Google Opens Up Fuchsia to Public Contributions

Google rarely talks about Fuchsia, an open-source operating system that may eventually replace Android and Chrome OS. But now it’s taking public contributions to the secretive platform-to-be.

“Fuchsia is a long-term project to create a general-purpose, open source operating system, and today we are expanding Fuchsia’s open source model to welcome contributions from the public,” a post credited to Fuchsia Developer Advocate Wayne Piekarski reads. “Fuchsia is designed to prioritize security, updatability, and performance, and is currently under active development by the Fuchsia team. We have been developing Fuchsia in the open, in our git repository for the last four years.”

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Starting today, however, Google is taking the next step in this secret openness by making it easier for the public to engage with the project. As part of this change, it has published a Fuchsia technical roadmap that it says includes details “a driver framework for updating the kernel independently of the drivers, improving file systems for performance, and expanding the input pipeline for accessibility.”

We’ve been wondering about Fuchsia for years, so this new openness is obviously quite welcome, but the project is still quite confusing and is now, in Google’s words, “not ready for general product development or as a development target” and “still evolving rapidly.”

If you are interested in Fuchsia, that technical roadmap looks like a good place to start, in particular the Concepts part of the site.

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Conversation 9 comments

  • Piyer

    08 December, 2020 - 2:37 pm

    <p>Google is really worried about Harmony OS. Harmony with micro kernel architecture is going to be a real threat to Android</p>

    • mrlinux11

      08 December, 2020 - 3:40 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#598620"><em>In reply to Piyer:,</em></a></blockquote><blockquote>The OS is nothing without all the other pieces parts, such as compilers/debugger, and especially APPS in general. Example Windows phone failed due to a lack of apps </blockquote>

      • hellcatm

        08 December, 2020 - 4:33 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#598646"><em>In reply to mrlinux11:</em></a><em> You're right in a way. I think also Windows phone failed because it's popular to hate on Microsoft. Companies didn't make apps for Windows phone because they didn't want Microsoft to be in the phone arena. Now with the interesting rumor that Windows could get Android apps, it makes me wonder if things have changed between Google and Microsoft.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Harmony OS looks interesting and since it's open source I think it would make it difficult for them to make a backdoor or so I wonder if the US Govt. will let it be put on phones made for the US? So Fuchsia vs Harmony vs Android, sounds interesting. Is Fuchsia good enough to take the place of Android, is Harmony good enough to be competition? It's on Google radar.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

        • bkkcanuck

          09 December, 2020 - 8:36 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#598660">In reply to HellcatM:</a></em></blockquote><p>They did not make apps for the MS Phone not because they hated Microsoft but because they did not see it as profitable. It was the third Phone OS to hit the market, it had not proven that it would gain enough market share (it was basically wait and see or the chicken and egg problem). Simply put, it was too little too late. I think Microsoft was expecting that they would come out with a Phone OS a decade after everyone and the industry would bow down and it would take the industry by storm since it was from Microsoft (that might have been the case in the past — but no longer). If the phone were to be a success – it would take a decade before it really paid off (if ever). </p>

          • Paul Thurrott

            Premium Member
            09 December, 2020 - 9:41 am

            Actually, it was a bit of both. Google was afraid that Microsoft would gain traction and cut it out of mobile. They took explicit action to harm Windows phone, like blocking a Microsoft YouTube app on the platform.

            • markld

              Premium Member
              09 December, 2020 - 1:37 pm

              <blockquote><em><a href="#598810">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Paul, you are so right about that, they did take explicit action to harm Windows phone. Your example still ticks me off. </p><p>Hypocrisy of it, Google's action vs their unofficial motto of "Don't be evil". </p>

              • Paul Thurrott

                Premium Member
                10 December, 2020 - 8:28 am

                Yeah, this still bothers me as well. Every time the Edge team talks about their great relationship with Google, I always think, yeah, you just wait.

  • hellcatm

    08 December, 2020 - 4:23 pm

    <p>This is good news. The competition is good and since its China I'd say better. If it were the EU or Canada that made this OS we'd Google would probably just shrug it off, but since its China, its putting a fire up their butts so do something. Anyone making an OS should always be worried about someone taking their place, same with hardware. Look at Intel, they didn't worry about AMD, now they've noticed…same with Nvidia. Companies always need to feel the fire of competition so they keep innovating. Lets hope Fushsia is good and has what it takes to take the place of Android.</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    11 December, 2020 - 8:47 pm

    <p>When can we get our hands on working code? That's the real question! :D</p>

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