Google is officially releasing Fuchsia OS, starting with a first-gen Nest Hub

Post by canadianfella » Tue, May 25, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

getcrunk wrote: post #50

rusk wrote: post #47

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That’s true. But unfortunately all that baggage comes with lots of genuinely useful stuff too. Starting from scratch rarely works, unless you’re willing to put in a lot of time and effort, and are in it for the long haul, and people that want to start from scratch rarely are, and google doesn’t have a good track record in these matters either.

Normally I'd agree about Googles track record. But they HAVE to innovate in the android/mobile space. It would be their death as opposed to just dropping a random messaging app. And they did all the "from scratch" work. It would be short sighted to not let zircon at least have the potential to replace Linux. Apple vertical integration strategy recently took a big step forward and googles response may well be this.

Post by h4waii » Tue, May 25, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #124

Semaphor wrote: post #105

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You don’t want a remote-controlled smart (actually: dumb) home. You want a fully local solution, then you can add remote, internet-dependent functionality like alexa to it. That way your primary mode of control will always work.

This is how the Honeywell stuff seems to work, at least for my thermostat. As long as there is some local wifi, thermostat and controlling unit will work, even if you cannot contact them from the internet.

Post by mwcampbell » Tue, May 25, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

bondolo wrote: post #189

mwcampbell wrote: post #118

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It might make sense for a blind person with sighted family and friends.

Given that this describes my family and we have a first gen Nest Hub I expect to be able to soon report whether Fushcia is as accessible as the prior Linux stack.

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 25, 2021, 2:59 PM UTC

swiley wrote: post #188

ryukafalz wrote: post #91

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So, if I buy a device that runs Fuchsia (say, this Nest Hub), is enough of Fuchsia FOSS that I can run my own copy of it with e.g. a different UI and without Google services? This is true of Android devices by necessity as the kernel is GPL (bootloader locking aside); is it true of Fuchsia devices? As for bootloader locking, Google releases some Android devices with unlockable bootloaders. Can we expect the same of F…

It's not really true for Android either because the graphics drivers are mostly userspace and end up coupled with a lot of the vendor provided stuff. Fuchsia has no GPL so it's unlikely any of the driver source will be available to you.

Post by jeffbee » Tue, May 25, 2021, 3:00 PM UTC

rejectedandsad wrote: post #167

jeffbee wrote: post #164

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I think the cause of this phenomenon is that most HN readers are not qualified to comment on Fuchsia, are ignorant of any and all facts about it, but are also compelled to comment. So you get this thread, and most threads here. Actual technical exchange between people who are both not obviously wrong is rare here.

Googlers thinking non-Googlers are unqualified to comment on anything seems like a fairly common theme to me. I really wonder what caused this kind of ideological entitlement. Was it a company culture that never said "no"? Was it the constant talk of how Googlers are just smarter and more brilliant than everyone else? Genuinely curious.