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Update from the CEO

googleblog.blogspot.com

151–160 of 216 posts

Re: Update from the CEO

#151
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that Chrome has figured out how to push updates, while a majority of Androids are still running a version released over two years ago. If Google can start pushing auto-updates to all of its devices, that would be one of the greatest improvements ever made to Android. Also, one of Chrome's most touted features is performance, which has always been Android's weakest point. Hopefully he'll be willing to a…

> Not to mention that Chrome has figured out how to push updates, while a majority of Androids are still running a version released over two years ago. The reason for the hold out is the carriers, not Google. Google is very good at pushing updates to phones when it's not limited by the carriers (and Android implemented over the air updates years before anyone else did. iPhones still require cables to be updated).

Andy's previous company implemented over the air updates years before anyone had even thought of Android or iOS. :-)

Re: Update from the CEO

#152
post #87
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Since Sundar Pichai is the head of ChromeOS, perhaps this move is part of a larger move to unify Android and ChromeOS. I can't see both exist at the same time for much longer, and Android is encroaching on ChromeOS' domain much faster than the other way around. I'm predicting that ChromeOS will be shut down within a couple of years.

ChromeOS is going nowhere, it's currently the best OS option that is able to turn a PC into an instant-start, always-connected "appliance" where end-users don't need to care about the mundane details of using a PC, e.g managing files and folders, backing up, syncing, updates, security and virus-scanning protection, etc - everything runs in a sandbox, gets updated automatically and "just works".

Chrome is a browser, that's all. Not sure what it will be 1-5 years from now but now it's a browser in a computer

Re: Update from the CEO

#153
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that Chrome has figured out how to push updates, while a majority of Androids are still running a version released over two years ago. If Google can start pushing auto-updates to all of its devices, that would be one of the greatest improvements ever made to Android. Also, one of Chrome's most touted features is performance, which has always been Android's weakest point. Hopefully he'll be willing to a…

> Not to mention that Chrome has figured out how to push updates, while a majority of Androids are still running a version released over two years ago. The reason for the hold out is the carriers, not Google. Google is very good at pushing updates to phones when it's not limited by the carriers (and Android implemented over the air updates years before anyone else did. iPhones still require cables to be updated).

"iPhones still require cables to be updated"

Only for power and it's just a recommendation...

Re: Update from the CEO

#154
This is an unusually bleak and uninspiring message. Reads like a mundane press release. An average update from a small startup founder is more exciting.

Re: Update from the CEO

#155
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me that if he were moving to head another high-profile project at Google, it would have been part of this announcement.

Maybe he's leading a high-profile project that hasn't been announced yet.

Wouldn't the announcement mention Andy's new role even if the project could not be named? Without mentioning his plans, it leaves open questions like these, which does not make Andy look good.

Re: Update from the CEO

#156
post #145
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely some security comes for "free". My iPhone has military grade encryption, but all I see is a 4 digit passcode. If I shut it off, however, and have the 10 max attempts, then it's virtually impossible to break in (without other data, e.g. smudges where the passcode numbers are). In any case, it should be a tradeoff the user controls. People have drastically different needs, think OpenBSD versus Windows for a usab…

You are aware the jail breaking exists, right? So iPhones aren't so secure.

> So iPhones aren't so secure.

What's your benchmark? If you have access to the hardware virtually everything can be jailbroken. With the iPhone, however, you can't do it non-destructively (i.e. you can't get personal information). At least that's my understanding, if I'm wrong please correct me.

Re: Update from the CEO

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>At least on Android you can write one app and then tweak it to work on different devices, previously you had to write apps as different as Android/iOS/Windows for each device - and often individual manufacturers even had multiple platforms to write for. >So I think we owe Google some congratulations. Before Android, you could write a Windows Mobile app and have it run pretty much on every Windows Mobile device and t…

Your information is outdated. The Holo theme is required to be present on all devices that wish to carry the play store. If you write an app targeting 4.0 or higher that uses the default theme, it will look the same across all phones.

However, you will lose the 2.3 users, who still hold a ton of market share.

Re: Update from the CEO

#158
post #145
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely some security comes for "free". My iPhone has military grade encryption, but all I see is a 4 digit passcode. If I shut it off, however, and have the 10 max attempts, then it's virtually impossible to break in (without other data, e.g. smudges where the passcode numbers are). In any case, it should be a tradeoff the user controls. People have drastically different needs, think OpenBSD versus Windows for a usab…

You are aware the jail breaking exists, right? So iPhones aren't so secure.

Jailbreaks exploit security holes, but you currently need physical access and the passcode off to jailbreak.

Re: Update from the CEO

#159

Another way to look at it is that Android was a home run and basically accomplished everything it was supposed to do, not much left for Rubin to accomplish.

Sure, it's probably achieved everything it was meant to - like Google probably had when they first became the top search engine. I really doubt anybody is leaving because of that though, it's certainly not perfect, and it's certainly not achieved everything it can achieve. In fact, it probably hasn't achieved everything it is meant to achieve now. Goals aren't static, nobody's going to leave because there's nothing left to achieve with Android.

Re: Update from the CEO

#160
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I mean, Chrome itself (being an app) is pushing updates on android at a cadence now that almost matches what they are doing on the desktop. Doing hardware integration is a lot harder than writing an app. I wish more app developers recognized this. (That said: I do think Google could have done a much better job at separating out the true kernel/HAL/BSP layer stuff, which needs to be done per-device, from the…

I can't even run chrome on my android (2.3). I've resorted to Firefox which is actually pretty nice.

Firefox for Android supports Froyo (2.2) up the latest Jelly Bean (4.2). Chrome for Android only supports ICS (4.0).
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