“Andromeda” OS
New OS by Google
Andromeda, what is it?
Andromeda is a new OS from Google, which is going to become the replacement Android and Chrome OS. Google isn’t trying to hide any details about this project: in the current stage Andromeda is called Fuchsia. The operating system core is called Magenta (Andromeda does not use the Linux’s core). One of the main features of the new OS is scalability.
It is a mistake to believe that Fuchsia is a project where the Chrome OS become the part of Android. Correct thinking — Android and Chrome OS merge together and become a part of the Fuchsia. By the way, the process of merging Android and Chrome OS is already going on for some time: Chrome and Android teams worked together to add special system updates to Android Nougat. It is allowed to make updates the platform to conduct A/B testing.
Why Google need Andromeda
Those who have been interested in Google technologies for a long time, asked a question: if whether Chrome OS and Android would be merged into one project? A similar wish was expressed by Sundar Pichai, Google CEO. The new platform is going to help Google to combine a huge set of available services. Nowadays Google supports three platforms: web, Android and iOS (in that order). Support for Windows is, perhaps, just Chrome. Flutter — the framework from Google, was made for the development of graphical applications in the Material Design style for various platforms. Now Google is able to combine the forces of several different teams, do not splitting on to development different versions of applications for different platforms.
Also, we can add some words about why it is time to replace Android.
First, need of completely rewrite the graphics pipeline. And second, solve problems with the update to Android. Also, there are an opportunity to migrate a large database of Android applications on the desktops by implementing native support. As we know, this step has already made the Apple, creating a full ecosystem of iOS and macOS.
Support of languages and technologies in Andromeda
Architecture
Andromeda has the support of a huge number of platforms, including mini-PC Intel NUC. Supported mobile architectures: ARM, x86 and MIPS. Among desktop and notebook platforms, preference is given to Intel. Fuchsia is available for the type compilers of LLVM and GCC.
Programming languages
Andromeda supports many programming languages and each of them is suitable for solving a certain class of problems:
· C / C++ for native development;
· Go — for network interaction;
· Java — of Android applications;
· Python as a scripting language;
· Rust — for writing parts of the kernel;
· Dart is to combine all this in the user interface.
Android
Support for Android will be implemented in the new OS as extra API (as the legacy part. It doesn’t mean that development of Android will be instantly stopped: a huge number of devices will continue to use this system. And even if Andromeda is considered to be a full replacement of Android, application development will still be necessary of mobile developers for a long time.
Unclear remains
After receiving this information, there are still some questions, which are offered you to consider:
· What will become of Android’s project and a huge ecosystem its partners?
· Will the platform be only pre-installed on laptops after the release?
· In what development software you can develop for Andromeda? Android Studio(ссылка)?
· Will it be possible to use other languages (except the Dart) for programming a graphical interface?
· Whether Google plans to abandon support of the huge Linux community?
In November 2017, Google postponed the launch of the operating system, Andromeda, the release of the “space” OS was delayed for about a year.
It happened due to the fact that the company had decided to focus on smartphones “Pixel”, which were announced at the last presentation Google.
To sum up, Google needs something that can make Android and Chrome OS into one platform. This is the main purpose of Andromeda. Just imagine: on the nearest future you will use one platform anywhere and will not lose in performance. Microsoft has already the bad experience with Windows 10 Mobile. I am sure that Google will not step on the same rake.
