Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
Posted Jul 17, 2008 17:52 UTC (Thu) by davidw (guest, #947)Parent article: Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
It's an issue, but not a major one. The weirdest aspect of the whole thing is that Google can't say why they won't talk about it, and they're buttoned up tight. Bizarre. But I still have every belief we'll see the source code after phones come out. What is more of an open question is whether they'll be able to put together a real open source community, rather than just throw some code at svn every once in a while.
Posted Jul 17, 2008 18:15 UTC (Thu)
by zooko (guest, #2589)
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Posted Jul 17, 2008 18:31 UTC (Thu)
by davidw (guest, #947)
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Posted Jul 17, 2008 21:51 UTC (Thu)
by khim (subscriber, #9252)
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Why do you feel this way? Is it because you trust that the google corporation wouldn't go back on its word, or because you think that it will be in its best interest to release it later, or something else? It's in Google's best interest to keep their word :-) Because a lot of marketing hoopla around Android is based on trust. Once this trust will be lost - it'll be the end of Android. May be few years down the road if and when Android will be default phone platform they'll have the luxury to deceive people (like Microsoft) - but not for a few years...
Posted Jul 18, 2008 3:21 UTC (Fri)
by sbergman27 (guest, #10767)
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Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
"But I still have every belief we'll see the source code after phones come out."
Why do you feel this way? Is it because you trust that the google corporation wouldn't go
back on its word, or because you think that it will be in its best interest to release it
later, or something else?
I'm not asking these questions in order to implicitly disagree with your prediction -- I'm
just curious why you think so.
Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
Because I've talked with people involved with the Android program who promise it. Also, yeah,
I think that going back on their word would be quite damaging for them.
The reason they're waiting for phones is this, they say: if they dumped the source code, they
would run the risk of some random manufacturer running out and doing a crappy, non-QA'ed
phone, and then the press would be all over what a disaster Android is (just like they jumped
on this story like a pack of wolves:-)
It's a mix of two
Google's Android platform: not so open after all (ars technica)
"""
The weirdest aspect of the whole thing is that Google can't say why they won't talk about it,
and they're buttoned up tight.
"""
Not so weird, really. Any time a luminary who happens to have become a Google employee is
interviewed, there is always that awkward moment when they pause and say "I can't talk about
that". Google is about secrecy when it suits their purposes, and about the appearance of
openness when that suits their purposes. As for the rest of us, our own personal information
is fair game for them either way.