Bwauhahahaha.
Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
61–70 of 214 posts
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The ad team prevailed, this person said. Of course they did. A controversial idea, but you know how much easier this would be for everyone if Google offered an option for users to be paid for volunteering your information to them? It's a precedent most fledgling ad companies wouldn't be able to match... even if it's just a few dollars a month, or maybe 30ish bucks a year. It'd cut into Google's bottom line, but it…
What would be better is the ability to pay for Google not to sell your data. However, the new problem would be making sure they aren't selling your data, anyway.
Google doesn't sell your data. Advertisers pay Google to deliver their ads to the demographic they want to target.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#63> "Switching away from Android could provide Google the opportunity to hit the reset button on any mistakes they believe they made a decade ago,". "They might be able to regain some power that they’ve ceded to device manufacturers and telecom carriers." How making a new OS achive this? What kind of problems Fuchsia could solve when Linux can’t solve? I personally hope Fuchsia would remain as an experimental project.…
> How making a new OS achive this? What kind of problems Fuchsia could solve when Linux can’t solve?
The problems they are likely trying to solve are business and legal, not technical. Pesky things like not having to release keys bits of code under a 'free' license (i.e. they have no choice but to release any changes to the Linux kernel under GPL as that's what it requires.) Sure, they'll probably still release large chunks of source code (possibly under MIT/BSD, possibly under a less liberal license) but keep strategic bits closed source. Right now they have to do this via the clunky and somewhat obvious Google Play services layer. And then there's the constant potential exposure to lawsuits. etc.
By being able to decide on what pieces would be released under what licenses, it would allow them to prevent competitors from following in their footsteps as Amazon and various Chinese companies have done with Android. Things like this are the reason Samsung (one of Google's largest problems) keep pushing forward with their Tizen platform so that when the shift comes they have the ability to sidestep it if they want to.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#64I can already hear professor Tanenbaum's evil laughter, followed by "I told you so" :)
Although for the life of me, I cannot figure out why Google suffers so hard from NIH syndrome and didn't go with something like seL4/Genode. Do they just want control of absolutely everything they touch?
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#65> "The company must also settle some internal feuds. Some of the principles that Fuchsia creators are pursuing have already run up against Google’s business model. Google’s ads business relies on an ability to target users based on their location and activity, and Fuchsia’s nascent privacy features would, if implemented, hamstring this important business. There’s already been at least one clash between advertising an…
Would be nice if there were a competitor mobile platform to iOS that wasn't built from the ground up to sell you advertising based on personal data. I guess Blackberry was the last mobile OS that didn't need to know every detail of my pissing habits.
Sure, but Blackberry - specifically, the BBM service - had no qualms about setting up intercepting proxies with governments when pressured.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#66I am really surprised Microsoft isn't doing something like this. They are losing the OS war.
Not really, they are winning the desktop and tablets (2-1) war. Desktops aren't going away, and Macs are pretty much an US phenomenon, alongside a couple of other countries. Likewise, Android tablets aren't that good, with most of the apps being phone apps. Google now is playing with ChromeOS for tablets, which also remains to be seen where it goes. So, most consumer shops around here are now mostly selling iPads and…
>Not really, they are winning the desktop and tablets (2-1) war.
According to tablet market share stats they are clearly not winning that war and not even a serious competitor.
>Likewise, Android tablets aren't that good, with most of the apps being phone apps.
Most of the Android apps I use on tablets all resize fine to use the extra space. I consider trying to use desktop apps that are not optimized for a touch interface a much worse experience.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#67"One person who has spoken to Fuchsia staff described the effort simply: "It’s a senior-engineer retention project." This has been my therory for a while. You see all these different projects competing against each other (multiple messaging apps are a good example) and you think: why is Google so unfocused? But what Google basically wants to do is hoard engineers so they don't leave and go work for competitors and ma…
Yup and if it turns out there are advantages to transition it into a real project.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#68This Bloomberg article has several shortcomings. 1. "Android and Chrome OS are built on Linux, a widely used open-source programming language." Here they mix up the Linux kernel with the Java programming language. 2. "Moving from Linux, though, could have upsides for Google. Android’s use of the technology, which is owned by Oracle Corp., is at the center of a lengthy, bitter lawsuit between the two companies. Shifti…
I agree. Some other snippets
> In the code pages, the Googlers working on Fuchsia specify that the software is not finalized.
Really, that needed to be said? An operating system with no practical use or implementation isnt finished? None of the ones in mass use right now are "finished."
>This means Google’s latest services only reach a fraction of Android users.
Google Play Services were split out from the OS back in 2013. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-s... The author repeatedly tries to paint Android as a monolith held back by hardware manufacturers, and google, for the most part has split what we know as Android into two layers, and has fullll control of one of those two.
>"Moving from Linux, though, could have upsides for Google. Android’s use of the technology, which is distributed by Oracle Corp., is at the center of a lengthy, bitter lawsuit between the two companies. Android was also built using Java software technology, which Oracle owns and has claimed Google stole to shore up its mobile business."
Even after a correction, the article still claims Oracle has sued Google over Linux! (Not sure if your copy/paste is from after the correction.) The author demonstrates no understanding of the difference between the Linux Kernel, Common Libraries, Android Runtime, Android Application Framework, and Google Services. Moving from Linux doesnt mean replacing the Runtime or Services. Completely separate layers. Oracles disupte is over the Runtime not Linux.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would be better is the ability to pay for Google not to sell your data. However, the new problem would be making sure they aren't selling your data, anyway.
Google doesn't sell your data. Advertisers pay Google to deliver their ads to the demographic they want to target.
Right. They don’t sell our data, they rent us out to the highest bidder.
Much better.
Re: Project Fuchsia: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android
#70"One person who has spoken to Fuchsia staff described the effort simply: "It’s a senior-engineer retention project." This has been my therory for a while. You see all these different projects competing against each other (multiple messaging apps are a good example) and you think: why is Google so unfocused? But what Google basically wants to do is hoard engineers so they don't leave and go work for competitors and ma…
Different sources will have different spins. Surely the Fuchsia team wouldn't think they're in glorified daycare, it's unlikely their superiors would tell journalists they are.