If you're enrolled in the preview program for your original Google Nest Hub you will soon get an update to the software that runs it. You won't realiz

Here's why Google is updating the first-generation Nest Hub to Fuchsia

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2021-05-29 16:30:06

If you're enrolled in the preview program for your original Google Nest Hub you will soon get an update to the software that runs it. You won't realize that the current Cast OS software has been upgraded to Google's Fuchsia, but it is going to happen all the same. Google's own FuchsiaOS technical lead sheds any doubt after 9to5Google initially reported the switch.

At first, this idea sounds like a letdown. The collective mind of the internet seemed sure that Fuchsia was the replacement for Android or part of a larger merging of Android and Chrome to power all things Google. This was an easy trap to fall into because it was a lot more interesting than Fuchsia being an RTOS for something mundane like the software that powers a car, or built for automation, or even built for IoT devices like the Google Nest Hub. It shouldn't though, because even the best smart home devices need some well-deserved software attention.

In 2016, I said that Fuchsia wasn't going to replace Android or Chrome or combine the two in any way in the immediate future. Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo reminds us that there was an even better prediction in 2018 when analysts Mark Bergen and Mark Gurman wrote in Bloomberg that Fuchsia would power Internet of Things devices by 2021. Note that the pair also said Fuchsia would be able to power phones and laptops by 2023.