I think you all know that Google exposed part of the information and UI of the new OS Fuchsia a few days ago. Many people have left messages for me in the background, asking me to share my opinions. So before I go to the United States, I will write an article for you to share my expectations and views on the Fuchsia system.

It hasn’t been a secret that Google is working on a new OS, but they haven’t revealed much about it except that Fuchsia is completely different from Android and Chrome OS, and as we all know, Building an operating system is not an easy thing to do, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and it probably won’t work. So let’s hazard a guess as to why Google is doing this bold thing.

Google has always had a weak spot, which is its performance in the PC market. Although people can surf the Internet anytime and anywhere in the mobile era, mobile phones cannot replace computers after all. Google also realized the importance of the PC market, so it also launched Chrome OS netbooks, but the results have been clear and the performance is not as expected. Few will buy it. There’s no doubt that the PC market is dominated by Microsoft and Apple, but I’m sure Google won’t give up so easily.

In the field of Android, there is no doubt that Android has taken an absolute leading position in the market share of mobile operating system. However, Android still has many problems, such as serious fragmentation, poor performance on tablets and large-screen devices, and lag and experience problems criticized by many users. Although the essence of Caton is that many bad applications wake up each other in the background, excessive permissions, memory usage, etc., it also reflects that the underlying architecture design of Android is flawed. Google cannot be unaware of these well-known problems, but it is not that Google does not want to solve them, but it is very difficult to solve them.

It seems that the Fuchsia system launched by Google now carries the above mission, but we don’t know whether Google thinks so. Let’s take a look at some information of Fuchsia exposed by Google this time:

  1. It is not based on the Linux kernel, but on a kernel called Magenta, which is a lightweight kernel for embedded systems;

  2. The UI layer uses the Flutter framework, which is a mobile application framework implemented in Google’s Dart language. It supports Android and iOS and can write native apps.

First of all, Fuchsia’s abandonment of the Linux kernel shows Google’s boldness again. Android and Chrome OS are both based on the Linux kernel, but do you know what’s wrong with the Linux kernel?

First of all, we have to admit that Linux kernel based operating systems such as Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, etc., are better distributions of Linux, but these systems are mostly used on servers, while Linux is on desktop systems. Especially in the User Interface performance is not so amazing.

Secondly, the Linux kernel is based on the GPL protocol, which means that any modification or reference to the source code must be open source. The Linux kernel used at the bottom of Android, so Android is open source, and the driver developed by hardware manufacturers for Android cannot be open source. In order to solve this problem, Google found a solution, which was to modify the Linux kernel at the bottom, but put the driver on the top of the Linux kernel, and created a separate Layer called HAL, which is Hardware Abstraction Layer. Hardware abstraction layer, so the HAL layer in Android architecture is essentially designed to circumvent the GPL. It was quite controversial at the time, but it has to be said that Google’s approach completely solved the problem, not only protecting the interests of “don’t want to open source” hardware manufacturers, but also solving the “hardware and software compatibility”. It takes advantage of the excellent and readily available Linux Kernel and prevents the GPL legacy from being infected by the Linux Kernel.

Therefore, Fuchsia system’s decision to completely abandon the Linux Kernel this time has to be associated with the disadvantages and potential risks of the previous Linux Kernel. However, it is a very courageous decision to completely abandon the excellent and mature Linux Kernel on the current market. But boldness is also built on strength, a decision Google may have thought long and hard about.

But do you think that’s enough?

Fuchsia system uses Magenta kernel, which is mostly used in embedded systems and supports high-performance graphics rendering. Hack News has analyzed that this feature is very suitable for VR/AR field. We all know that Google launched its Daydream VR platform and Project Tango AR platform at IO last year, and has already decided to focus on VR/AR. Just yesterday, Google has also acquired Owlchemy Labs, a virtual reality gaming company. These features of movement and hiding are likely to indicate that Fuchsia will be applied in a wider range of fields. Thus, Fuchsia will be a unified and universal operating system for all platforms in the future, such as mobile terminal, PC, AR/VR and Internet of Things. Google is a little bit ambitious and has a bigger imagination for the future. It’s probably an operating system for the future.

A lot of Android developers are definitely concerned that Fuchsia is going to drop the Android platform and put a dent in Android development, but that’s a lot to think about, given Android’s current market share and position on Google (as an aside, Google is now relying on Android platform to promote a lot of things. How could Google easily give up such a big cake? And two of the Fuchsia contributors, Travis Geiselbrecht and Brian Swetland, are leading developers of Android, so even if Google were to abandon Android entirely, There will also be a workable plan for a gradual transition.

However, Google’s ambition is quite big, which leads us to expect more from this system, but it is a long-term plan, and the uncertainty is very big, whether it will be accepted by developers and users is not clear, and according to Google’s practice, it may give up at any time, may soar. Or it may fade into obscurity.

Finally, I personally hope that this system, like its Chinese name “Purple red”, will become a big hit. After all, it looks like maybe it really is the operating system of the future.

This article was originally published in the wechat public account AndroidDeveloper, welcome to pay attention to get more original sharing.