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The bigger problem is wasting developer effort contributing to Google's platform. The real secret behind Android being "open" (sorta) is that while almost nobod

The bigger problem is wasting developer effort contributing to Google's platform. The real secret behind Android being "open" (sorta) is that while almost nobody runs AOSP, Google has tricked a bunch of fools into working on Android forks instead of building a real competitor. Playing at their table is a losing game, the house always wins.

mitxela 7d ago
Windows only isn't still 90% market share because of Wine, then Proton.
- ocdtrekkie 7d ago
  Neither Wine nor Proton run on Windows. Building Android emulators for Linux: Worth your time. Building Android knockoffs which claim to remove the Google from Google's operating system? Foolishness.
  - mitxela 7d ago
    ReactOS was also a good idea.
    - wwiinn 7d ago
      A lot of react os helped wine/proton. It’s still was a good idea.
  - xmprt 7d ago
    Valve is working on supporting apks for their new VR operating system. If this goes anything like Proton then I'm hopeful for the future of Android without Google.
    - pjmlp 7d ago
      Gamedevs would still target Android, just like they target Windows, letting Valve run after them. Android is even more of tragedy, given how all relevant NDK game development APIs are also available on GNU/Linux.
  - mitxela 7d ago
    Reimplementing Windows was a huge task. If the windows source code was available, why wouldn't you begin with a copy-paste?
- pjmlp 7d ago
  More like thanks to Apple, in what concerns desktop computing.
charcircuit 7d ago
The developer effort is not wasted because it's open source. Anyone can fork it at any time. None of it can be thrown away from humanity, wasting it. The reason why no one runs AOSP is because the phone market rewards differentiation. Each phone manufacture wants to build their own experience and building on top of AOSP is how they do so. Is it really a losing game? Building a new OS from scratch is not worth it. Why throw away an entire app catalog for your device? Consumers want access to existing app catalogs when buying a phone. If anything is a losing game it's building a new mobile operating system over forking Android as a base.
- ocdtrekkie 7d ago
  If you are not working to destroy Android, you are supporting it. You might feel happy about your custom ROM nonsense and how it protects your privacy, but that just means you're selfish, because nearly everyone will still be trapped on Google's version. Technologists need to aggressively reject solutions which don't spread freedom to ordinary users as well.
- fragmede 7d ago
  It wasn't worth it, but it's 2026, not 1991, when Linus first released Linux. AI can shit out a new OS, given enough tokens, and a VM/compatibility layer would let you run Android apps until native ports became available. The question is why would you want to do that? Computers are vastly more capable than they were when the Linux kernel was originally designed, and the needs of programs and their permissions have changed as well. https://xkcd.com/1200/ https://xkcd.com/1200/ While throwing away all the learnings and starting from scratch are usually not justified, sometimes it is the right choice, if enough things have changed. Should GPS location, fine grained or coarse, and related permissions, be a part of the OS kernel or a user space daemon that other processes can query or some other thing? That wasn't a question when Linux was created but should be a core consideration for a replacement system that was created today, along with a myriad of other modern day questions that didn't exist back then. I don't think it's a loosing game, and I don't have the resources to make one myself, but I do think that the world's materially changed enough to justify it.
- fragmede 7d ago

mitxela 7d ago

Windows only isn't still 90% market share because of Wine, then Proton.

ocdtrekkie 7d ago
Neither Wine nor Proton run on Windows. Building Android emulators for Linux: Worth your time. Building Android knockoffs which claim to remove the Google from Google's operating system? Foolishness.
- mitxela 7d ago
  ReactOS was also a good idea.
  - wwiinn 7d ago
    A lot of react os helped wine/proton. It’s still was a good idea.
- xmprt 7d ago
  Valve is working on supporting apks for their new VR operating system. If this goes anything like Proton then I'm hopeful for the future of Android without Google.
  - pjmlp 7d ago
    Gamedevs would still target Android, just like they target Windows, letting Valve run after them. Android is even more of tragedy, given how all relevant NDK game development APIs are also available on GNU/Linux.
- mitxela 7d ago
  Reimplementing Windows was a huge task. If the windows source code was available, why wouldn't you begin with a copy-paste?
pjmlp 7d ago
More like thanks to Apple, in what concerns desktop computing.

charcircuit 7d ago

The developer effort is not wasted because it's open source. Anyone can fork it at any time. None of it can be thrown away from humanity, wasting it. The reason why no one runs AOSP is because the phone market rewards differentiation. Each phone manufacture wants to build their own experience and building on top of AOSP is how they do so. Is it really a losing game? Building a new OS from scratch is not worth it. Why throw away an entire app catalog for your device? Consumers want access to existing app catalogs when buying a phone. If anything is a losing game it's building a new mobile operating system over forking Android as a base.

ocdtrekkie 7d ago
If you are not working to destroy Android, you are supporting it. You might feel happy about your custom ROM nonsense and how it protects your privacy, but that just means you're selfish, because nearly everyone will still be trapped on Google's version. Technologists need to aggressively reject solutions which don't spread freedom to ordinary users as well.
fragmede 7d ago
It wasn't worth it, but it's 2026, not 1991, when Linus first released Linux. AI can shit out a new OS, given enough tokens, and a VM/compatibility layer would let you run Android apps until native ports became available. The question is why would you want to do that? Computers are vastly more capable than they were when the Linux kernel was originally designed, and the needs of programs and their permissions have changed as well. https://xkcd.com/1200/ https://xkcd.com/1200/ While throwing away all the learnings and starting from scratch are usually not justified, sometimes it is the right choice, if enough things have changed. Should GPS location, fine grained or coarse, and related permissions, be a part of the OS kernel or a user space daemon that other processes can query or some other thing? That wasn't a question when Linux was created but should be a core consideration for a replacement system that was created today, along with a myriad of other modern day questions that didn't exist back then. I don't think it's a loosing game, and I don't have the resources to make one myself, but I do think that the world's materially changed enough to justify it.
fragmede 7d ago