5 ms·

Hard to make money selling a free OS to replace an OS the customer doesn't pay for already?

greglindahl 10y ago
Android is "free" to the consumer, but the payment is that if you want all of the Google apps (which are no longer part of the open source stuff) and the consumer uses the Google apps (likely), all of the search revenue goes to Google.
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  The numerous China Android based OS's, that are void of Google services, would disagree.
  - greglindahl 10y ago
    Excuse me, disagree how? They don't use the special google apps, and search revenue doesn't go to google. That's consistent with what I said. Sorry that it wasn't clear.
- Andrex 10y ago
  Good point, but for the record none of the Google apps were ever open source - they were part of the compatibility suite from the start. They did start replacing a couple of the open source apps with Google versions, though (like the browser.)
  - greglindahl 10y ago
    I was thinking of the browser in particular -- the open source one was abandoned a while ago, and the proprietary one has google hard-wired as the only search engine.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > Android is "free" to the consumer, but the payment is that if you want all of the Google apps (which are no longer part of the open source stuff) and the consumer uses the Google apps (likely), all of the search revenue goes to Google. The payment is your private information.
  - greglindahl 10y ago
    That too, although unpersonalized search ads are worth a lot more money than your private information.
glkgdswdg 10y ago
They weren't targeting users, they were targeting manufacturers (pay them and they'll do the software). It actually makes sense as a business model, but they messed up by backstabbing their first customer (after contracting with OnePlus, they signed an exclusive contract with MicroMax that no other company can sell cyanogenos in India, which, had OnePlus not made OxygenOS, would have killed them.) It was probably the stupidest move they could have done, as no company would trust them again, and lost them all the goodwill they had.
- user837387 10y ago
  >>It was probably the stupidest move they could have done, as no company would trust them again, and lost them all the goodwill they had.<< There are plenty of people in the business world that screw so many people, businesses, banks and they still manage to continue doing business. I wish there was a name for it. Madoff is an example: even after people warned others about his business being a scam he still continued doing business until he collapsed on his own. Nobody brought him down, he did it to himself. The big lie is what they teach us as young kids, that honor actually means something. Power is might, and if you have it nothing else seems to matter, virtually always.
  - aswanson 10y ago
    There are a fair amount of internet companies that started off as goodwill projects, though.
  - danudey 10y ago
    Screwing other people is possible when you are at (or near) the top of the pile. When you're at the bottom, it just gets you killed. If you screw your 100th customer, you have 99 customers who are pretty likely to write it off. If you screw your first customer, it's a warning to others.
- vacri 10y ago
  Crazy. Imagine if Microsoft have given a single vendor exclusive rights to sell their operating system in a major market. We wouldn't even know their name today, except as a historical curio.

Android is "free" to the consumer, but the payment is that if you want all of the Google apps (which are no longer part of the open source stuff) and the consumer uses the Google apps (likely), all of the search revenue goes to Google.

bitmapbrother 10y ago
The numerous China Android based OS's, that are void of Google services, would disagree.
- greglindahl 10y ago
  Excuse me, disagree how? They don't use the special google apps, and search revenue doesn't go to google. That's consistent with what I said. Sorry that it wasn't clear.
Andrex 10y ago
Good point, but for the record none of the Google apps were ever open source - they were part of the compatibility suite from the start. They did start replacing a couple of the open source apps with Google versions, though (like the browser.)
- greglindahl 10y ago
  I was thinking of the browser in particular -- the open source one was abandoned a while ago, and the proprietary one has google hard-wired as the only search engine.
hackuser 10y ago
> Android is "free" to the consumer, but the payment is that if you want all of the Google apps (which are no longer part of the open source stuff) and the consumer uses the Google apps (likely), all of the search revenue goes to Google. The payment is your private information.
- greglindahl 10y ago
  That too, although unpersonalized search ads are worth a lot more money than your private information.

glkgdswdg 10y ago

They weren't targeting users, they were targeting manufacturers (pay them and they'll do the software). It actually makes sense as a business model, but they messed up by backstabbing their first customer (after contracting with OnePlus, they signed an exclusive contract with MicroMax that no other company can sell cyanogenos in India, which, had OnePlus not made OxygenOS, would have killed them.) It was probably the stupidest move they could have done, as no company would trust them again, and lost them all the goodwill they had.

user837387 10y ago
>>It was probably the stupidest move they could have done, as no company would trust them again, and lost them all the goodwill they had.<< There are plenty of people in the business world that screw so many people, businesses, banks and they still manage to continue doing business. I wish there was a name for it. Madoff is an example: even after people warned others about his business being a scam he still continued doing business until he collapsed on his own. Nobody brought him down, he did it to himself. The big lie is what they teach us as young kids, that honor actually means something. Power is might, and if you have it nothing else seems to matter, virtually always.
- aswanson 10y ago
  There are a fair amount of internet companies that started off as goodwill projects, though.
- danudey 10y ago
  Screwing other people is possible when you are at (or near) the top of the pile. When you're at the bottom, it just gets you killed. If you screw your 100th customer, you have 99 customers who are pretty likely to write it off. If you screw your first customer, it's a warning to others.
vacri 10y ago
Crazy. Imagine if Microsoft have given a single vendor exclusive rights to sell their operating system in a major market. We wouldn't even know their name today, except as a historical curio.