Google makes some of the source available when they want to but restricts what people can do with it using licenses, and now they insist on giving their approval to modifications.
Can we finally stop saying Android is 'open' now when it's blatantly false?
Imagine the headline read 'Apple Tightening Control of WebKit'. How is this any different?
I truly want to see an Open tablet on which the community could realize the Dynabook vision. I thought the Xoom might be a good starting point but with Google capriciously exercising power over the software, it's pretty clear that Android isn't going to give us that.
On the bright side, Moore's law will give us tablets that will run stock Linux pretty soon, and then all we need is a BSD-licensed, community built touch layer.
>On the bright side, Moore's law will give us tablets that will run stock Linux pretty soon, and then all we need is a BSD-licensed, community built touch layer.
Could you explain how Moore's Law is relevant here? How you get from "Number of transistors per IC will double in 18 months" to "Linux on a tablet pretty soon"? Tablet development isn't being limited by processing power as far as I know.
Most people I know who have an iPad 1 complain that speed is an issue. The iPad 2 certainly fixes that, but Apple's have focussed a lot on optimization and their stack is all built around compiled code.
To me that suggests that tablet performance is only just adequate today.
If we want to realize the dream of a truly open, programmable-on-the-device tablet, we're going to need it to burn some cycles on languages that aren't as efficient as C, and frameworks that haven't been as tuned as iOS.
Can you assuming that you have C skills tell Linus that we all should use a new file system called FUD? NO! Is Linux any less open because you cannot ? NO!
He controls the trademark. That's pretty much all Google has going for "their" Android, too. Plus some of their own closed-source apps, of which Linus has none. Also, Linus can't really stop distributing the kernel source, whereas Google - doing the main development on Android - can just delay shipping the source for a while. But, technicalities aside, they both have similar amounts of control over their respective products.
Comments
Google makes some of the source available when they want to but restricts what people can do with it using licenses, and now they insist on giving their approval to modifications.
Can we finally stop saying Android is 'open' now when it's blatantly false?
Imagine the headline read 'Apple Tightening Control of WebKit'. How is this any different?
I truly want to see an Open tablet on which the community could realize the Dynabook vision. I thought the Xoom might be a good starting point but with Google capriciously exercising power over the software, it's pretty clear that Android isn't going to give us that.
On the bright side, Moore's law will give us tablets that will run stock Linux pretty soon, and then all we need is a BSD-licensed, community built touch layer.
>On the bright side, Moore's law will give us tablets that will run stock Linux pretty soon, and then all we need is a BSD-licensed, community built touch layer.
Could you explain how Moore's Law is relevant here? How you get from "Number of transistors per IC will double in 18 months" to "Linux on a tablet pretty soon"? Tablet development isn't being limited by processing power as far as I know.
I think power is very much an issue.
Most people I know who have an iPad 1 complain that speed is an issue. The iPad 2 certainly fixes that, but Apple's have focussed a lot on optimization and their stack is all built around compiled code.
To me that suggests that tablet performance is only just adequate today.
If we want to realize the dream of a truly open, programmable-on-the-device tablet, we're going to need it to burn some cycles on languages that aren't as efficient as C, and frameworks that haven't been as tuned as iOS.
> Imagine the headline read 'Apple Tightening Control of WebKit'. How is this any different?
Why did you use this example? Apple isn't tightening control of WebKit. WebKit is a considerably more open project than Android.
That's exactly the point I was making.
a question:
Can you assuming that you have C skills tell Linus that we all should use a new file system called FUD? NO! Is Linux any less open because you cannot ? NO!
please effing stop with the damn fud
Does Linus control what people do with Linux?
He controls the trademark. That's pretty much all Google has going for "their" Android, too. Plus some of their own closed-source apps, of which Linus has none. Also, Linus can't really stop distributing the kernel source, whereas Google - doing the main development on Android - can just delay shipping the source for a while. But, technicalities aside, they both have similar amounts of control over their respective products.