- Google is working on “microfuchsia,” a stripped down version of the company’s Fuchsia operating system that runs on the Google Nest Hub.
- Microfuchsia is designed to run in a virtual machine, and Google seems to be experimenting with doing just that on Android devices.
- It’s not clear why Google wants to do this, but one theory is that it’ll run some workloads more optimally and securely than microdroid.
Google is responsible for the development of two of the world’s most popular consumer-focused operating systems: Android and Chrome OS. But behind the scenes, it’s actually been steadily working on a third operating system called Fuchsia OS. Ever since Fuchsia first reared its head, it’s been the subject of much speculation, including theories and predictions that it’ll eventually replace Android. While that seems unlikely at this point in time, Google is continuing to test Fuchsia out in new and interesting places. Most recently, it’s been working on building a stripped-down version of the OS that’ll run on a virtual machine on Android devices.
Fuchsia OS is an open-source operating system much like Android and Chrome OS. Unlike the latter two, however, Fuchsia isn’t built on top of the Linux kernel. Rather, it’s built on Zircon, which Google says is “composed of a kernel and a small set of userspace services, drivers, and libraries necessary for core system functions such as booting.” Zircon’s “microkernel-like architecture” allows Fuchsia to “reduce the amount of trusted code running in the system” to just a few core functions, which can lead to improved security and stability due to a reduction in the amount of highly privileged code compared to typical “monolithic” kernels.