McMaster revealed that Cyanogen is working with Microsoft to deeply integrate Cortana into the next version of Cyanogen OS. This is key to catapulting Cyanogen into the mass market, he asserts: Cortana is currently available as an app on Android, but in order for it to make a real difference, it needs to be able to be integrated at the OS level so that its full potential can be leveraged.
So, they’re really pushing ahead with integrating Microsoft services into every part of Cyanogen OS. I wonder at what point peddling these Microsoft services is going to somehow make CyanogenMod (the other side of the Cyanogen coin) worse.
In case you haven’t figured it out by now: Cyanogen is aiming to get acquired. They’re not in it to build a long-lasting company and deep ties with customers; they’re in it to get acquired for a lot of money and bail. As a user, I wouldn’t bet on this horse.
I agree with you, here. Even before all this I already had a heard time believing how giving the OS away for free with no strings attached was going to work
Google gets away with it because the OS is your gateway to their services. In order to sell an “Android device” you must include the Google services.
Cyanogen does not provide any services, though. So how are they to make money? The way I see it, they do not have many options. They could sell the OS, but that would significantly reduce their user base. They could bundle it with existing phones, which they already tried and failed. Or they could just get it to a stable point and sell it to a company that will make it their own.
Cyanogen used to be so cool. It is disgusting to see them sell their soul to the devil, just like many others did before them. That’s what happens when something goes ‘mainstream’; sell out to a huge corporation and watch the product go to complete shit. We’ve seen this played out time and time again.
Will there be anyone else to take their place?
Edited 2015-09-15 00:36 UTC
There’s no such thing as a for-profit company that has “deep ties with customers”. Customers are nothing more than tally marks and contributors to accounting numbers.
what you say may be true for *large* corporations, but there are still a lot of small businesses having “deep ties with customers”.
That’s true and I wasn’t referring to those smaller (often community-based) businesses. I should have been more clear there. Cyanogen though, isn’t one of those.
Let me guess, if an OEM ships phones bundled with Cortana, it does not have to pay for any software patents to Microsoft. EEE 101.
bingo you have the future MS phone offering.
On the other hand, the idea of Microsoft eventually making a dent in the mobile market but with a Linux kernel is deliciously ironic. I probably wouldn’t buy it but I’d love to see it
Wow… I just wrote this on another article…
If Cortana works as well as it does in Windows Phone 8.1, I’d take it over Google Now any day. Google Now has gotten steadily worse since I started to use it. Cortana attached to an in Car audio system works like a real solution, rather than half baked.