Google Eyes the IoT Space With Its New Fuchsia OS

Google Fuchsia OS is finally ready for the public after nearly six years in development. The new OS with a fresh microkernel will be available for Google’s first generation of Nest Hub smart home devices in the coming months, and despite what rumors would have you believe, Android is going nowhere.

Google discreetly started the rollout of its much-anticipated and long-awaited Fuchsia OS yesterday. The release of Fuchsia OSOpens a new window , Google’s third major operating system, was first reported by 9to5 GoogleOpens a new window and later corroborated by the technical lead for Google Fuchsia OS Petr Hosek over Twitter. 

You don’t ship a new operating system every day, but today is that day.

— Petr Hosek (@petrh) May 25, 2021Opens a new window

Since its initial codebase first popped up on GitHubOpens a new window back in 2016, eagerness started building up around Fuchsia OS, with tech enthusiasts expecting a smartphone soon. Three years down the line at Google I/O 2019, the company finally acknowledged the new-age operating system with Hiroshi LockheimerOpens a new window , SVP at Google for Android, Chrome, Chrome OS Play, Comms and Photos, publicly speaking about it.

Back then, people expected Google to replace Android with Fuchsia OS across all devices. While that may seem ludicrous now (it should have in 2019 as well), Lockheimer clarified that the company was actually experimenting with ‘new concepts around operating systems’ for devices other than just mobile phones and personal computers.

Lockheimer then said, “It’s not just phones and PCs. In the world of IoT, there are 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.”

It has been nearly three years since, and it certainly is a big deal, especially because not only is Fuchsia OS completely built by Google from scratch, but the devices it will feature on are also made by the Mountain View-based tech giant. So it is puzzling why Google, whose developer conference I/O 2021 wrapped up just last week, made no fuss over the OS and chose a time that indirectly underplays its importance.

Google’s venture into OS development started with Chrome OS (released 2011) after years of learnings through its involvement with the Android OS, which it bought from Andy RubinOpens a new window in 2005. Android now runs on 72.2%Opens a new window of over 3.5 billionOpens a new window smartphones in the world, besides millions of tablets, smartwatches, smart TVs, etc.

But before Chrome OS was launched, Google was sued by OracleOpens a new window over copyright infringement of some APIs in Android. Moreover, rivals Apple and Microsoft tried to shoo away the then biggest original equipment manufacturers of Android devices – SamsungOpens a new window and HTCOpens a new window . Additionally, users and fans of the iOS were of the opinion that Android was somehow copied from iOS since both looked somewhat similar.

Thus, the narrative was that Google is looking to exit Android with Chrome OS and later Fuchsia OS. As we know now, nothing could be farther from the truth.

See Also: We Need Different Operating Systems

Fuchsia OS

According to Google, ‘Pink + Purple == Fuchsia’. Public statements by those involved in Fuchsia development revealed that Purple is a reference to Project PurpleOpens a new window , the name for the original iPhone project. At the same time, Pink denotes TaligentOpens a new window , which was Apple’s attempt to develop the next iteration of the popular Mac OS.

Fuchsia is an open-source operating system written in C++, Dart, Rust, and licensed under Apache 2.

Unlike Android and Chrome OS, Fuchsia is not Linux-based. It instead runs on a microkernel called Zircon altogether. Besides the kernel, which is completely built internally at Google, everything Fuchsia OS features from the kernel (a core of sorts) to the user interface (UI) is fresh, not to mention experimental.

It also features Flutter, an open-source UI software development kit (guess who created Flutter) as its primary toolkit for application development and UI. This is significant because of two things. First, Flutter is also supported by Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows as well as web applications. So any apps designed on Flutter for Android or others will be cross-functional on Fuchsia OS.

Second, the experience of using the devices getting Fuchsia OS updates, which previously featured Cast OS (also Linux-based), won’t be any different due to a similar UI functionality.

As a result, the OS is expected to be highly adaptable and offer synchronization across a range of platforms, a developer’s dream.

Which Devices Will Have the Fuchsia OS?

Just one (for now).

Currently, the first generation of Google Nest Hub is the only device getting the Fuchsia OS update. Fuchsia 1.0 was only recently featured on a publicly available Nest Hub device listed by the Bluetooth Special Interest GroupOpens a new window (SIG). The last time Google publicly tested Fuchsia was in 2018 on a PixelbookOpens a new window . Then everything went dark, shrouded in mystery, until now.

The nomenclature of the Fuchsia release versions remains unclear as of now, so it is possible the ‘1.0′ may be a placeholder until a permanent release cycle becomes clear. Google will start the broad rollout slowly after the Preview ProgramOpens a new window and take months, simply because swapping whole operating systems on any device can become complex.

Users can join the Preview Program for an early peek at the production-readiness of the OS by following these steps: Open the Google Home app on Nest Hub (first gen) > Tap your device > Settings  > Device information > Preview Program. However, don’t expect much, as the OS swap is unlikely to yield any noticeable changes on the surface.

Even so, the geek in you should be excited about the changes underneath, about the prospects of an OS without a Linux, Window, or XNU kernel, and what it means for the IoT industry.

Originally called Google Home Hub, the first generation of the Nest Hub was released in 2018 as a smart home offering and has a seven-inch display supported by a speaker that works with Google Assistant. There’s no timeline to start the ball rolling for other devices such as the second generation Next Hub, Nest Hub Max, or the Nest Mini, let alone smartphones or personal computers.

Bloomberg had, in 2018, reportedOpens a new window that Google would release the OS on home devices in three years. Going by the report, previews for smartphones and other devices may be available by 2023, although there’s no official word from Google on the matter.

See Also: Google’s Fuchsia- Will It Be The New Destination For Mobile App Developers?

Closing Thoughts

Thanks to Google’s secrecy surrounding Fuchsia, the tech community formed wayward opinions about the OS, which has the potential to be the next big thing in Google’s arsenal of products and services.

To think of it as a replacement for the highly interactive Android, which has been dominating the smartphone and other electronic device markets for nearly a decade and a half is shortsighted, not to mention immature.

A more rational counterargument can be made, which is that Google’s plans for Fuchsia are more of an attempt to create a parallel ecosystem for IoT devices besides smart home devices, as well as smartphones with the OS at its center.

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