a replacement for Android and Chrome OS within 5 years?

Almost two years after the appearance of the first elements of its code on the web, the Fuchsia project is still not the subject of an official communication from Google. According to Bloomberg however, it is not a secondary project: about a hundred people would work on this operating system to initiate the replacement of Android and Chrome OS in the next five years.
                

The lock screen of Fuchsia

The existence of Fuchsia is known since August 2016. In the absence of a genuine official communication, Google has never hidden: it s is an operating system able to propel both very light machines (connected objects) and heavier devices (computers). We also know from the beginning that Fuchsia is based on a kernel (core, in French) home, which is a novelty for Google, which relies on Linux for both Android and Chrome OS . The objectives and timing – if any – of the giant remained so far very vague.

According to Bloomberg which explains having spoken with people familiar with the project, there is still no official roadmap at Google, but the project has clearly grown. Supported internally by Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), it would now involve more than a hundred employees, including several experienced engineers from the firm. These include a deep and extensive management of interactions via voice, an integrated update system and, as the first glimpses revealed, a seamless interface design regardless the platform. They would also have provided security and confidentiality tools very thorough, but with the concern of having to find a compromise with the nature of their employer: the data are the livelihood of Google and therefore can not be "too" protected.

Within the team, the outline of a calendar would already be defined. With a view to the gradual unification of systems, a functional deployment of Fuchsia on domestic connected objects (connected speakers, etc.) would be planned within three years, before switching to computers and smartphones and tablets within five years. This program would certainly not have received the official blessing of Sundar Pichai or Hiroshi Lockheimer (vice president in charge of Android and Chrome OS), but we can easily imagine why: despite the recent fine of 4 , 34 billion euros imposed by the European Commission, Android remains a pillar of the economic model of Google; its possible replacement can not therefore be announced or even mentioned lightly.

A double challenge: security and updates

For the moment, after two years of development, Fuchsia hardly seems to have its first applications. If the promises of substance are kept, and especially that concerning the management of the updates internally, there is little doubt that Google will be able to consider quickly the advent of this new unique operating system. Indeed, the firm is aware of the few errors it may have committed with Android, and leaving the deployment of updates in the hands of manufacturers and operators is undoubtedly part of it, as evidenced by its efforts to compel interested in a little more discipline. This is also a double challenge: in addition to a stronger security, a systematic deployment of updates would also guarantee Google the presence of all its latest services on the terminals of the general public – which Apple understood very well with iOS

Of course, taking such a turn will not be obvious. Unless you find a way to deploy Fuchsia on all devices in circulation, it will take a few years of coexistence with Android and Chrome OS.