Google’s Fuchsia operating system first popped up in 2016 as a single command line and was first noticed in May of last year when the company unveiled an experimental, but innovative home screen design. This is an open source project and can be found on the Google’s code depository and on GitHub. The Fuchsia is designed to be a revolutionary operating system which according to Google is aimed at “modern phones and modern personal computers,”.
There are tons of rumors and mystery surrounding this operating system, Google has yet to confirm all those details. We currently don’t know whether it is just an experiment or is aimed to replace the current Android Eco-system. However, an early developer preview of Fuchsia was released for Pixel Book and it seems like the operating system can, in the long run, replace both Android and Chrome OS.
Fuchsia: What Exactly Is It?
The Fuchsia is an entirely new operating system and completely differs from Android and Chrome OS as it is not based on Linux. Rather it is based on Google’s own new microkernel known as Zircon (formerly known as Magenta) which is designed to be consistently upgrade-able which will help in eliminating the problem that Google faces with Android like struggling to get updates rolled out across the entire ecosystem of devices and prevent apps from being incompatible after a system upgrade.
The current version of Fuchsia is called Armadillo and is built in Google’s Flutter SDK which is used to develop cross-platform code compatible with multiple operating systems. Not only that, but Google has even added Apple’s programming language, Swift. Most of the UI is programmed in Dart (a language designed to feel familiar to JavaScript and Java engineers).
There is also a confirmation from developers that Fuchsia is not merely a toy thing at Google. Here’s what Dave Burke, Google’s VP of Android engineering, told Android Police about Fuchsia in May 2017: “Fuchsia is an early-stage experimental project. We, you know, we actually have lots of cool early projects at Google. I think what’s interesting here is its open source, so people can see it and comment on it. Like lots of early-stage projects, it’s gonna probably pivot and morph.”
The Fuchsia UI:
The Fuchsia completely re-imagines the home screen with its material UI, it is basically an early user interface with a card-based design which uses its own special renderer known as Escher. The home screen is basically a big scrolling list with all your notifications, profile picture, windows, buttons, pop up boxes and more. All are cleanly layered and has specialized shadows giving a depth to your view.
The apps launch in their own cards, you can also combine up to three apps in a single card to work in split-screen mode. You can also find “Story” cards, or a list of recent apps on your home screen and it also has a list of suggestion from your Feed which can directly open up two apps in one card to offer a combined action.
The Fuchsia also has a desktop-centric home screen code-named Capybara which is designed to provide a complete desktop/laptop like-experience.
Final Verdict:
Fuchsia is currently looking in a pretty good state and who knows one day it might replace Android. But currently, we can not surely say anything about it. It has a long way to go and everything really seems to be up in the air for now. It is all subject to change, we will keep you up to date on this project so stay tuned for more details.