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It may not be 100% freedom, but they allow me to load apps from wherever I like, unlike Apple or Microsoft, and so I will continue to use them. If there was a

It may not be 100% freedom, but they allow me to load apps from wherever I like, unlike Apple or Microsoft, and so I will continue to use them. If there was a popular phone platform that was even more open, while providing the same levels of functionality, I'd be very tempted to give it a go.

caberus 13y ago
Google has too much authority over Android Platform itself like Apple and Microsoft : While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem. By joining the Open Handset Alliance, each member contributes to and builds one Android platform—not a bunch of incompatible versions source : http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-benefits-importance-of-compatibility.html http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-benefits-imp...
- AndrewDucker 13y ago
  Google offer the Google Platform to people who agree to certain things. But anyone is free to fork Android at any point, if they choose - Amazon have done so, for instance, as well as many Chinese manufacturers.
  - kevinh 13y ago
    They're free to fork the segment of android that google hasn't locked into their own closed-source ecosystem. Many AOSP applications have been abandoned by google in favor of their proprietary applications.
    - fidotron 13y ago
      And the reasoning is most of those apps (for better or worse) depend on Google's cloud services, so it makes no sense for them to be in AOSP. There remains nothing stopping you replacing all the Google stuff on Android, including the very parts that make them money. One of the sadder, non obvious, parts of the way mobile has developed is it is becoming synonymous with trivial front ends to cloud services, and not really smart client apps at all.
  - Ambrosia 13y ago
    Not anyone -- if someone like Samsung decides to fork Android, people using their devices will suddenly find that their Google apps won't work anymore.
    - the_mitsuhiko 13y ago
      That's an argument against Open Source :(
      - ddebernardy 13y ago
        Err... Which Google apps are open source? Or maybe I'm just not getting the objection.
      - sp332 13y ago
        I think you misunderstand. Google's individual apps (like GMail) are closed-source, and only licensed for use on "official" Android builds.
  - ronnier 13y ago
    Seems like Android really gave Chinese and Korean companies a lifeline in the mobile phone market. Those phones either wouldn't exist or would be running the windows phone software I assume. Chinese and Korean companies benefit from Android. Blackberry and Microsoft are losing as a result.
- devx 13y ago
  What do you mean too much freedom? From the user's and even developer's perspective, it's better for Android to be more like Windows (pre-Windows 8), than more like Linux (tons of different distros/forks).
- aviraldg 13y ago
  Replace "full Android ecosystem" with "Google services" to see why your point doesn't make sense. (and that's what they are)
j_baker 13y ago
Perhaps Firefox OS in the future? http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/
- AndrewDucker 13y ago
  I hope so. I'd love it if any web page could be an app, and they had the same power that apps do. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed :->
  - lsaferite 13y ago
    Well, you can sorta already do this in a limited manner with Android. http://goo.gl/NH8Wmt http://goo.gl/NH8Wmt But I guess you mean you want hardware access from the web app itself? http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/geolocation http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/geolocation http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html-media-capture-20100928/ http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html-media-capture-20100928/ http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/device/orientation/ http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/device/orientation/ http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.html http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.ht... http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/file http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/file While this doesn't cover 100% of possible use cases, JS APIs are getting there.
  - lsaferite 13y ago
    So, I know perhaps this is not the right place to ask this, but I am not sure where else I would ask. I made a comment on this post and now it's dead. What did I do wrong? I mean, I included several links but they were all pertinent to the reply. The first was a link discussing new functionality in Android specifically related to making Web Apps more like normal apps. The rest were links to API documentation for various features that filled in some of the gaps. So, certainly not spam and on target. Why is it dead?
- melling 13y ago
  Not a chance. My guess is that it'll be DOA. I'm not sure why technical people can't be more aware of how the world works, but until we are, the world is going to continue to be run by MBA's and marketing people. Google is the one of the few bright spot but most companies are run by a different breed.

caberus 13y ago

Google has too much authority over Android Platform itself like Apple and Microsoft : While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem. By joining the Open Handset Alliance, each member contributes to and builds one Android platform—not a bunch of incompatible versions source : http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-benefits-importance-of-compatibility.html http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-benefits-imp...

AndrewDucker 13y ago
Google offer the Google Platform to people who agree to certain things. But anyone is free to fork Android at any point, if they choose - Amazon have done so, for instance, as well as many Chinese manufacturers.
- kevinh 13y ago
  They're free to fork the segment of android that google hasn't locked into their own closed-source ecosystem. Many AOSP applications have been abandoned by google in favor of their proprietary applications.
  - fidotron 13y ago
    And the reasoning is most of those apps (for better or worse) depend on Google's cloud services, so it makes no sense for them to be in AOSP. There remains nothing stopping you replacing all the Google stuff on Android, including the very parts that make them money. One of the sadder, non obvious, parts of the way mobile has developed is it is becoming synonymous with trivial front ends to cloud services, and not really smart client apps at all.
- Ambrosia 13y ago
  Not anyone -- if someone like Samsung decides to fork Android, people using their devices will suddenly find that their Google apps won't work anymore.
  - the_mitsuhiko 13y ago
    That's an argument against Open Source :(
    - ddebernardy 13y ago
      Err... Which Google apps are open source? Or maybe I'm just not getting the objection.
    - sp332 13y ago
      I think you misunderstand. Google's individual apps (like GMail) are closed-source, and only licensed for use on "official" Android builds.
- ronnier 13y ago
  Seems like Android really gave Chinese and Korean companies a lifeline in the mobile phone market. Those phones either wouldn't exist or would be running the windows phone software I assume. Chinese and Korean companies benefit from Android. Blackberry and Microsoft are losing as a result.
devx 13y ago
What do you mean too much freedom? From the user's and even developer's perspective, it's better for Android to be more like Windows (pre-Windows 8), than more like Linux (tons of different distros/forks).
aviraldg 13y ago
Replace "full Android ecosystem" with "Google services" to see why your point doesn't make sense. (and that's what they are)

j_baker 13y ago

Perhaps Firefox OS in the future? http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/

AndrewDucker 13y ago
I hope so. I'd love it if any web page could be an app, and they had the same power that apps do. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed :->
- lsaferite 13y ago
  Well, you can sorta already do this in a limited manner with Android. http://goo.gl/NH8Wmt http://goo.gl/NH8Wmt But I guess you mean you want hardware access from the web app itself? http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/geolocation http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/geolocation http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html-media-capture-20100928/ http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html-media-capture-20100928/ http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/device/orientation/ http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/device/orientation/ http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.html http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.ht... http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/file http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/apis/file While this doesn't cover 100% of possible use cases, JS APIs are getting there.
- lsaferite 13y ago
  So, I know perhaps this is not the right place to ask this, but I am not sure where else I would ask. I made a comment on this post and now it's dead. What did I do wrong? I mean, I included several links but they were all pertinent to the reply. The first was a link discussing new functionality in Android specifically related to making Web Apps more like normal apps. The rest were links to API documentation for various features that filled in some of the gaps. So, certainly not spam and on target. Why is it dead?
melling 13y ago
Not a chance. My guess is that it'll be DOA. I'm not sure why technical people can't be more aware of how the world works, but until we are, the world is going to continue to be run by MBA's and marketing people. Google is the one of the few bright spot but most companies are run by a different breed.