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> Google has way enough power to dictate standards, for most companies, not having access to the Play Store is assured death. Still it would require the hardwa

by jhasse 9y ago

> Google has way enough power to dictate standards, for most companies, not having access to the Play Store is assured death. Still it would require the hardware to change, not Android. But you're right that Google could do something about it if it wanted to. So blame Google, not Android ;) > There's very few then, I don't know any personally. The Lenovo Yoga 900 was an example. Linux was (or still is? Dunno) missing the required RAID drivers to boot at all. Also keep in mind that Ubuntu requires binary blobs to work correctly, how many depends on the hardware. This means that Ubuntu isn't 100% open either and that "openness" isn't binary, otherwise Ubuntu would be "not open" in the same way Windows and macOS are, which obviously isn't the case.

realusername 9y ago
> Still it would require the hardware to change, not Android. But you're right that Google could do something about it if it wanted to. So blame Google, not Android ;) That's a bit of semantic but yeah Google is 100% responsible of the hacky mess of the Android landscape nowadays. Also the ROMs themselves (even official ones) are looking more like the hacking days of WinXP themes than anything remotely well designed. > This means that Ubuntu isn't 100% open either and that "openness" isn't binary, otherwise Ubuntu would be "not open" in the same way Windows and macOS are, which obviously isn't the case. Yeah for sure Ubuntu isn't 100% open, but at least the proprietary parts tend to reduce in the long run and there's ways to debug it. If you cannot even run the OS on the hardware without using some buffer overflows in the first place, that's another level. I would like an Android distribution which could run on 98% of the Android smartphones without much work, we're pretty far from that.
- jhasse 9y ago
  > That's a bit of semantic but yeah Google is 100% responsible of the hacky mess of the Android landscape nowadays. 100%? What about the hardware manufactures which release closed source and buggy drivers? > If you cannot even run the OS on the hardware without using some buffer overflows in the first place, that's another level. Buy a phone which allows you to unlock the bootloader then ;) LG does that since since 2015 for example.
  - realusername 9y ago
    > 100%? What about the hardware manufactures which release closed source and buggy drivers? They should just be rejected from the Play Store as part of the guidelines. In Windows, the drivers cannot make blue screens anymore, they are sandboxed, they should follow the same model and enforce it with their agreements.

by jhasse 9y ago

realusername 9y ago

> Still it would require the hardware to change, not Android. But you're right that Google could do something about it if it wanted to. So blame Google, not Android ;) That's a bit of semantic but yeah Google is 100% responsible of the hacky mess of the Android landscape nowadays. Also the ROMs themselves (even official ones) are looking more like the hacking days of WinXP themes than anything remotely well designed. > This means that Ubuntu isn't 100% open either and that "openness" isn't binary, otherwise Ubuntu would be "not open" in the same way Windows and macOS are, which obviously isn't the case. Yeah for sure Ubuntu isn't 100% open, but at least the proprietary parts tend to reduce in the long run and there's ways to debug it. If you cannot even run the OS on the hardware without using some buffer overflows in the first place, that's another level. I would like an Android distribution which could run on 98% of the Android smartphones without much work, we're pretty far from that.

jhasse 9y ago
> That's a bit of semantic but yeah Google is 100% responsible of the hacky mess of the Android landscape nowadays. 100%? What about the hardware manufactures which release closed source and buggy drivers? > If you cannot even run the OS on the hardware without using some buffer overflows in the first place, that's another level. Buy a phone which allows you to unlock the bootloader then ;) LG does that since since 2015 for example.
- realusername 9y ago
  > 100%? What about the hardware manufactures which release closed source and buggy drivers? They should just be rejected from the Play Store as part of the guidelines. In Windows, the drivers cannot make blue screens anymore, they are sandboxed, they should follow the same model and enforce it with their agreements.