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I, too, found that an interesting phrase. The way I see it, there are three major consumer operating systems; four if you think iOS and OSX should be considere
by DiabloD3 6y ago
I, too, found that an interesting phrase.
The way I see it, there are three major consumer operating systems; four if you think iOS and OSX should be considered separately. Out of those three/four, only one tries to keep devices working and up to date as long as possible...
iOS/OSX allows central updating, but drops phones older than 5 years, and desktop/laptops from 5-7 years depending on the product series; users cannot maintain the OS themselves and are forced to abandon the device.
Android allows users to update the OS themselves against the wishes of the phone's OEM, but Google cannot force OEMs to continue supporting a phone within a reasonable timeframe (ie, no phone younger than 5 years should be dropped, yet is an unfortunately frequent occurrence with Android-hostile OEMs).
Microsoft tries to keep Windows running on PCs an absurdly long time, but users choose to fight Microsoft on this even when its in their best interest (ex: people still willingly run 7, even though 10 performs better, with less crashes, more performance, and less security bugs).
Alas, the dream of a Windows Phone is dead. Other than that, its most certainly an odd phrase in that article given what iOS does, since the user can still choose to go the third party Android ROM route if their OEM has truly abandoned them.
- progval 6y ago> but Google cannot force OEMs to continue supporting a phone within a reasonable timeframe Couldn't Google could pressure them to do it, by making this a legal requirement for a Google Play license for their devices?
- DiabloD3 6y agoCould, in the literal sense? Yes. Could they do it without alienating their hardware partners? No. Does Android require the Google Play store or any other Google services or non-AOSP code? No. Many Android devices ship entirely without Google stuff, including no Google Play store. Could they do it even if they didn't care about alienating their hardware partners? Yes, if they also intend on being fined into the ground by the US and EU. Their hardware partners, the OEMs, is what makes Android suck for Android users. It doesn't have to suck: OnePlus doesn't, and Google's own Pixel series isn't bad either. Avoid Samsung like the plague, LG and HTC also have questionable practices wrt ROM sanity and long term support.
- Dylan16807 6y ago> fined into the ground Google's gotten away with extremely anticompetitive requirements so far. I can't imagine it would be worse for them to mandate 5 years of software support, something that's very positive for consumers.