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It's faux-open because it's not developed in the open. Google just code-dumps Android after every major release, only OEMs have access to development builds. If
by avar 13y ago
It's faux-open because it's not developed in the open. Google just code-dumps Android after every major release, only OEMs have access to development builds. If you don't get a Google paycheck it's thus very hard to contribute to it as an open project.
It's faux-open because almost every single Android device needs proprietary kernel blobs & firmware to operate almost any non-trivial hardware feature on the device. In practice this pins you to specific kernel versions/APIs, and you're running code you can't change or even audit.
- spiralpolitik 13y agoI have a $10 bet with a co-worker that Android 5.0 will remove the ASOP application from standard distribution to force people into the closed source Google+ integrated replacements. I also have a double down that by Android 6.0, open source Android will effectively be reduced to a boot loader that boots the closed source Google+ Play blob that contains all the system services.