Google's new OS Fuchsia and the Android/Chrome merger Andromeda are the same?

If you were to dial your time machines back to August 2016 (.. or you know, just use Google's advanced search tools), you'd find a ton of articles about Google's new OS named Fuchsia. It was speculated to be the merger of Android and Chrome OS we have all been hearing about for ... very long now I think. Then there were rumors about a new OS called Andromeda around September which got covered even more extensively. Now a new article is circulating around on the web speculating Fuchsia and Andromeda are one and the same.

The article in question is from a semiconductor analyst Daniel Matte on his blog Tech Specs where he explains his take on a more mature Fuchsia, and why it's where Andromeda is going to start.

To my naive eyes, rather than saying Chrome OS is being merged into Android, it looks more like Android and Chrome OS are both being merged into Fuchsia.

Fuchsia is an open project and is not being kept a secret, hence all the work on the kernel, the framework, and associated bits and pieces is being done in the open on Github where anyone with an interest can have a look. It has been so from the beginning. Matte says, that this is a ground up operating system designed to run on ARM, MIPS, and Intel x86 processors. Not so much a merger of Android and Chrome but an entirely new OS built from scratch, containing the good bits from both the existing operating systems and thus can support much of Google's existing products — Chrome and Android — while furthering a new application platform.

But let's imagine something now. Imagine, you see a foundation being laid and you wonder "hey, what's being built here?" There's no board, signs or anything, just a foundation being built. All you can do is speculate about what kind of building would be built on top of the foundation, based on the size of the foundation, the surroundings, rumors you've heard. And that is exactly what's happening here.

There never was an official announcement or even a word of recognition from Google about Fuchsia. This article by Matte, and any other articles based upon that, are purely speculations derived from the available code which does not tell much. Its more like a foundation, and not perhaps even a complete one. One can not even pin point the exact purpose of Fuchsia as of now, by looking at the code.

So there exactly isn't much evidence or proof that it is indeed Andromeda which according to Android Police's reliable sources is based on Android, and is not a completely different OS. Andromeda was rumored to be already up and running on a few devices the last anybody heard of it and it was almost ready for a commercial launch. That didn't happen of course, so its obvious that Google changed their plans. That would make sense because while Andromeda was reaching for a commercial launch it wasn't all that ready for it. What makes all these rumors reliable? Well, evidence, obtained and put forth by various channels. That's how we know those weren't speculations.

Fuchsia on the other hand, is practically a fetus and nobody can tell a fetus of what exactly. It's that early. There hasn't been any major leaks or information about Fuchsia other than the fact that it exists.

So will Fuchsia not be replacing Android and Chrome OS? Well, if things go its way sure it may, but that's just one possible outcome. It is too early to tell. But Fuchsia is not the Andromeda we heard of. The only reason there's so much speculation is because that is what we want to hear and believe. Our beloved Android running on our PCs as a full desktop OS? Bring it on! People believe what they want to. Imagine a highlighted case against a government official exploiting his position, we'd believe he's guilty before there's any proof other than the media speculating about it. (So many off topic examples I have today.)

Fuchsia could be the thing, it could be nothing, it could end up being something, and at this point, making a case about any of those outcomes without any substantial new information or leak would only be speculating. One's free to do that, of course, but it need not be considered as some new information.