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what if Google simply Open Sourced the small amount of Android that isn't already Open Source? The Linux community would surely embrace it, integrate the bits n
by raganwald 15y ago
what if Google simply Open Sourced the small amount of Android that isn't already Open Source? The Linux community would surely embrace it, integrate the bits not in the mainline kernel that should be, and move forward.
This only changes things if manufacturers start making 'empty' phones and require users to download and install their own free operating system.
Furthermore, many of the patents cover the phones themselves and not just the software. So even if some version of Android was 100% patent unencumbered, the phone manufacturers would still find themselves in "negotiations" with the patent cartel.
- azakai 15y ago> This only changes things if manufacturers start making 'empty' phones and require users to download and install their own free operating system. Actually this is a very good idea. Phones could be sold with just a tiny 'installer' that downloads the OS directly from Google. The first benefit would be that there is no software to sue the phone makers about. Microsoft, RIM and Apple would have to sue Google itself. The second benefit would be that the phone uses stock Android, not modified with crapware.
- seabee 15y agoStock Android is also not modified with any handset-specific features that genuinely add value.
- Pooter 15y ago> Actually this is a very good idea. This is a stupid idea. Most people buy phones in wireless providers' stores, get them provisioned there, and then leave with a functioning phone. The idea of a bare phone that you can do whatever you want with would be appealing to a vanishingly small portion of the phone buying population. Everyone else would ask to see the iPhone, a Blackberry, or one of them Windows phones, because having to do do an OS install on a cell phone before you can use it would be a hasslicious waste of time for most people.