I think it's just a speculative effort that probably won't go anywhere.
I googled for "google magenta", and all the top hits are actually about an entirely separate (I assume?) project about AI music: https://magenta.tensorflow.org/welcome-to-magenta. So they didn't think very hard about the name for a start.
I'm also skeptical that a big new effort like this would be done entirely in the open. The Chrome team has something of a history of doing that and then throwing stuff away (e.g. Chromium mods and hardware configuration for a Chrome tablet that never got off the ground).
The Android team, on the other hand, seems to prefer developing stuff in private before open sourcing it. And their stuff seems to have more traction (or maybe we just don't see all the aborted efforts because they're private).
I feel like the Chrome team really believes in open source, and developing in the open, whereas the rest of the company (and especially Android) doesn't care as much and prefers being secretive. But as Sundar Pichai used to run Chrome, maybe he's changing things up a bit?
I googled for "google magenta", and all the top hits are actually about an entirely separate (I assume?) project about AI music: https://magenta.tensorflow.org/welcome-to-magenta. So they didn't think very hard about the name for a start.
I'm also skeptical that a big new effort like this would be done entirely in the open. The Chrome team has something of a history of doing that and then throwing stuff away (e.g. Chromium mods and hardware configuration for a Chrome tablet that never got off the ground).
The Android team, on the other hand, seems to prefer developing stuff in private before open sourcing it. And their stuff seems to have more traction (or maybe we just don't see all the aborted efforts because they're private).
I feel like the Chrome team really believes in open source, and developing in the open, whereas the rest of the company (and especially Android) doesn't care as much and prefers being secretive. But as Sundar Pichai used to run Chrome, maybe he's changing things up a bit?