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It kind of makes sense, though. First, there are plenty of open source browsers available, why should Google maintain one when the vast majority are going to op
by neodymiumphish 5y ago
It kind of makes sense, though. First, there are plenty of open source browsers available, why should Google maintain one when the vast majority are going to opt for Chrome anyway?
Second, very few people want a contact or calendar app that exists solely on their phone. They want the synchronization they get from any alternative app, whether that's from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or some other third party.
If you're capable of installing AOSP on a daily driver, you likely already know enough about F-Droid or other open source projects to find and install a better alternative anyway.
Lastly, I totally agree about your concern with GPS being the default for any new feature implementation. I think that allowing Google to push alternative OS builders out of the game or forcing them to implement a GPS alternative from scratch, which sucks.
- anderskaseorg 5y agoAndroid WebView is embedded in zillions of apps, not just the standalone browser, so it would indeed suck if Google stopped maintaining it and forced apps to embed Chrome instead. Fortunately, that is not what happened—they just moved Android WebView from AOSP to the (arguably more open) Chromium repository.
- IshKebab 5y ago> Second, very few people want a contact or calendar app that exists solely on their phone. They want the synchronization they get from any alternative app, whether that's from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or some other third party. AOSP calendar supports syncing with online calendars.
- JetSpiegel 5y agoThat's news to me. DAVx5 is mandatory to sync WebDAV calendars on Android.
- neodymiumphish 5y agoOh, fair enough, my bad. Even so, syncing with which calendars? Likely Google and Outlook, which means you probably still use Gmail or Outlook. I'm not saying there's no good argument for an open-source option being available, or that one wouldn't do well, I'm just saying that I don't understand why there should be any expectation that an operating system developer should also be expected to create and update apps like those.