7 ms·

In another news, google stop fixing security bugs which cover 60% of the current android users (4.3 or older). Not saying microsoft is right, but they just drop

• mahouse 12y ago
  They fixed those issues with 4.4.
  • immigrantsheep 12y ago
    and then you have tons of device who cannot upgrade to 4.4
    • krisgenre 12y ago
      Its the manufacturer's (HTC, Samsung ..) fault that they cannot be updated.
      • guardian5x 12y ago
        And Google, because they have not implemented a default update system for the android core. Google only updates Apps.
        • SEMW 12y ago
          I'm honestly not sure what you're talking about. Android does have a system update mechanism. You go to settings -> About phone -> System updates. If manufacturers / carriers change that to check for updates on their own servers, rather than google's - which they can do since Android is open-source, and so they all do - then that's how the system update mechanism will work. I don't follow what you're suggesting google could do about that, apart from moving more and more OS functions out of the core OS and into google play services. Which is exactly what they've been doing.
          • mahouse 12y ago
            Starting with Android 5, WebCore is part of the Google Services and is therefore updated silently through the Play Store. But I obviously do not approve what the OEMs are doing.
            • dublinben 12y ago
              >Google Services Aka, no longer part of Android. The millions of users without Google Play will have an even less functional OS than they used to, all in the name of greater control by Google.
• Karunamon 12y ago
  Thank the carriers for being jerks for that one. I know on the last time this article came up I took a hard line on them, but upon further reflection, it's not like they can just write a patch and have it out in a week. Heck, it takes months for point releases to go through acceptance testing at the carriers, and probably not insignificant amounts of cash. At least they're starting to own more of the ecosystem. I wouldn't expect this to be as big of a problem on newer devices.
  • r00fus 12y ago
    Carriers not rolling out updates a) doesn't waive Google's responsibility to roll out patches to their largest OS cohort and b) is really all Google's fault because they let the carriers get away with it and have never reigned them in even after years of incompetence on the carriers' part. It's not an excuse.
    • bestnameever 12y ago
      Why are you blaming Google, and not Samsung, HTC, LG? Aren't they the ones who produce software updates for their phones? I really don't see how Google is stopping them from updating their handsets.
      • r00fus 12y ago
        See the beauty of the situation is that they are all at fault. However, only one company makes the core OS software these hardware manufacturers run on. Perhaps if Google provided the update and the pressure could be put on the manufacturers to roll out the update to their paying customers...?
        • deleted 12y ago
          [deleted]
        • bestnameever 12y ago
          No. They are not all at fault. The only one's responsible for updating their phones are the companies supplying the phones. There is nothing stopping Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG from creating and submitting a patch to AOSP and they are the ones who actually have a responsibility to their customers to do so. There is also very little stopping them from updating their phones to 4.4. > is really all Google's fault because they let the carriers get away with it and have never reigned them in even after years of incompetence on the carriers' part. You are again blaming Google for the carriers policy of updating phones not even belonging to Google. Do you really think Google is involved with a carriers agreement to carry Samsung phones? Last time I checked, Nexus phone's can also be updated without the assistance of the carrier.
• ignoramous 12y ago
  I can't fault Google for that. They've released subsequent versions of Android that has fixed the vuln in WebViews. Also, they took a major step in Android L by removing the WebView from the Android Framework and distributing it via the Play Store, thereby, enabling them to push security updates to all newer devices without the devices themselves having to update to a newer version of Android to get security fixes.
  • guardian5x 12y ago
    Microsoft also released subsequent versions of Windows, but they still keep updating old ones. I don't understand why Google hasn't build an update process for Android in the first place. Everyone knows the OEMs won't update if they don't have to.
    • jenscow 12y ago
      I guess it was to gain traction. If they pushed all of these requirements upon the OEMs then perhaps Android wouldn't have been as tempting. So now they're having to lock the gate after the horse has bolted. But if you want to compare it with Windows, the early versions of Windows didn't have an automated update process in place either.
• btian 12y ago
  Google is not responsible for supporting Android. Android is fully open source, and OEMs are responsible for their devices. AOSP is distributed under Apache 2.0 license https://source.android.com/source/licenses.html https://source.android.com/source/licenses.html which stipulates there's no warranty or support. Google supports Play Store and related services, but webview on 4.3 and older is not part of that.
  • guelo 12y ago
    Android is "fully open source" except that Google writes 99.999% of the code in secret. Rarely they will accept a pull request but there is zero transparency into that process.
    • Dylan16807 12y ago
      That sucks but it's not relevant to google having released a new version and carriers ignoring it.
      • guardian5x 12y ago
        Why does Google still rely on the carries, even though they know for years, that they don't have interest in updates. They could easily implement an update mechanism for the core of Android, like they do for App-Updates as well. When i buy a Laptop from HP, Dell, Lenovo or any other OEM, i still get Windows updates (even if i don't upgrade to the latest Windows version). I would really like to know why it is not possible for Google to implement such an update system? Blaming carriers is easier i guess.
        • ygra 12y ago
          That's exactly what they are doing, although perhaps for two-fold reasons. More recent versions of Android move more and more core stuff into the Play services. This enables Google to push updates to core services like normal app updates. It also ensures that a lot of core APIs are covered by services only available on phones licensed with Google.
• jlawer 12y ago
  I consider google with android to be a similar position to the linux kernel on my servers. I don't expect any of the kernel team to produce a patch for my 2.6.18 kernel I am running on a RHEL 5 system, I expect Red Hat to do that. Why doesn't Samsung / LG / HTC manage Long Term support for Android versions, back port the patches and roll them out? Alternatively why don't they all pool together and manage an LTS version for customers. It seems crazy that the company that has a relationship with the customer doesn't have to support the customer, and everyone instead blames google who wrote the code. The android vendors could back port, create alternative patches or simply make the device able to be updated to a more recent version.
• Aissen 12y ago
  Little known fact: since lollipop, the webview is now upgradeable: https://developer.android.com/about/versions/lollipop.html#WebView https://developer.android.com/about/versions/lollipop.html#W... . So in two years, it will be a thing of the past. And regressions of old-apps using new-webview will be a real issue.
  • rockdoe 12y ago
    So in two years, it will be a thing of the past. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA