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[perkiset]

This is interesting and somewhat unexpected:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_15/b4223041200216.htm

Playtime is over in Android Land. Over the last couple of months Google (GOOG) has reached out to the major carriers and device makers backing its mobile operating system with a message: There will be no more willy-nilly tweaks to the software. No more partnerships formed outside of Google's purview. From now on, companies hoping to receive early access to Google's most up-to-date software will need approval of their plans. And they will seek that approval from Andy Rubin, the head of Google's Android group.

In some ways this is analogous to the Apple Kills Gay Cure App bit - once you open up Pandora's box ...

[nop_90]

Most GPL projects are run by a benevolent dictator.
For python it is Guido, Perl it is Larry etc. Ruby it is the Jap dude
Lua and PHP are the same way, but they have a commitee of sorts.
It has to be this way

For example in Python for what ever reason, Guido over ruled many times multi-line lambdas.
When he was pushed to hard, he finally stated because he does not like multi-line lambdas
On the other hand any one of those projects you can make a fork.
Many open source projects have forked lots of times. In some cases both of the forks prospered. But in some cases it died.

Android should be like python, where the "core" is basic C code.
Then it connects to native modules for specialized functionality.
PHP does not do this, hence it is very hard to port etc.

This is part of the charm, and part of the problem with the lisp/scheme world.
There is no "real standard".
So there are 100 different types of foreign function interfaces.
Every version has its own way of handling things.
It is anarchy

Again stupid article written by someone who does not understand how open source works.
It is 100% different then the apple gay app situation.

[perkiset]

Actually my only equillibrating the Apple Gay Cure app thing to it is that whenever you have a large body of people that feel like they have a say in things, then they get pissed off when the alpha moves a different direction.

The more interesting thing to me is some threads now saying that Google thinks it fragments and ruins the user experience of Android if it is "too open." There are some thinkings of reducing the openness of it to reduce the possibility of dillution and fragmentation. Google's not stupid, and the lesson of Windows is surely not lost on them. So it will be quite interesting to see where this winds up.

[isthisthingon]

some threads now saying

 

@Ruby and the Asian gentleman    No actually he's been rather hands-off since the advent of Rails but your point about the benevolent dictator in open source projects is true.

Although I don't personally like the heavier policing and obscuring of the newest releases (Honeycomb) of Android by Google, it's still open source and all prior versions are freely open, available for modification, forking, etc.  It's just that everyone knows Google will do more for subsequent releases than they ever will so it effectively locks people in to waiting for Google to release the latest.

I think it's interesting that we haven't more effectively regulated the release pairings of hardware and software.  The release cycle time is completely different and upfront investment is much greater in hardware.  It's like trying to force an Agile shop to synchronize releases with a waterfall company.  It's the tech equivalent of running the three legged race 

And Google picking favorites (HTC, etc.) that get the inside info before others is  , imho.  Microsoft has always been more evenhanded with their partners - they all get the shaft equally 

[perkiset]

 

[Isaac]

As an end user, I hope that the current complaints are about Google forcing manufacturers and carriers to keep users options open. I currently have a phone that will not be getting updates from Verizon past 2.1. This is ridiculous. Due to the crapware/bloatware that comes pre-installed with no option of removal and the refusal to push updates to Android itself, my only option was to violate the Verizon TOS by rooting and updating on my own. Certain manufacturers and carriers are doing everything they can to keep people like myself from having this option. Some new phones have bootloaders that are designed to keep users from having any control. That's all fine and dandy for a hardware manufacture to do what they want with their devices, but if I buy a "Google Android" device, I have a certain expectation of control over the OS.I'll end my rant with this, if you want to put the "Google Android" label on your device, you're going to have to meet certain expectations. Aside from that, it's like anything else in the open source world, if you don't like it, do it yourself: http://source.android.com/source/download.html

[WrightAllen]

Actually am using Android and everything works fantastic..Liked all of it's features. No complaint at all.

[Bompa]

Google is changing course here and there, it's Larry Page at the helm now.