Samsung extends its influence to Google’s Fuchsia OS

This is a small change, but progress is progress

What you need to know

• Samsung Inc. has contributed code to Project Fuchsia and been listed as an author of code related to its F2FS system.
• Project Fuchsia has been in development for six years but didn’t open up to more engaged public development until last year.
• There’s still no word on when we might see a major release or product announcement running Fuchsia.

Google definitely believes in the slow burn when it comes to open-source development. Fuchsia OS has been in development since 2016, but it hasn’t seen much development in a couple of years. However, much of that might’ve been because Fuchsia wasn’t open to all developers. Google beefed up its development support for the open-source development of Fuchsia in December of last year, and we’ve now seen the first commits from another tech giant that knows a thing or two about building a new system from scratch.

The new code commits relate to Samsung’s F2FS (Flash-Friendly File System), a file system that Samsung built to better handle the types of storage used in the best phones, tablets, and flash storage devices (eMMc storage and SSDs). It makes sense that Samsung would author Fuchsia code concerning its own file system, even if the code seems to relate more to reading external storage devices rather than Samsung building a device running Fuchsia.

We’re a week out from Google I/O 2021, but I wouldn’t hold my breath about seeing significant announcements surrounding Fuchsia at the event. Google’s going to have its hands full with unveiling Android 12 and doing something with the hot mess known as Wear OS if it wants to have any hope of competing with the Apple Watch. Even Chromebooks might not get much love this year, so Fuchsia will almost assuredly be left waiting in the wings.