Owners of the first-gen Nest Hub are about to receive an update to Google’s brand-new operating system dubbed Fuchsia OS. However, they won’t even notice the change because Fuchsia OS will be identical to the previous Linux-based Cast OS the Nest Hub was running.
Why the change then? Who knows? This is Google after all, but perhaps it is a small step in a larger plan to transition more Google products in the future to Fuchsia OS. Google has been working on the new operating system since 2016 which uses a custom-built Zircon microkernel instead of a Linux-based kernel like Android and Chrome OS currently use.
It has long been rumored that Fuchsia OS would be the successor to Android or Chrome OS and Google would make the swap someday. However, that day is not today, and it’s not likely to be anytime soon. Instead, the first we’re seeing of Fuchsia in its functional form in the wild will be on the first-gen Nest Hub smart display.
The technical lead of Fuchsia OS, Petr Hosek, took to Twitter on May 25, 2021, to announce the roll-out saying, “You don’t ship a new operating system every day, but today is that day.”
You don’t ship a new operating system every day, but today is that day.
— Petr Hosek (@petrh) May 25, 2021
If you have a first-gen Nest Hub enrolled in the Preview program, then Fuchsia OS should be hitting it soon. Later, it will roll out more widely to all first-gen Nest Hubs, and potentially to more smart displays such as the second-gen Nest Hub. Although, Google has not made any announcements about Fuchsia OS rolling out to any other products at this time.
