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Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

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Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#111

Post by fidotron »

This should be just another wake up call to the fact that Android just isn't open. Unless you're inside the OHA your view doesn't count, and even then you have to go along with Google's vision of the future.

End users might think they have it bad, but the development experience is basically an exercise in dealing with whatever hyped up shiny unfinished turd is floating down from on high. It's a shame because some aspects of the system are really damn good, but there is just so much crap.

Having seen all this develop has persuaded me that the future is lower level APIs. On the web that means asm.js, Canvas, indexeddb etc. (discarding HTML and CSS), and on Android it means C++ and OpenGL and staying the hell away from as much of the higher level parts as possible. (Bonus points for increased code portability). The reason for this is the lower level ones seem to reach stable predictability much faster. It is better/easier to bundle any high level UI toolkit in the application itself than to have to support rendering on four different versions of the toolkit.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#112

Post by fpgeek »

edent wrote: post #34

6 years after being reported, Android still doesn't support downloading .ics files. https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1257 Makes it impossible to add events from websites. It's very frustrating that there doesn't seem to be anyone at Google who looks at bugs. It's all about creating "cool" experiences without the tedious work of fixing bugs.

Um, as the comment thread in the bug demonstrates, it isn't that simple.

Android does support downloading .ics files, you just need to install a third-party app to handle the calendar integration. Is that ideal? Of course not. But it is bog-standard prioritization to close issues that have easy workarounds in favor of issues that don't (and that's before you get to the possible patent complications someone mentions late in the thread).

More generally, I'd argue that this is a missing feature in the proprietary Google Calendar app, and not an OS issue at all.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#113

Post by thomasahle »

mfisher87 wrote: post #8
gcb0 wrote: post #3

all my bugs from android 2.3 (still heavily used in the us and out) up to android 4.2 were closed as obsolete. several are somewhat fixed on 5.0 (most by removing the feature) but nothing about support even nexus devices from 2.5 years ago. 3 were security ones confirmed by a few comments. I've been getting obsolete emails on my low profile bugs since November all the way to Dec 25... Google just gave up. i think nob…

I started seeing obsolete emails early this month for a bug I've been tracking: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8839 It's extremely frustrating to have an issue thread full of agreeing constructive comments from users marked obsolete with no comment from the developers, when the issue is still annoying many users. It definitely gives the impression that Google gave up or does not care about users.

If the maintainers of the official alarm app don't like this feature, can't you just use a custom app? Or is it something fundamental to the notification system?

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#114

Post by pjmlp »

Zigurd wrote: post #19
gcb0 wrote: post #3

all my bugs from android 2.3 (still heavily used in the us and out) up to android 4.2 were closed as obsolete. several are somewhat fixed on 5.0 (most by removing the feature) but nothing about support even nexus devices from 2.5 years ago. 3 were security ones confirmed by a few comments. I've been getting obsolete emails on my low profile bugs since November all the way to Dec 25... Google just gave up. i think nob…

Why would Android 2.3 be heavily used, even in embedded systems, and if it is, why isn't it the OEMs' problem?

Memory usage, just as possible reason.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#115

Post by LunaSea »

Bud wrote: post #85
ksk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason people complain is because iOS updates are a horrible kind of bait and switch. You update the OS because you think its awesome, but are unable to downgrade when you find that in reality, its slow and bloated. The most infuriating thing in all of this is that my iPhone 4S is STILL a fast device. The CPU hasn't shrunk since the time I bought it. Apple has decided that I am unworthy of restoring my phone to t…

Most of the criticisms of brand-new OS updates being "slow and bloated" are from extremely impatient users (or professional clickbait critics) who don't even have the good sense to wait a few hours or a day or two for the processes that can make major upgrades a bit sluggish on ALL devices to complete, such as rebuilding databases, the fact that OS updates often result in dozens or even hundreds of app updates that h…

With updates like Yosemite you now get a almost daily crash thanks to Apple.

Maverick was perfectly fine.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#116

Post by alvarosm »

yourad_io wrote: post #23
kelukelugames wrote: post #5

Silently? This isn't that dramatic. edit. title has been fixed.

Silently == closing without comment. Dramatic or not depends on the issue: This[1] issue (note the id) has 6275 people following it and 1659 comments/activities. Marking it obsolete with "(No comment was entered for this change.)" is kinda middle-finger-ish, don't you think? [1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82

This is just official confirmation that they don't care -I wonder why they did it... if you want to be silent just keep doing what you've been doing so far: ignoring the reports. Many developers know that many important bugs remain open after many months and Google doesn't care at all, but the average Joe has no idea.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#117

Post by alvarosm »

sduclos wrote: post #59
yourad_io wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silently == closing without comment. Dramatic or not depends on the issue: This[1] issue (note the id) has 6275 people following it and 1659 comments/activities. Marking it obsolete with "(No comment was entered for this change.)" is kinda middle-finger-ish, don't you think? [1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82

Wifi ad hoc network (82) seem like good thing to have in an emergency. Searching around I found Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer in Android doc at http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/wifip...

Well, that's kind of a minor feature and it's understandable that they might decide not to prioritize it. But there are many serious bugs out there that are being ignored.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#118

Post by fpgeek »

iamcreasy wrote: post #33
gst wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last device sold by Google that now runs an Android release of 4.2 or earlier was (afaik) the Nexus S - which was released in 2010. I think it's reasonable to stop support for a particular device after something like 4 years. Yes, there are other 3rd party manufacturers that sold devices based on such outdated versions up until recently. But why should it be Google's task to provide updates for these devices? Tha…

Not every part of the world changes at the same pace. There are places where a device running Android 4.2 are the best one on the market. That being said, its extremely frustrating to see this happening.

> There are places where a device running Android 4.2 are the best one on the market.

Where? With the possible exception of China [1], after the Moto G and Android One, I'd expect that you could get a KitKat (or better) entry-level device pretty much anywhere.

[1] where there are entry-level KitKat devices, I'm just not sure of their quality since some major entry-level manufactureres (e.g. Xiaomi) are still on 4.2, not to mention that I wouldn't expect Google to go out of their way to support Chinese devices since they don't come with and generally can't use most Google services.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#119

Post by TillE »

fidotron wrote: post #111

This should be just another wake up call to the fact that Android just isn't open. Unless you're inside the OHA your view doesn't count, and even then you have to go along with Google's vision of the future. End users might think they have it bad, but the development experience is basically an exercise in dealing with whatever hyped up shiny unfinished turd is floating down from on high. It's a shame because some asp…

I'm not sure what you think "open" means. You're still free to fork Android and do what you want with it. Google's negligence in fixing a variety of issues doesn't change that one bit.

Re: Many Android bugs with 500+ stars closed as obsolete on December 25

#120

Post by drdaeman »

mrec wrote: post #75
keithpeter wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suppose the Chrome team closed everything older than some cut-off date but explained why (perhaps on a blog) and encouraged people to open new tickets about issues that carried forward to currently supported versions. Would that gesture have kept you motivated to report bugs?

IIRC there was something (unconvincing) on a blog, and they did (nominally) encourage people to open new tickets for issues they cared about. No, that didn't keep me motivated. Words are cheap; actions speak louder. If they really wanted to encourage people to open tickets, they wouldn't robo-close them. There are a lot of ways they could have avoided that mess. Keepalive anything with recent comment traffic is one t…

Auto-closing is not an issue and could be implemented in community-friendly fashion. Just make a bot post "this ticket is dated, leave a comment if it's still important and revelant" then wait a few days and close only ones that don't get much attention. Simple and user-friendly.
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