Google engineer (and my husband!) Jean-Baptiste “JBQ” Queru just open sourced the latest Android version, codenamed “Eclair”. This will open the doors for device manufacturers to get the latest version of Android. You can read all about it in his message here.
And cool OSS, but why don’t they develop it in the open? You know, like open source ;P
Good question – I guess they don’t want to develop too much in the public eye or otherwise it’ll give too much away as to the future direction. I guess it is weighing up the balance between being open and yet maintaining a competitive edge.
Nokia also develops Maemo 6 in the open: http://qt.gitorious.org/maemo-6-ui-framework
its still open source, even though the actual development is closed until they release it…you know…like open source.
The reason for this is because they would piss off crappy companies like Verizon who like to use the word “exclusive”.
If they developed it in the open, they wouldn’t be able to say “the first android device with 2.0” since undoubtidly Cyanogen would have a ROM out there for the Magic and Dream well before anybody could buy a Droid.
I think its more about the secretive cell companies than anything else. I wish Google would develop in the open. Announce plans for future releases etc.
Your husband open sourced something? swoooon!
The whole “and my husband!” stuff was unnecessary.
Does it really matter? Actually, come to think of it, reporters usually give a disclaimer whenever they have a link to a news story. For example, MSNBC always says that Microsoft is their parent company when the have a story on MS. So… no… it was not unnecessary.
Some people are just grumpy… what’s the issue in her saying “my husband!”… come on, it’s not anyone out there that turns to be a Google engineer. And Chrome OS is coming to beat the hell out of the world…
The Querus are the geekiest couple on earth…