3 ms·

How has no one mentioned mobile? Smartphones/tablets? You know, the largest segment of general computation devices?

by nardi 12y ago

gamegoblin 12y ago
Android is based on the Linux kernel at least.
azdle 12y ago
> How has no one mentioned mobile? Because Linux does dominate mobile? Android is Linux and iOS is a *nux. (iOS is a BSD derivative.)
- JoshTheGeek 12y ago
  BSD isn't Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but not iOS. I'm not sure which dominates, though
  - barbs 12y ago
    In numbers, I'm pretty sure Android dominated (can't remember the exact numbers but Google should reveal them for you). In revenue (app-sales etc) iOS dominates.
    - shmerl 12y ago
      > In revenue (app-sales etc) iOS dominates. Who made such research? I'm not sure if it's even possible to know exactly, unless all vendors who run their own stores publish sales statistics.
      - TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago
        >unless all vendors who run their own stores publish sales statistics. They do, thats one of those things that companies that are traded publicly are required to do.
        shmerl 12y ago
        Are all companies which have such stores traded publicly? I don't see a direct connection between these two aspects. For instance, in China there are various Android markets and I'm not sure all of them belong to publicly traded companies.
        nl 12y ago
        That's untrue. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose revenue, but not required to break it down by source. Neither Apple or Google break out the revenue from the *Stores (unless they have started doing it very recently). There are third party analytics firms that provide reasonable estimates though[1]. [1] eg http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-play-quarterly-app-revenue-more-than-doubled-over-past-year-thanks-to-games-freemium-apps/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-play-quarterly-app-r...
- pjc50 12y ago
  Mobile is interesting, because while the kernel is theoretically GPL you can't normally replace it with your own kernel without using a security exploit against your own device to get root. And almost all the userland is closed as well. It's far harder to run a properly Free operating system on a phone that nominally already runs Linux than it is to install Linux on a PC shipped with Windows. On mobile, Linux is a thin shim of Free software in a proprietary stack.

How has no one mentioned mobile? Smartphones/tablets? You know, the largest segment of general computation devices?

by nardi 12y ago

How has no one mentioned mobile? Smartphones/tablets? You know, the largest segment of general computation devices?

gamegoblin 12y ago

Android is based on the Linux kernel at least.

azdle 12y ago

> How has no one mentioned mobile? Because Linux does dominate mobile? Android is Linux and iOS is a *nux. (iOS is a BSD derivative.)

JoshTheGeek 12y ago
BSD isn't Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but not iOS. I'm not sure which dominates, though
- barbs 12y ago
  In numbers, I'm pretty sure Android dominated (can't remember the exact numbers but Google should reveal them for you). In revenue (app-sales etc) iOS dominates.
  - shmerl 12y ago
    > In revenue (app-sales etc) iOS dominates. Who made such research? I'm not sure if it's even possible to know exactly, unless all vendors who run their own stores publish sales statistics.
    - TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago
      >unless all vendors who run their own stores publish sales statistics. They do, thats one of those things that companies that are traded publicly are required to do.
      - shmerl 12y ago
        Are all companies which have such stores traded publicly? I don't see a direct connection between these two aspects. For instance, in China there are various Android markets and I'm not sure all of them belong to publicly traded companies.
      - nl 12y ago
        That's untrue. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose revenue, but not required to break it down by source. Neither Apple or Google break out the revenue from the *Stores (unless they have started doing it very recently). There are third party analytics firms that provide reasonable estimates though[1]. [1] eg http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-play-quarterly-app-revenue-more-than-doubled-over-past-year-thanks-to-games-freemium-apps/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-play-quarterly-app-r...
pjc50 12y ago
Mobile is interesting, because while the kernel is theoretically GPL you can't normally replace it with your own kernel without using a security exploit against your own device to get root. And almost all the userland is closed as well. It's far harder to run a properly Free operating system on a phone that nominally already runs Linux than it is to install Linux on a PC shipped with Windows. On mobile, Linux is a thin shim of Free software in a proprietary stack.