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Android took over mobile. Google could switch out everything GNU or Linux in Android with BSD or whatever next year. There are no unique benefits to Linux outsi

by tormeh 10y ago

Android took over mobile. Google could switch out everything GNU or Linux in Android with BSD or whatever next year. There are no unique benefits to Linux outside server/HPC. Sure, it has a huge server ecosystem and is well-suited for HPC, but Google could probably make a replacement that is just as good for smartphone purposes from scratch in 2-3 years.

ywecur 10y ago
> Google could switch out everything GNU or Linux in Android with BSD or whatever next year. What are you trying to say? You could make the same argument for any piece of software in existence.
- dozzie 10y ago
  He's trying to say that Android is something totally different from Linux. Sure, it currently runs on Linux' kernel, but that's pretty much all. You don't write your program against Linux/unix API, you write it against Android. If Google was to replace Linux kernel in Android with, say, Windows CE kernel, virtually nobody would notice, including most of the Android programmers.
  - tormeh 10y ago
    Yes, thank you :)
  - quotemstr 10y ago
    You severely underestimate how many Android programs use Linux system calls directly. Replacing the kernel would be a compatibility nightmare.
    - dozzie 10y ago
      OK. How many and, more importantly, what for?