Google is working on a new operating system project it is calling “Fuchsia”, reported Bloomberg on Thursday.
For about two years now, there have been reports that Google was working on an OS from scratch that can overcome the limitations of Android as more devices come online.
According to Bloomberg, Fuchsia is being designed to better accommodate voice interactions and frequent security updates and to maintain the same look across all devices from the big size devices like laptops to the smallest hand-held devices.
Reports about “Fuchsia” first developed back in 2016 when small bits of its open source code was posted on GitHub to let developers explore the code.
Publicly, the company points to Fuchsia as an example of its freewheeling approach to creative products. Bloomberg also reported that in 2015, Lockheimer, a Google executive wrote a blog post that said the company had no plans to replace its Chrome operating system with Android, a position he said still applies today.
However, this initiative by Google is one most users believe focuses on better competing with Google’s rival company Apple Inc.
The Google-owned operating system, Android, takes up roughly 85 percent market share crushing Apple’s 15 percent, yet the Apple operating system beats it in areas like performance, privacy and security, and integration across Apple devices.
Another key advantage most iPhone users enjoy is the ability to quickly update their phones when Apple releases a new version of the operating system, while less than 10 percent of Android users do since most Android developers do not roll out updates.
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This is because Google usually relies on phone makers and wireless network operators to push regular operating system and security updates to Android devices.
These partners don’t have as much incentive as Google to distribute the latest software. Phone makers would rather sell new hardware, and telecom companies have other priorities.
Google has tried to address this problem head-on recently. In May, the company modified its agreement with handset makers requiring them to updates devices with security patches multiple times a year.
However, no communication has been received directly from Google yet. Previously rumors sparked the internet about Microsoft working on a new project called Singularity which rumors later on slowly disappeared and eventually the project went nowhere.
This is just speculation for now, and the only real description available about Fuchsia is what it says at the top of the GitHub page.
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