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Update from the CEO

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Re: Update from the CEO

#161

Post by hackmiester »

lttlrck wrote: post #153
laureny wrote: 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. 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...

Updating a firmware while on battery is a pretty bad idea, so I can see why it's recommended.

Re: Update from the CEO

#162

Post by ryanhuff »

freehunter wrote: post #123
dpcx wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So iOS was adopted why...?

Because Apple had a heck of a lot more clout than Google did at the time.

While Apple was in a very strong position, the carriers had a strong interest in another player to counter Apple's market power. In the case of fragmentation, I think Google was just more willing to negotiate away things like this in the interest of getting a strong presence on the devices.

Re: Update from the CEO

#163

Post by rdl »

dguido wrote: post #16

Andy Rubin was the major factor responsible for insecure Android devices. He thought it was impossible to be both secure and 'X' for any 'X'. Meanwhile, Andy Rubin's replacement is Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome and ChromeOS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai If you care at all about the security of Android mobile devices, this is probably a good sign. EDIT: I wonder if this helped move Andy out the door? htt…

I think you're probably right, and this was one of my biggest problems with the Android platform. He did a lot of things right, but was completely wrong about security, and from what I've heard, actively stood in the way of the Chrome/ChromeOS people improving Android security.

Re: Update from the CEO

#164

Post by rdl »

dguido wrote: post #138
hhw wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not wrong. There's always a tradeoff between security and usability. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/08/security_vs_us... The key is finding the right balance.

You couldn't be more wrong and, unfortunately, I don't have the karma yet to enable downvoting :-). Easy example as long as we're on the topic, the Chrome browser or ChromeOS. I can think of a dozen things that could be done to Android to both mitigate against current threats and exploited weaknesses and either not interfere with or improve user experience. Unfortunately, we are long past the point where fundamental…

I think Google can fix many of the security issues with Android, even at the cost of breaking compatibility. They will presumably try to merge Android and ChromeOS, and taking more of the ChromeOS security model on tablet/PC-form-factor devices makes sense.

Re: Update from the CEO

#165

Post by vetinari »

cooldeal wrote: post #96
MatthewPhillips wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are missing the point of Android. Android starts with the premise "fragmentation exists, how do we make the best of it?" and goes from there. The idea that every person on the planet is going to use the same phone with the same capabilities and the same size screen is a fantasy world iOS developers live in.

>fragmentation exists, how do we make the best of it? >The idea that every person on the planet is going to use the same phone with the same capabilities and the same size screen is a fantasy world iOS developers live in. There are a billion plus PCs running Windows with various hardware, screen sizes and even different form factors. Yet fragmentation is not as big a problem as on Android. The primary problem comes w…

The example you posted is about the same as PC keyboard without keypad or with arrows/pgup-pgdn-home-end-insert-delete block in nonstandard places.

Completely non-issue in both Windows and Android.

Re: Update from the CEO

#166

Post by pyrocrasty »

dguido wrote: post #116
m0nastic wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dan is characterizing Rubin's position around security as non-inclusive. Not that "nothing was secure", but that any feature (X) that was prioritized was done so not just without taking security into account, but with a belief that security was at odds with said feature (for all examples of X). Basically, in a bastardized form of the "Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two." I don't know who was the responsible party for Androi…

heh thanks for the support and, yes, you got my position right. For anyone who might be thinking I'm an iOS fanboy or something, our company is probably harder on Apple than any other in the world with regard to security: http://www.trailofbits.com/research/ http://www.trailofbits.com/books/ That said, Android is objectively a security nightmare.

Ah, criticizing Android security doesn't make you sound like an iOS fanboy.

( Linking to MacRumors is a bit worrying though ;-) )

Re: Update from the CEO

#167

Post by notatoad »

OGinparadise wrote: post #152
mythz wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Chrome is a platform for running web apps, just like android is a platform for running android apps. It is literally the exact same concept, each type of app just has different strengths and weaknesses.

Re: Update from the CEO

#168

Post by taeric »

mythz wrote: post #87
laureny wrote: 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".

How is ChomeOS better positioned for this metric than iOS or Android? While I am not a huge fan of them as general purpose computers, our Kindle Fires actually fit these bills rather well.

Re: Update from the CEO

#169

Post by piyush_soni »

mythz wrote: post #87
laureny wrote: 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".

I think there's no point in carrying forward ChromeOS ahead, when Android can already do so much more, without needing to be always connected to the internet. The world (even the first world) hasn't reached to a place yet where it can depend on always being connected.

Re: Update from the CEO

#170

Post by mythz »

OGinparadise wrote: post #152
mythz wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yeah it's just a browser if you forget about the Custom Firmware, Custom Hardened Linux OS with auto-updating sandbox, built-in TPM support and a trusted bootpath optimized for FastBoots, customized Portage build system, Custom Window Manager, built-in media player, file manager, integration with Google Cloud Print, Chrome Shell/SSH, Chrome Remote Desktop.

But it's comforting that there are people that just think of it as just another web browser - that's the whole point, just think of it as a web browsing appliance that "just works like a browser" -- even though it's not.

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