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Android is for Google, by Google. The source is put someplace public each release, but development is completely behind closed doors. There is little transparen

Android is for Google, by Google. The source is put someplace public each release, but development is completely behind closed doors. There is little transparency at all, on roadmaps, status of what is being worked on, status of existing bugs, etc. If you aren't going to be part of the virtuous cycle of the Android ecosystem / OHA in general and license GMS, it makes less sense to use it as a base for something as grand as whats described in the article. I think this is the way Google designed it.

bad_user 11y ago
Even if development is not public, the source code is licensed as open-source and it can be forked, which is the whole freaking point. Amazon could fork it. Nokia could fork it. One can argue that CyanogenMod is a fork as well. What makes little sense is to start again, mostly from scratch (or from MeeGo or its successor, which is basically from scratch). This project is a failure before they started working on it.
- hillsarealiv3 11y ago
  And good luck finding a hardware manufacturer willing to produce devices with your forked version thanks to Google's draconian agreements with manufacturers.
  - bad_user 11y ago
    Given that there are in fact phones on the market that do not include Google's Play or apps, such assertions need references. So what "draconian agreements" are you talking about?
    - hillsarealiv3 11y ago
      That would be these agreements: http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-play-terms-of-service/ http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-play-terms-of-service/ “the agreement places a company-wide ban on Android forks, saying OEMs are forbidden from taking ‘any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android’ and specifically disallows distributing or encouraging a third-party to distribute ‘a software development kit derived from Android.'” Not so very open after all? The people who have forked android have great difficulty finding OEMs to manufacture thrir devices as the list of those who don't have agreements with Google is rather short.
      - AtlasLion 11y ago
        No one ever said that Google's services were open. The operating system itself is open. instead of starting from 0, Yandex could just modify Android and have their own market, maps... People been bitching about fragmentation in Android for years, when google changed their agreement to counter it, people are now bitching about the agreement.
        hillsarealiv3 11y ago
        The problem is that even if they create their own marketplace etc. any manufacturers who have an agreement with Google will be unable to manufacture any devices running the forked version. The restriction is company wide for the OEM.

bad_user 11y ago

Even if development is not public, the source code is licensed as open-source and it can be forked, which is the whole freaking point. Amazon could fork it. Nokia could fork it. One can argue that CyanogenMod is a fork as well. What makes little sense is to start again, mostly from scratch (or from MeeGo or its successor, which is basically from scratch). This project is a failure before they started working on it.

hillsarealiv3 11y ago
And good luck finding a hardware manufacturer willing to produce devices with your forked version thanks to Google's draconian agreements with manufacturers.
- bad_user 11y ago
  Given that there are in fact phones on the market that do not include Google's Play or apps, such assertions need references. So what "draconian agreements" are you talking about?
  - hillsarealiv3 11y ago
    That would be these agreements: http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-play-terms-of-service/ http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-play-terms-of-service/ “the agreement places a company-wide ban on Android forks, saying OEMs are forbidden from taking ‘any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android’ and specifically disallows distributing or encouraging a third-party to distribute ‘a software development kit derived from Android.'” Not so very open after all? The people who have forked android have great difficulty finding OEMs to manufacture thrir devices as the list of those who don't have agreements with Google is rather short.
    - AtlasLion 11y ago
      No one ever said that Google's services were open. The operating system itself is open. instead of starting from 0, Yandex could just modify Android and have their own market, maps... People been bitching about fragmentation in Android for years, when google changed their agreement to counter it, people are now bitching about the agreement.
      - hillsarealiv3 11y ago
        The problem is that even if they create their own marketplace etc. any manufacturers who have an agreement with Google will be unable to manufacture any devices running the forked version. The restriction is company wide for the OEM.