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Google's Fuchsia System UI can now be previewed. The operating system could potentially replace Android and even ChromeOS:
Google, never one to compete in a market with a single product, is apparently hard at work on a third operating system after Android and Chrome OS. This one is an open source, real-time OS called "Fuchsia." The OS first popped up in August last year, but back then it was just a command line. Now the mysterious project has a crazy new UI we can look at, so let's dive in.
Unlike Android and Chrome OS, Fuchsia is not based on Linux—it uses a new, Google-developed microkernel called "Magenta." With Fuchsia, Google would not only be dumping the Linux kernel, but also the GPL: the OS is licensed under a mix of BSD 3 clause, MIT, and Apache 2.0. Dumping Linux might come as a bit of a shock, but the Android ecosystem seems to have no desire to keep up with upstream Linux releases. Even the Google Pixel is still stuck on Linux Kernel 3.18, which was first released at the end of 2014.
[...] This all leads us to an interesting point right now: the Fuchsia interface is written with the Flutter SDK, which is cross-platform. This means that, right now, you can grab chunks of Fuchsia and run it on an Android device. Fuchsia first went public in August 2016, and but back then compiling it would get you nothing more than a command line. Thanks to Hotfixit.net for pointing out that the Fuchsia System UI, called "Armadillo" is actually pretty interesting now.
It's possible to download the source and compile Fuchsia's System UI into an Android APK and install it on an Android device. It consists of a wild reimagining of a home screen along with a keyboard, a home button, and (kind of) a window manager. Nothing really "works"—it's all a bunch of placeholder interfaces that don't do anything. There's also a great readme in the Fuchsia source that describes what the heck is going on.
It's about time for Linux Torvalds' domination of the smartphone industry to end.
Also at BGR, ZDNet, ComputerWorld, and The Register. Preview video.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10 2017, @10:58PM (10 children)
Would be suicide at this point. The user base and infrastructure is far too great.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @12:18AM (8 children)
No it isn't. Everyone buys a new phone every year so Android will be phased out by planned obsolescence. Android developers are all 20-year-old Indian coders whose careers last at most 5 years so the developers will be phased out as they grow too old to work in the industry.
(Score: 2) by fnj on Thursday May 11 2017, @06:13AM (2 children)
No they don't. Speak for your own goddam self. Mine is still a Galaxy S2 from 2011.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @06:56AM
I hope you're not paying very much for cell/data service.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @03:22PM
me too. s2 with cyanogenmod. use csipsimple and my freeswitch server as my main phone. zrtp baby! next upgrade will be to copperheadOS supported phone
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @10:20AM (3 children)
You are assuming that all manufacturers would jump on the bandwagon. But there is nothing stopping them from simply continuing the use of Android anyway. If Google stops development, they could just continue development in-house, maybe taking Cyanogen-Mod as a base (which itself won't disappear either).
And of course all the applications available for Android won't magically pop up on the replacement. And if Google should close Play Store, alternative will pop up. Note that some companies like Samsung already have their own Android stores.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Thursday May 11 2017, @10:38AM (2 children)
It already has [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 11 2017, @05:36PM (1 child)
From the linked Wikipedia article:
So no, CyanogenMod (the product) didn't disappear. It just changed leadership and name.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday May 12 2017, @09:29AM
In other words, CyanogenMod no longer exists, having been replaced by LineageOS.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday May 11 2017, @07:23PM
Would explain why a simple remote disply and data logger from Fluke (test equipment) consumes 100MB and requires you to have an account.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Friday May 12 2017, @08:28AM
Not if the new system runs all the old apps seamlessly.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].