About a year ago, we last saw screenshots and heard rumors about Fuchsia, Google’s upcoming operating system. And while it had been rumored that Fuchsia would be a combination of Android and Chrome OS, we are finally seeing evidence that this is the case.
The folks at 9to5Google have discovered a change in Android’s source code, which was published yesterday (Jan. 2) in coder-speak.
Specifically, a posted readme file indicates “These targets are used to develop Fuchsia ART. They differ from conventional Android devices in that they do not target particular hardware. They will generate a pink package (.far file).” If you are not an Android developer, this means that Fuchsia will require its own version of Android Runtime in order to run Android applications.
Beyond that, however, Fuchsia’s integration of Google OS remains unclear, and it is unclear how this implementation will differ from Chrome OS’s. The only published screens do not even display a Chrome logo, instead displaying Google Assistant and Search visual cues.
As 2019 progresses, we hope to learn more about the Fuchsia project. Currently, Chrome OS appears to be experiencing some growing pains – at least in tablet mode – and a new operating system designed to offer both Chrome and Android may be the optimal next step.
