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Or the web, even. All those users! So many browsers! So many screen sizes! It's so fragmented! Why does everyone only ever complain about Android?

kumarm 13y ago
[Why does everyone only ever complain about Android?] Only Press Complains. I haven't met a serious Android Developer who complained that fragmentation is in top 5 of their problems. I say this as some one who run Android Game/App Development company.
- kaoD 13y ago
  > I haven't met a serious Android Developer who complained that fragmentation... Yeah, but you'll meet lots of iOS/WP developers who complain about Android fragmentation :P
  - andybak 13y ago
    So the question is - is it Stockholm syndrome on the part of Android developers or do iOS developers just think it's a bigger issues than it is in reality? That's the core of the debate, right there.
- m3mnoch 13y ago
  amen and ditto on the occupation. i suspect this probably has to do with a truism every programmer knows. there are really only 3 cases to solve for (not 11,868) -- one device, two devices or n devices. m3mnoch.
dcaunt 13y ago
I think people only complained about developing for Android because iOS was so easy with a handful of devices to develop and test for. That and the media needed something to write about.
potatolicious 13y ago
People complained about the web too, we just don't make a lot of noise about it now because we've given up on many aspects of it. For a long time websites were designed to fit a lowest-common-denominator screen size - 800x600 or 1024x768 - and anything larger just had padding or other void space added. Hell, most websites are still like this. See: NYTimes, IGN, etc. Fragmentation exists on the web and it causes many of the same issues as it does for native-mobile, it just isn't new, and it isn't very controversial given that we've thrown up our collective hands and quit trying to take advantage of everyone's browser windows and just resign ourselves to wasting pixels instead. Screen size fragmentation is still a big deal on Android because we haven't resigned ourselves to throwing black bars up on screen and we're still doing our damndest to make good use of each individual screen size. On the other hand, browser API fragmentation is a huge deal, and people do complain about it incessantly, for good reason, and it shares fundamentally many similarities with Android API fragmentation. Want to build your new thing with Canvas or WebGL? What's the penetration like, how many users even have browsers/machines that can handle it? New CSS tag? Sorry, not supported in many still-shipping browsers. Pretty much the whole "IE sucks" meme comes down to API and implementation fragmentation. Complex apps on the modern web involve miles upon miles of compatibility hacks to work out the implementation differences for the same API, as well as different API support levels entirely. This is a big deal, and a huge time sink, and people rightfully do complain about it. tl;dr: Fragmentation on the web is a problem and people do complain about it. The only thing that isn't complained about is screen size, mostly because we've taken a huge cop-out to avoid it.
- andybak 13y ago
  Your screen size example isn't terribly useful because fixed width design was always just a cop-out. Both Android and the web have mature ways to adjust layouts to match screen sizes.
epo 13y ago
The web only exists because of a few standards. The web was fragmented and used to be a nightmare until web standards began to be taken seriously. The variety of browsers is only possible because of standards. Do you have any clue what you are talking about? Standards restrict choice and ensure interoperability. If you do not have feature comparability between Android versions you do not "an" Android, you have many and they are not all the same. Fandroid chanting (remember the Maoist hordes?) and manufacturere obfuscation hide this simple fact from the people who buy handsets. This is all very typically Orwellian behaviour by the fandroids, endlessly chanting about freedom, while actually having very limited choices. The reality is that for most users their only freedom, to get new features or the latest set of bug fixes, is to buy a new handset. As so often, "open" means open your wallet. "Freedom is slavery", indeed.

kumarm 13y ago

[Why does everyone only ever complain about Android?] Only Press Complains. I haven't met a serious Android Developer who complained that fragmentation is in top 5 of their problems. I say this as some one who run Android Game/App Development company.

kaoD 13y ago
> I haven't met a serious Android Developer who complained that fragmentation... Yeah, but you'll meet lots of iOS/WP developers who complain about Android fragmentation :P
- andybak 13y ago
  So the question is - is it Stockholm syndrome on the part of Android developers or do iOS developers just think it's a bigger issues than it is in reality? That's the core of the debate, right there.
m3mnoch 13y ago
amen and ditto on the occupation. i suspect this probably has to do with a truism every programmer knows. there are really only 3 cases to solve for (not 11,868) -- one device, two devices or n devices. m3mnoch.

dcaunt 13y ago

I think people only complained about developing for Android because iOS was so easy with a handful of devices to develop and test for. That and the media needed something to write about.

potatolicious 13y ago

People complained about the web too, we just don't make a lot of noise about it now because we've given up on many aspects of it. For a long time websites were designed to fit a lowest-common-denominator screen size - 800x600 or 1024x768 - and anything larger just had padding or other void space added. Hell, most websites are still like this. See: NYTimes, IGN, etc. Fragmentation exists on the web and it causes many of the same issues as it does for native-mobile, it just isn't new, and it isn't very controversial given that we've thrown up our collective hands and quit trying to take advantage of everyone's browser windows and just resign ourselves to wasting pixels instead. Screen size fragmentation is still a big deal on Android because we haven't resigned ourselves to throwing black bars up on screen and we're still doing our damndest to make good use of each individual screen size. On the other hand, browser API fragmentation is a huge deal, and people do complain about it incessantly, for good reason, and it shares fundamentally many similarities with Android API fragmentation. Want to build your new thing with Canvas or WebGL? What's the penetration like, how many users even have browsers/machines that can handle it? New CSS tag? Sorry, not supported in many still-shipping browsers. Pretty much the whole "IE sucks" meme comes down to API and implementation fragmentation. Complex apps on the modern web involve miles upon miles of compatibility hacks to work out the implementation differences for the same API, as well as different API support levels entirely. This is a big deal, and a huge time sink, and people rightfully do complain about it. tl;dr: Fragmentation on the web is a problem and people do complain about it. The only thing that isn't complained about is screen size, mostly because we've taken a huge cop-out to avoid it.

andybak 13y ago
Your screen size example isn't terribly useful because fixed width design was always just a cop-out. Both Android and the web have mature ways to adjust layouts to match screen sizes.

epo 13y ago

The web only exists because of a few standards. The web was fragmented and used to be a nightmare until web standards began to be taken seriously. The variety of browsers is only possible because of standards. Do you have any clue what you are talking about? Standards restrict choice and ensure interoperability. If you do not have feature comparability between Android versions you do not "an" Android, you have many and they are not all the same. Fandroid chanting (remember the Maoist hordes?) and manufacturere obfuscation hide this simple fact from the people who buy handsets. This is all very typically Orwellian behaviour by the fandroids, endlessly chanting about freedom, while actually having very limited choices. The reality is that for most users their only freedom, to get new features or the latest set of bug fixes, is to buy a new handset. As so often, "open" means open your wallet. "Freedom is slavery", indeed.