> Android is not on its way to becoming a proprietary operating system, it's as open as it's ever been. So how do you go about to modify software on your phone

> Android is not on its way to becoming a proprietary operating system, it's as open as it's ever been. So how do you go about to modify software on your phone? I love it all, but pretending as if Google is not skewing the ecosystem in a way to maintain control is a bit naive. There is economic reason to do so, but it clashes with the intrerests of the wider ecosystem. > In the case of Maps (which I worked on some years ago) it's because Google's licenses for some data sets are specific to Google, they aren't allowed to just throw it all out there via an open protocol, Hm, so HTTP is not an open protocol? The "proprietary" protocols are unlikely to be replaced, since this would disable probably 30% of phones in the field. (not all update play services) > [...] The microG implementation contains fake data that is sent back to the servers. This risks legitimate users being mis-identified as abusers [...] The straight forward approach for any malware or threat this system is up against. - If this causes "good" users to be excluded, then google messed up big time. - I assume they anticipated this, making the point moot. I see no malicious intent here and see no reason to be upset.