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Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

9to5google.com

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Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#41

Post by fmajid »

EGreg wrote: post #37
soraminazuki wrote: post #20

This really reminds me of Open Solaris. > We will no longer distribute source code for the entirety of the Solaris operating system in real-time In the case of Open Solaris, the code never came out from that point onwards. For Android, the likely end goal is to do the bare minimum of distributing only copyleft code that they don't own copyright to. Until those get replaced with a closed alternative. https://www.youtu…

Can someone just fork it? Like MySQL was forked into MariaDB?

Yes: https://illumos.org/

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#42

Post by npodbielski »

rchaud wrote: post #16
johnnyanmac wrote: post #8

>This does not mean that Google is making Android a closed-source platform, but rather that the open-source aspect will only be released when a new branch is released to AOSP with those changes, including when new full versions or maintenance releases are finished. I'll believe it when I see it. These days, words are basically meaningless from these large tech companies. Actions are what matter. at the very least, I'…

No OEM is interested in AOSP builds, because no one is going to buy an Android phone without Google Play Services, which is required for many popular apps to work (banking, games). There were some Chinese OEMs that ran an Android build and have unofficial ways to get Play Store working (Boox eReaders for example), but those are increasingly rare now, as years of sanctions has led to Huawei de-Googling itself fast, wi…

So one of the giants will build their version of microg and it will be like with wine, proton and steam os.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#43

Post by lunar_rover »

llarsson wrote: post #25

Help me understand what this means to e.g. GrapheneOS, please. Will it be able to exist and just have to wait longer for updates or will it be in real jeopardy?

Potentially longer gaps between major updates, since they can no longer follow upstream closely.

However, Google might have planned to slowly make Android proprietary, which means death to 3rd party forks.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#44

Post by cyberax »

rchaud wrote: post #22
rozab wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindle Fire? Your smart TV? Your car infotainment? Android is everywhere even without Google

Android TV is not AOSP, it is an Android variant actively developed by Google and requires Google Play Services. Kindle Fire is based on AOSP, that was my mistake. I will say Amazon is a rare OEM in this regard; they're tablet-only, and happy with AOSP because they have their own app store that don't need Play Services integration.

Your point is actually a good one because Amazon has abandoned its app store infrastructure. And it likely will just integrate Play Services in future.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#45

Post by mfuzzey »

rchaud wrote: post #22
rozab wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindle Fire? Your smart TV? Your car infotainment? Android is everywhere even without Google

Android TV is not AOSP, it is an Android variant actively developed by Google and requires Google Play Services. Kindle Fire is based on AOSP, that was my mistake. I will say Amazon is a rare OEM in this regard; they're tablet-only, and happy with AOSP because they have their own app store that don't need Play Services integration.

In the tablet / phone world where end users expect to install applications from the playstore yes but there are many other device types that do use AOSP.

For instance some parking meters / train ticketing machines / payment terminals run Android. source: I work for company that makes some of them though we are moving away from Android to more classical embedded Linux.

Google play services doesn't matter in these contexts.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#47

Post by andrewmcwatters »

Can we please just go back to having some sort of Debian-based GNU/Linux on a smartphone. Just create a really great mobile interface on top of that.

The more I learn about Android, the more I think the whole thing is a waste of time.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#48

Post by schmorptron »

merb wrote: post #15
johnnyanmac wrote: post #8

>This does not mean that Google is making Android a closed-source platform, but rather that the open-source aspect will only be released when a new branch is released to AOSP with those changes, including when new full versions or maintenance releases are finished. I'll believe it when I see it. These days, words are basically meaningless from these large tech companies. Actions are what matter. at the very least, I'…

The good thing is that at least the kernel and the VM/runtime need to be open source

Until they swap out linux for fuschia!

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#49

Post by cavisne »

chasil wrote: post #38
microtonal wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they can already do that, because most people and apps (outside China and maybe some other regions) expect Google Play/Play Services to be present.

Amazon maintains their Fire devices with their Android fork. Huawei maintains their Android fork that runs without the Play store. Google will not be able to close Android/AOSP without triggering a well-funded fork.

The Fire devices seem like they are on life support from a technical point of view (even if Amazon is making money from them). Their fork is really out of date.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#50

Post by rwmj »

soraminazuki wrote: post #20

This really reminds me of Open Solaris. > We will no longer distribute source code for the entirety of the Solaris operating system in real-time In the case of Open Solaris, the code never came out from that point onwards. For Android, the likely end goal is to do the bare minimum of distributing only copyleft code that they don't own copyright to. Until those get replaced with a closed alternative. https://www.youtu…

But copyleft is bad and everyone should use BSD ...

Code is turned proprietary by huge corporate with massive development resources. No one could have predicted this.

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