Will Fuchsia kill Android?
Google along with Apple and Microsoft is one of the main players in the operating systems industry with the Android and Chrome OS to its name. While the former found enormous success world over, the latter failed to make a significant impact on the market [1] [2]. Android swiftly charmed its way into the hearts of people with its cool and fresh user-friendly features, though the Chrome OS remained relatively unknown. However, it was a new innovation in itself — a cloud-centric operating system.
The popularity and acceptance of Android can be au fait with by examining the market statistics. More than 85% [3] of all smartphones in the world run on the Android OS. By the end of the second quarter of 2018 32.95 crore Android devices were sold worldwide, in comparison, Apple could sell only 4.472 crore units of its iOS phones [4]. Android is by a long way the leading mobile operating system in the world and is anticipated to maintain its position in the years to come [5].
All was hunky-dory for Android until a competitor seemed to sneak in, in mid-2016 - Fuchsia. Fuchsia is no brainchild of any rival company but Google itself!
Fuchsia is Google's yet to be launched modernistic operating system which many believe will prove to be a slayer for Android (Chrome OS is already almost dead with an insignificant 1.61% user share in the desktop arena [6]). Pessimists tout it as the killer while optimists hail it as the successor.
The idea for Fuchsia was conceived to conquer the drawbacks of Android - both technical and legal. Let us take turns to discuss both and also try to decipher their impact on the ‘life’ of Android.
The technical aspect, first.
People who stay up-to-date with the latest trends in technology know that Google has been fancying a one-for-all operating system for quite some time now. And lately, with the boom in the market of personalized gadgets Google CEO Sundar Pichai has shifted the focus of his company towards artificial intelligence services. But its major operating systems have not been able to keep pace with the advances in the software industry. Fuchsia is the answer to those hardware hindrances.
Fuchsia is being developed as a single operating system which will have the power to administer all types of Google devices, such as phones, laptops, voice-controlled speakers, etc., as well as other third-party gadgets.
But why has Google taken a painstaking job of building a new OS from scratch? What is wrong with Google? Or, should I ask, what is wrong with Android?
Android, and Chrome OS, are not best suited for the type of gadgets mentioned above because of their Linux based kernels. Kernels built on Linux are perfect for desktops and laptops but are not suitable for many other types of devices, such as embedded gadgets, GPS units, smartwatches, car dashboards, etc. To fit them into such devices kernels are often tweaked which develops an environment where faults can occur. Such tinkering affects the performance severely and is ground for added concerns and vulnerabilities.
Fuchsia, however, is not built on Linux. Instead, it uses Zircon (previously known as Magenta) as its core, which is a microkernel and offers better security and stability with lesser memory requirements.
For novice readers, a microkernel is the least possible amount of software (in terms of source code size) that has the capability to produce an operating system. Microkernels are based on the principle of minimality, according to which the computer must trust only those firmware, hardware, and/or software resources that are absolutely necessary for furnishing its main purpose of running the system in conformity with its security policy.
Since the news of its development broke out, Fuchsia has been the talk of the town and is being likened with the anti-hero Loki who is desperate to capture the throne of Asgard - one of the Nine Worlds in the Norse religion. As stated earlier, it has been a fear of many that the launch of Fuchsia will be the death of Android, gradually, if not immediately. While others are of the opinion that Google will treat Fuchsia the same way as Samsung considers its Tizen; a lightweight OS deployed on hardware not apposite for Android.
But why would Google put to sleep one of its greatest creations?
By now, we comprehend that Android is not a suitable option for the upcoming modern smart gadgets. And hence Android is not really the future.
Coming to the present, it is also worth a mention that handling Android is proving to be a challenging task for Google. Android being an open-source software regularly results in a departure from its original form because of modifications from third-party device manufacturers. This causes issues with the update system as Google cannot directly load new updates to those devices whose original code has been tampered with. This leads to a great number of devices not receiving any updates at all which makes them incapable to fight off any newly addressed issues. With the progression in time such devices either become obsolete or perform poorly which affects the android’s customer base, which in sequence hurts Google’s finances.
So, will Google really move away from Android?
Recent changes observed in the Android Open Source Project have confirmed that Fuchsia will have support for Android applications on smartphones [7]. A peek into its freely available source code on GitHub also spells out that it would have support for desktop computers and laptops as well. This implies that Google indeed eyes Fuchsia as an alternative for Android.
Now, coming on to the legal aspect.
Android is written in Java. You must be wondering how come this be a legal aspect. Read on.
Oracle Corporation is the current “owner” of Java and its APIs. Since 2010 Google is fighting a legal battle with Oracle which has sued it for violating its copyrights - by building a custom version of the Java platform for the Android OS - and is soliciting a hefty compensation, around ₹ 630652000000 [8].
Another problem that Google faced in recent times is the Android Antitrust Case. In a ruling last year, the European Union fined Google ₹ 364454670000 for breaching its antitrust regulations [9]!
Court proceedings are costing Google a substantial amount of money and unnecessary labor, and Google wants to shut down such poignant chapters. What will the outcome be of any pending case(s) we shall know with time but Google has taken some noteworthy technical steps with Fuchsia to avoid any such legal scenarios in the future.
Google has ditched Java and has written Fuchsia in C, C++, Go, Rust and, Dart programming languages. Go and Dart both are developed at Google. Fuchsia's user interface and applications are written in Flutter, a software development kit built by Google itself.
The Conclusion.
With a low space OS at its disposal, Google aims to converge everything towards a single entity that would be able to serve more efficiently a wide range of devices and services. It would also be feasible for Google – with full control in its hands - to maintain and look after in the long run.
Fuchsia offers Google the prospect to regain the power that it ceded to the manufacturers and network providers when it created Android. A change over to Fuchsia would bestow Google with the chance to press the reset button on any mistakes - legal, managerial, or technical - they consider they committed earlier.
If they are successful in developing what they intend to, which I am pretty sure they will be, Android will definitely not see light at the end of the day - the death of Android is most beneficial for Google in all possible ways. But such days are not coming any sooner.
Ending with a trivia……..
Fuchsia is a bright purplish-red color. It is so-called because of the color of the flower of the Fuchsia plant, which in turn is named after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566). Fuchsia is pronounced as FEW-SHA (फ्युशा).
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