become the foundation of Google’s Nest Hub smart display software. As we reported earlier this year, the next immediate frontier for the Fuchsia project is running Google’s smart speakers, including 2020’s Nest Audio and a possible new speaker in 2023.

But those who have followed Fuchsia’s journey since its early days know that the operating system has far too much potential to be relegated to the smart home. When we first saw his Fuchsia in action, it demonstrated Google’s bold vision for the future of both mobile and desktop computing. As such, one of the earliest devices on which Fuchsia could be installed was the original Google Pixelbook.

The Fuchsia team has also long focused on carrying over the existing wealth of Linux and Android apps to the new operating system. Initially, this involved running in virtual machines. Effectively the same way ChromeOS offers apps from his Android, Steam, and Linux. Most recently, Google has been working on “Starnix”. It’s a bold new way to run Android and Linux apps directly within Fuchsia.

Without these solutions, laptops/phones/tablets with Fuchsia face a chicken-and-egg problem. In other words, buyers don’t want devices without their favorite apps, and most app developers don’t want to support platforms before they become ubiquitous. Instead, Google seems to want to offer a huge back catalog of apps from day one.

Of course, Fuchsia can’t rely on Android and Linux apps forever, and Google knows that. Beyond that, the company probably wants to have a strong presence with support for new operating systems, and the native Fuchsia version of the popular Google app will go a long way toward achieving that.

Google’s Chrome team is preparing support for running the full Chrome browser experience within Fuchsia, and we’re already making progress on this front. Since then, a team of Googlers has been actively testing what it’s like to use Fuchsia (installed on a Pixelbook Go) on a daily basis. After all, some people these days (including this author) can do their work almost entirely within the confines of his web browser.

With that particular obstacle removed, it looks like Google is working to get more developers to invest in creating apps/products for Fuchsia. In summary, the Fuchsia team hosted an “SDK Bootcamp” event earlier this month. The name of the event alone suggests that a new group of developers were quickly learning how to use the Fuchsia SDK to build apps for the platform.

Preparations for this year’s bootcamp included releasing and improving the official Visual Studio Code plugin designed to work with Fuchsia. As of today, the extension has been downloaded just under 500 times by him, giving an interesting picture of the current number of developers working on Fuchsia related projects.

I don’t know if this was just an event for Googlers to familiarize themselves with the new OS, or if employees from Google’s partners were invited. In either case, this SDK bootcamp (and possibly a new slate of Fuchsia-powered apps/experiences that may follow) will, like Android’s announcement at Google I/O 2008, show that Fuchsia has made its “big It could indicate that the ‘announcement’ moment is approaching.

Before you get too excited, though, it’s important to note what Google employees have said about Fuchsia so far. One of the project’s early approvals was at I/O 2019, when Hiroshi Lockheimer described Fuchsia as a testbed for experimentation, warning against thinking of it as an integration or replacement for Google’s efforts on ChromeOS and Android. did.

So, not surprisingly, many people are under the impression that this is Google’s new OS and it must be the future. His one OS provided by Google. That’s not how we see it. Think of it like a place where you can experiment with new ideas.

Meanwhile, in a discussion on Hacker News, one of the Fuchsia team members succinctly explained that Fuchsia, like Android, is not a “product.” Instead, it’s a platform on which products like Android and Nest Hub can be built.

Fuchsia is not necessarily aimed at end users or application developers. Fuchsia exists to make it easier to build and maintain products. Products are responsible for the experience of app developers and end users.

Fuchsia’s former director of engineering, Chris McKillop, echoed this sentiment in an interview earlier this year, saying that Fuchsia “focuses on consumer products and the problems faced by consumers and developers for consumers. “There are.”

With all that in mind, I’m personally still optimistic about the next steps for Google’s operating system. Whether fuchsia becomes the company’s next flashy announcement or the hidden foundation for many upcoming products and experiences, the future looks bright, pink, and purple.