Google's new operating system has been demonstrated to work on the Pixelbook. Called Fuchsia OS, the software runs on the device but still far from stable status.
Officially, Fuchsia OS is experimental as Google remains silent on the system, which appears to be a fusion of Android and Chrome OS in terms of user interface and basic functionalities. For the adventurous type, however, Fuchsia is ready to download and install, and the Pixelbook was recently picked as among the supported device for the platform.
As such, ArsTechnica took the OS for a spin and concluded Google's secret project actually works. To be clear, though, it will take some time and effort before Fuchsia OS is able to get out of the production gate.
"Things crash a lot, a lot of things don't work. There is still lots of work to do," the report said, adding that Fuchsia OS on the Pixelbook considerably slowed down the device.
Still Stutters And Crashes
It's quite obvious that Fuchsia OS is not bumping off any of Android or Chrome operating systems anytime soon. As shown in the demo, the software has unresponsive moments and many of the contents were mostly unusable.
It appears that the most functional component, for now, is the web browser but the loading of pages took too long for comfort and productivity. The software, though, seems a bit optimized for Google.com and the demo showed a fairly good navigation experience on the page with Fuchsia OS.
Right out of compiling Fuchsia OS, the software will operate in slow mode by default. This is because the OS compiles in debug, so a workaround is to add "--release" at the end of the build command. Doing so will disable the debug mode and bring more speed to the general behavior of the operating system.
At its present form, Fuchsia OS is still in infancy stage as it closely resembles the barebones package that it was when first detected in 2016. There is little doubt, however, that the software has come a long way. As of last year, the OS can only be run on top of Android and the basic build is similar to an application with a UI that replicates that of an operating system.
Now, Fuchsia OS is nearly on its way to becoming a full-fledged operating system that eventually will boast of cross-platform features. It is understood the OS when it becomes fully operational will power laptops, hybrid devices, tablets, and smartphones.
Like Android and Chrome OS before, Fuchsia OS will still serve as users' direct access to the Google ecosystem of products and services, a specter hinted by the presence of a login interface that likely will require the use of Google account.
