Google Pigweed: What is it and what we know about it so far

We know that Google is working on a new operating system called Fuchsia but in a plot twist of sorts, the company filed a trademark for an operating platform called Pigweed.

We know that Google is working on a new operating system called Fuchsia but in a plot twist of sorts, the company filed a trademark for an operating platform called Pigweed. Here’s what we know about Pigweed so far. (REUTERS)

We know that Google is working on a new operating system called Fuchsia but in a plot twist of sorts, the company filed a trademark for an operating platform called Pigweed.

The name 'Pigweed' was first spotted by a Redditor on the USPTO website and the filing describes it as something related to "computer operating software". 9to5Google also spotted the new name in the Chromium repository and in a proposed code change for the Fuchsia operating system. In the proposed code change case, the name was subsequently changed from Pigweed to Fuchsia.

As seen in this screenshot that was shared by 9to5Google, it looks like the developer responsible for using the 'Pigweed' name simply made a 'mistake'. In which case, there is no 'hard evidence' that Pigweed has anything to do with Fuchsia.

With Google filing that trademark, we do think the Pigweed is coming. Apart from the trademark name and brief description of what it could be, details about Google's Pigweed are scarce at the moment.

That said, Google hasn't been very disciplined when it comes to acquiring trademarks. According to a 9to5Google report, the company acquired the Chromebook trademark months after it had begun selling Chromebook devices. It registered "Android" trademark less than a week before the OS was introduced in 2007. Google has been sitting on Fuchsia trademark for more than two years and hasn't yet commercially launched.

For starters, what is Pigweed?

Britannica describes the Pigweed as a 'common weedy plant' and American Indian Health considers it 'weeds that thrive in disturbed soils'. And Pigweed is also edible.

If we are taking wild guesses, could Pigweed be an OS for disruptive devices? Could it bean ubiquitous OS in the Google eco system?

The only thing that is sure is that it is definitely an operating system.

Where does Pigweed fit into the Android and Fuchsia system?

As far as we know, Google's Fuchsia OS appears to be meant for all types of devices and many believe that it will eventually replace Android and Chrome OS.

That Pigweed had a reference in the Fuchsia OS source like we have mentioned above, Could they possibly be the same thing with two different names?

A 9to5Mac report points out that the developer who created the original Fuchsia code also works across several other Google projects so this whole Pigweed-Fuchsia thing could have just been a typo at that point. But, for now we know it exists.

Looking into the Google Chromium Code has revealed that the project was present as it has a bug tracking system, but there are no further details so far.