Fuchsia OS: The successor of Android?

Fuchsia could replace Android, but there are still years to go.

Can you imagine doing whatever you want from whichever device you’re using? That’s the idea behind Fuchsia OS.

In 2016 Google started to develop a new operating system called Fuchsia OS, which would work not only on smartphones, but also on tablets, laptops, smart watches, smart home devices, and even on integrated mechanisms like traffic lights: an all-terrain operating system.

Characteristics:

One of the differences that stands out between Fuchsia and the rest of Google’s operating systems (Android and Chrome OS) is that it’s not built on Linux. Fuchsia uses a different nucleus called Zircon. This difference could make some existing devices be compatible.

The user interface and the Fuchsia apps are written with Flutter (also created by Google), a software development kit with multiplatform development capabilities for Fuchsia, Android and iOS.

So it looks like Google is betting everything on their two recent technologies, Flutter and Fuchsia.

According to the documentation, Fuchsia supports languages like C/C++, Dart, Go, FIDL and Rust. Not only that: it now seems that Swift could also be compatible. In Swift’s GitHub repository, a Google employee created a Pull Request that adds support for Fuchsia OS to the compiler.

Why is Google looking to replace Android?

One of the main reasons is that Android was developed when cell phones started to come with a touchscreen and it’s not designed to handle the the kind of voice-enabled applications that Google sees as the future of computing. Because of this, Fuchsia is developing with voice interactions in its core. The design is also more flexible because it adapts to multiple screen sizes, in an attempt to meet new products, such as televisions, cars, and refrigerators, to which Google is spreading its software.

Another reason could be that Fuchsia is incorporating even stricter security measures. In the source code published online, the engineers incorporated encrypted user keys into the system, a privacy tool that guarantees the protection of the information each time the software is updated.

Finally, there is the well-known demand that Oracle made of Google in 2010 for patent infringement related to key software components such as Java, which could lead Google to seek new options to develop a faster and more modern system.

Conclusion:

Despite the great market dominance that Google has with Android over iOS, I feel that the initiative focuses on competing better with its main smartphone rival, Apple, since Apple has the advantage in areas such as performance, privacy and security, and integration with all Apple devices.

On the other hand, everything seems to indicate that Flutter and Fuchsia will be two words that will revolutionize the world of mobile and IoT. What will happen? It all depends on Google. If you are involved in the world of software, the idea is always to be willing to change and stay up-to-date.

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