Fuchsia - A new operating system under development by Google

[6Foot2]

Link: Google is developing an OS called 'Fuchsia' runs on All the Things

 

"...Fuchsia (a new Operating System)”. Not very revealing, is it? When you begin to dig deeper into Fuchsia’s documentation, everything starts to make a little more sense.

 

First, there’s the Magenta kernel based on the ‘LittleKernel’ project. Just like with Linux and Android, the Magenta kernel powers the larger Fuchsia operating system. Magenta is being designed as a competitor to commercial embedded OSes, such as FreeRTOS or ThreadX.

 

However, Magenta is designed to scale much better, enabling Magenta to work on embedded devices, smartphones, and desktop computers. For this to happen, Magenta improves upon its LittleKernel base by adding first class user-mode support (a necessity for user accounts) and a capability-based security model (which would enable something like Android 6.0’s permissions to work)...

[Arthur]

Google’s "Fuchsia" smartphone OS dumps Linux, has a wild new UI

 

Google, never one to compete in a market with a single product, is apparently hard at work on a third operating system after Android and Chrome OS. This one is an open source, real-time OS called "Fuchsia." The OS first popped up in August last year, but back then it was just a command line. Now the mysterious project has a crazy new UI we can look at, so let's dive in.

 

Unlike Android and Chrome OS, Fuchsia is not based on Linux—it uses a new, Google-developed microkernel called "Magenta." With Fuchsia, Google would not only be dumping the Linux kernel, but also the GPL: the OS is licensed under a mix of BSD 3 clause, MIT, and Apache 2.0. Dumping Linux might come as a bit of a shock, but the Android ecosystem seems to have no desire to keep up with upstream Linux releases. Even the Google Pixel is still stuck on Linux Kernel 3.18, which was first released at the end of 2014.

 

Google's documentation describes Magenta as targeting "modern phones and modern personal computers with fast processors, non-trivial amounts of RAM with arbitrary peripherals doing open-ended computation." Google hasn't made any public, official comments on why Fuchsia exists or what it is for, leaving us only to speculate. The "modern phone" shout out certainly sounds like something that could eventually compete with Android, but for now the OS is so early, it's hard to tell.

 

 

[Arthur]

Fuchsia is still a very long way away.

 

Project 'Fuchsia': Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android

 

For more than two years, a small and stealthy group of engineers within Google has been working on software that they hope will eventually replace Android, the world’s dominant mobile operating system. As the team grows, it will have to overcome some fierce internal debate about how the software will work.

 

The project, known as Fuchsia, was created from scratch to overcome the limitations of Android as more personal devices and other gadgets come online. It’s being designed to better accommodate voice interactions and frequent security updates and to look the same across a range of devices, from laptops to tiny internet-connected sensors. Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai has set his company in this direction -- toward artificial intelligence services that reach consumers everywhere. Yet its prime operating systems, which depend on scores of hardware partners, haven’t kept up.

 

[...]

 

...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.

 

Report: Google's new Fuchsia OS could replace Android -- or not

 

It's no secret that Google has been quietly working on Fuchsia, a new experimental OS for tablets and phones.

 

Here's the secret, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday: Fuchsia could replace Android and Chrome OS within the next five years.

 

Mind you, that's just the ambition, according to the report -- and Google disputes that specific part; CNET understands there's actually no five-year plan yet. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Android/Chrome boss Hiroshi Lockheimer reportedly have yet to sign off on any road map. In a brief statement, Google said Fuchsia is just "one of many experimental open-source projects" at the company, but declined to comment further.

[elsiegee40]

Fuchsia is still a very long way away.

 

Project 'Fuchsia': Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android

 

 

 

Report: Google's new Fuchsia OS could replace Android -- or not

 

Many years in the Fuschia?

 

[Arthur]

Many years in the Fuschia?

Almost Fuchsia-ristic!

 

:getmecoat:

Edited July 19, 2018 by Arthur

[koryo]

Almost Fuchsia-ristic!

 

:getmecoat:

 

Hold on! Don't leave without your fuschia! XD

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by koryo

[elsiegee40]

I can’t help thinking that Google knew exactly what it was doing when the project was named Fuchsia. The pun was probably entirely intentional

[hardtailstar]

So when it comes out as an OS,

 

Every time someone changes between phones OS's can say Back to the Fuchsia......

[pubgrub277]

think of all the problems with current OS's and working between different devices.

 

It can all be fixed in a Fuchsia release........

[TwistedHelixis]

But they are also working on Chrome OS to replace Android -

[jthompson]

So, with Fuschia, Google are dumping Linux and GPL. Anyone else smell a walled garden*?

 

* (if only we had a thread available for making bad puns on a dahlia basis)

[6Foot2]

I can’t help thinking that Google knew exactly what it was doing when the project was named Fuchsia. The pun was probably entirely intentional

 

Link: Back to the Fuchsia, part IV: Google's in-development OS now open to community contributions [The Register]

 

Google has opened its forthcoming operating system, Fuchsia, to community contributions, but has not addressed the question hanging over it: how will it be used?

 

The OS's Developer Advocate, Wayne Piekarski, has written about a new stage in opening up the project to external input and scrutiny. Put into place were mailing lists, a public issue tracker, a new governance model, and a process to become a contributor defined as one of four roles: Member, Committer, Owner or Global Approver.

 

Licence to Google

 

Fuchsia is covered by multiple licences. The kernel, called Zircon, is under an MIT-style licence. User space components have a BSD-style licence, with an additional patent grant which appears to be designed to discourage patent litigation. Contributors have to sign the Google Contributor License Agreements.

 

The governance currently consists of an Eng Council responsible for maintaining the Fuchsia roadmap and approving or rejecting RFCs (proposals for adding features). There are currently five members, all Googlers, and the chair is Dr Adam Barth, an academic and security expert whose publications include "Towards a formal foundation of web security" and "The Security Architecture of the Chromium Browser"...

[supportman]

Looks promising, lets hope they can fix the mess and fragmentation of android updates.