5 ms·

It seems to me that Google, with its almost ridiculous surplus of CS PhDs and no legacy desktop OS baggage to drag around is almost perfectly suited to taking L

by SiVal 14y ago

It seems to me that Google, with its almost ridiculous surplus of CS PhDs and no legacy desktop OS baggage to drag around is almost perfectly suited to taking Linux and building a power user desktop OS on top of it. If they did, they could build the hardware, too, or at least spec it so that there would be a lot of hardware options that all "just worked" out of the box. As Apple built a beautiful consumer OS on top of a *nix core, Google could build a power-user OS on top of Linux for the business / developer / smart, skilled people-with-work-to-do market that its PhDs ought to understand more than they understand consumers. With their money, they could come up with the next gen business platform and build into it the web services orientation they live for and make the hardware / OS / drivers combo to rival Apple, but for influencers instead of the consumers. (They have enough money to buy nvidia if they can't get Linux drivers.) Who else is better positioned to produce the next gen power-user platform as Windows fades and Apple makes it clear they are a consumer electronics company?

zmjones 14y ago
do want.
gvb 14y ago
You mean like an office suite https://drive.google.com/ https://drive.google.com/, laptop computers http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/, tablets and phones http://www.google.com/nexus/ http://www.google.com/nexus/?
- fakeer 14y ago
  No. He certainly meant sth analogous to Windows or OSX or Ubuntu &c as one system, not fragments/parts of an OS.
  - SiVal 14y ago
    Exactly. Each of those things is a mini-version of something that has been a business standard. I'm talking about creating the next generation of the full-scale items but targeted, not at consumers, but at the power users. Apple gets the consumer market for whom being hip and being simple (a natural match) are priorities. Microsoft tries to chase Apple for the consumer market as it lets its Windows/Office franchise gradually obsolesce. Oracle is all enterprise back office. Samsung is all consumer electronics, like Apple but without the software. So why couldn't Google go for the full-scale power user market that, as Microsoft runs off after Apple, is increasingly uncontested? Say, Linux laptops as well-behaved as Apple (graphics, media, sleep/wake, battery life, networking) but optimized for power and customization, not "we know better than you what you need" simplicity.
fakeer 14y ago
They should first build an IDE for Android rather than keep piggybacking forever on Eclipse which is not very lightweight or suitable for a specific purpose, let's say.
- jrockway 14y ago
  Why? Eclipse is just reusable UI widgets and a Java editor. That's basically what you want for writing an "Android IDE", whatever that might be. (I personally just use Emacs.)
  - fakeer 14y ago
    It never works seamlessly. I would love to do away with all the clinks and cracks which becomes an integral part of it. Becomes more painful when you have to deal with the "whole code" (say guys at those OEMs and those indie ROMs).
    - jrockway 14y ago
      I fail to see how throwing away Eclipse would solve this problem. What you probably want is more engineer time thrown at Android tools, which is something I can certainly agree with.
- gizmo686 14y ago
  Eclipse is a popular Java IDE (with plugins for other languages). Android programs are java with an XML file describing the UI. No need to re-invent the wheel here. If you have another IDE you want to use, see if there is an android plugin for it, or right the XML files yourself and use any java IDE, or use a plaintext editor and curse Google for making Android run Java.
  - fakeer 14y ago
    Do you know why all the other text editors were built even after the first one was already in use? Try finding answer to it and I am sure you'll find the answer to what is reinventing the wheel and why is it very different from having an IDE that specifically caters to the need of Android development, with total focus and integration, and is supported/promoted/maintained by Google - somewhat the way Xcode is done or hopefully even better.
dkuntz2 14y ago
Googlers use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu LTS releases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu)... Well, not exclusively, if I recall correctly, they get to choose Goobuntu, Windows, or OS X.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Google is only distributed internally, not externally, correct? Also, I believe they stopped offering Windows a couple of years ago.
  - dkuntz2 14y ago
    Yes, but they don't have anything useful or available for the outside world that you can't get elsewhere online (like chrome build tools and such). There really isn't a reason for them to release it externally. Just use Ubuntu LTS if you want what they're using.

by SiVal 14y ago

zmjones 14y ago

do want.

gvb 14y ago

You mean like an office suite https://drive.google.com/ https://drive.google.com/, laptop computers http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/, tablets and phones http://www.google.com/nexus/ http://www.google.com/nexus/?

fakeer 14y ago
No. He certainly meant sth analogous to Windows or OSX or Ubuntu &c as one system, not fragments/parts of an OS.
- SiVal 14y ago
  Exactly. Each of those things is a mini-version of something that has been a business standard. I'm talking about creating the next generation of the full-scale items but targeted, not at consumers, but at the power users. Apple gets the consumer market for whom being hip and being simple (a natural match) are priorities. Microsoft tries to chase Apple for the consumer market as it lets its Windows/Office franchise gradually obsolesce. Oracle is all enterprise back office. Samsung is all consumer electronics, like Apple but without the software. So why couldn't Google go for the full-scale power user market that, as Microsoft runs off after Apple, is increasingly uncontested? Say, Linux laptops as well-behaved as Apple (graphics, media, sleep/wake, battery life, networking) but optimized for power and customization, not "we know better than you what you need" simplicity.

fakeer 14y ago

They should first build an IDE for Android rather than keep piggybacking forever on Eclipse which is not very lightweight or suitable for a specific purpose, let's say.

jrockway 14y ago
Why? Eclipse is just reusable UI widgets and a Java editor. That's basically what you want for writing an "Android IDE", whatever that might be. (I personally just use Emacs.)
- fakeer 14y ago
  It never works seamlessly. I would love to do away with all the clinks and cracks which becomes an integral part of it. Becomes more painful when you have to deal with the "whole code" (say guys at those OEMs and those indie ROMs).
  - jrockway 14y ago
    I fail to see how throwing away Eclipse would solve this problem. What you probably want is more engineer time thrown at Android tools, which is something I can certainly agree with.
gizmo686 14y ago
Eclipse is a popular Java IDE (with plugins for other languages). Android programs are java with an XML file describing the UI. No need to re-invent the wheel here. If you have another IDE you want to use, see if there is an android plugin for it, or right the XML files yourself and use any java IDE, or use a plaintext editor and curse Google for making Android run Java.
- fakeer 14y ago
  Do you know why all the other text editors were built even after the first one was already in use? Try finding answer to it and I am sure you'll find the answer to what is reinventing the wheel and why is it very different from having an IDE that specifically caters to the need of Android development, with total focus and integration, and is supported/promoted/maintained by Google - somewhat the way Xcode is done or hopefully even better.

dkuntz2 14y ago

Googlers use a slightly modified version of Ubuntu LTS releases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu)... Well, not exclusively, if I recall correctly, they get to choose Goobuntu, Windows, or OS X.

chimeracoder 14y ago
Google is only distributed internally, not externally, correct? Also, I believe they stopped offering Windows a couple of years ago.
- dkuntz2 14y ago
  Yes, but they don't have anything useful or available for the outside world that you can't get elsewhere online (like chrome build tools and such). There really isn't a reason for them to release it externally. Just use Ubuntu LTS if you want what they're using.