3 ms·
They can't retract the open source license that already exists for Chromium. Maybe Google could start adding proprietary features to Chrome and close-source tho
by chrisco255 6y ago
They can't retract the open source license that already exists for Chromium. Maybe Google could start adding proprietary features to Chrome and close-source those bits, but the code that's out there is already out there.
- mkr-hn 6y agoThis is basically what happened to Android as they moved an increasing number of essential features to Play Services.
- nmfisher 6y agoTo be fair, these are mostly integrations with other Google services. I wouldn't expect this to be an OS-level package.
- zmmmmm 6y agoIronically, this is an example of where it is crucially important Oracle-Google case swings Google's way. Currently, there are alternative implementations of Play Services that can be installed to replace Google's. However, if it is not fair use to use even the bare bones of an API definition without permission, then we can't even create a compatible implementation of such an API without the copyright holder's permission. In which case, we cannot replace Google Play services with anything else.
- ROARosen 6y agoActually, Google already has closed source features in Chrome that are totally not related to Google accounts and/or sync. Take for example Android app support in ChromeOS. It is closed source even though both Chromium and Android are open-source.