Google is no longer bringing the full Chrome browser to Fuchsia

In contrast to that minimal experience, Google was seemingly working to bring the full might of Chrome to Fuchsia. To observers, this was yet another signal that Google intended for Fuchsia to grow beyond the smart home and serve as a full desktop operating system. After all, what good is a laptop or desktop without a web browser? Fans of the Fuchsia project have anticipated its eventual expansion to desktop since Fuchsia was first shown to run on Google's Pixelbook hardware.

However, in the intervening time - a period that also saw significant layoffs in the Fuchsia division - it seems that Google has since shifted Fuchsia in a different direction. The clearest evidence of that move comes from a Chromium code change (and related bug tracker post) published last month declaring that the Chrome browser on fuchsia won't be maintained."

Kyle Bradshaw at 9To5Google

Up until a few years ago, every indication was that Google had big plans for Fuchsia, from workstation" builds to porting Chrome to developers using Fuchsia for Google Meet calls, and lots of other improvements, changes, and additions that pointed squarely at Fuchsia being prepped for use on more than just the Nest Hub devices.

We're about a year later now, and everything has changed. The workstation builds have been discontinued, the Fuchsia team was hit harder by the Google layoffs than other teams, and now the Chrome port has been deprecated. All signs now point to Fuchsia being effectively a dead end beyond its use on Hub devices.

At least Google had the decency to kill this before it released it.