It all started with Apple/TechCrunch blogger M.G. Siegler making a huge fuss over something he didn't understand, and while that in and of itself isn't particularly interesting, one of the outcomes of this little internet drama is a comment on Google+ (the tenth one) that so perfectly encapsulates just how important Android is for the world that I felt the need to share it with you. It's the holiday season after all.
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Member since:2009-03-27
Member since:2005-06-29
Member since:2008-12-09
The point is that "Android is so cool it's what history books will remember, as being the open source OS that changed things"
Well, as pointed out, it's not actually open. Plus, if anything, it's Linux which made the difference.
Finally, it's just marketing bs obviously. Just like iOS fans would claim iOS changed the face of the mobile (and thus the mobile web) and will make it into history books.
Heck. Freaking fanboi world.
What makes it into history books is the winner, no matter how, no matter why. The winner is the biggest seller. And that's Android.
That's still not revolutionary.
Member since:2010-03-08
Well, guess what! That's because the code to support the devices is NEVER there. The drivers are always user space closed source, and the API breaks with Android upgrades.
Welcome to the ARM world. This is precisely why ARM devices taking over x86 would basically mean doomsday for alternative OS developers.
Member since:2005-07-06
Not really? Alt OS seem to be largely developed on emulators, anyway; what hardware is actually popular, at the time of development (and not a decade earlier, in chipsets for PII) seems largely irrelevant already.
And once something would get enough of a following so that running it on current hw will matter, the community could perhaps just as well order something to their liking.
Member since:2011-12-08
Android is revolutionary, on many levels. I have a huge disgust for Apple, their products and their ways of dealing with competition. I am upfront with that.
But all this story was about was to explain how Nokia helped third world countries get cell phones, and how the Android platform is doing the same for smart phones.
Thankfully for Android, and Google, they have created an open platform to do this. You say it is not "open", and you are correct. There are many companies, not Google, that will not allow Google to open source some of the drivers, code and other pieces of Android.
Is that the fault of Google? If so, then the explain why? I just read a message from one of Google's top Android developers, and he explains alot in a little space.
Android is revolutionary, and it is surpassing Apple at every turn. Apple is now the platform that is playing catch up with Android. Look at the newly created "Face Unlock" patent that Apple applied for.
Instead of looking for ways to pick apart a story, read it first. This was an awesome story, and one I enjoyed reading, as well as posting to my Facebook and G+ Account.
Member since:2011-06-17
Look at the newly created "Face Unlock" patent that Apple applied for.
I think you're a bit confused. Apple did not apply for a "face unlock" feature. Face unlocking is stupid as you can easily trick it with a picture. Apple did apply for a "face personalisation" feature, an entirely different thing.
Member since:2011-05-12
Like someone else mentioned it's not an unlock feature.
The news you read is about a patent granted to Apple, it was submitted in 2010. Like other companies Apple patents stuff that may or may not ever be a feature in a product.
And IIRC the Android face unlock feature didn't work on stage, but does off stage when someone dangles a picture in front of it. So I guess it's one of those fun-to-show-off features, but not a very useful one.
Member since:2006-03-26
Why would it be up to google to get you device drivers for every possible device? It doesnt make sense that the code to each device's drivers would be in the repository for the android code because that code isnt google's. They dont make the devices, they make the OS. It would be up to the likes of motorola, htc, etc. to get you the drivers for their devices.
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Member since:
2008-12-09
Uh.
Android's barely evolutionary.
Android's barely open source.
If you were a dev, and you'd have checked out the code you'd know. I ran my own AOSP, thank you very much. Half of it uses binaries for the stock phone(s) because unless you're going to reverse engineer for a year or two there's no other way.
First of all, it's not always open. It's open, sometimes, as history proved. Plus, updates arrive in packs, not gradually, because it's development model is closed.
And when it is opened, it's missing all the important stuff - of course -.
You may wonder why huge teams like CyanogenMod struggles to port Android 4 to many devices?
Well, guess what! That's because the code to support the devices is NEVER there. The drivers are always user space closed source, and the API breaks with Android upgrades.
They also break with standard APIs (alsa, etc) more often than not *on purpose*.
The RIL (radio interface layer, mind you) is generally closed sourced as well.
So it Android as a whole open? Absolutely not.
Is Android technically superior to anything else that has existed so far? Nope. Different? Nope.
Even the libc implementation is crippled on Android.
Shall I go on? Android support of security updates is non-existant. Many devices ship with working exploits, right now.
And no, iOS ain't really better (but they do have proper updates).
For that matter, despite some mobile OSes being more open, I don't see any right now that is decent in all areas.