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“Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

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Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#71

Post by kuzimoto »

agumonkey wrote: post #55
kuzimoto wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that really the best solution? I realize that might be sarcasm, but it seems phones are fairly critical for many people. Obviously it's not a necessity, like food/water/shelter, but even some homeless people with nothing else have cellphones.

it was only half sarcasm (and thanks for not firing at me for being overly laconic in my previous comment) I feel going back to very tech light, very local might be a very plausible future. Maybe phones but not as a platform for life through digital pipe metaphor different and deeper education, more trustworthy next door social tissue, slower pace

Haha no problem, I figured there was more to it than just that ;)

I do agree with you that we would be better off with less tech, but it would be hard for me at least since I love it so much. Although I do stay away from social media (unless you count the occasional HN post) which I think does more bad than good.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#72

Post by bob1029 »

marc3842h wrote: post #50

I don't see how Fuchsia can pull this off without having at least compatibility with existing Android apps. Even if they do: I could see a ton of smartphone brands continuing to maintain it for their own smart phones (the Chinese have been big on that front!) or even making their own OS like Samsung with their Tizen OS.

All they need to do is offer the legacy API in addition to the new one, and write an internal translation layer. Obviously, that legacy API is at huge risk of being deprecated, so you should expect it to be considering. Any app out there that isn't rewritten for the new API will eventually stop working, just like most of Google's products. I am sure they would enjoy seeing this 'cleansing' of less-popular and niche apps.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#73

Post by scooble »

intuitionist wrote: post #23
holtalanm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is going to be replaced with Fuschia OS (i'm sure i probably butchered the name) My understanding is that it will be a pretty much transparent switch for users going from an Android phone to a Fuschia phone -- not sure though.

The mnemonic I use for “fuchsia” is that it’s a flower named after a guy named Fuchs. It is a bit strange that a search engine company would choose a name that’s so difficult to spell!

This guy fuchs.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#74

Post by burtonator2011 »

rocky1138 wrote: post #11

As a tech community, we should really rally around a libre/free mobile OS and soon. Being beholden to corporations for our operating systems is antithetical to freedom.

> Being beholden to corporations for our operating systems is antithetical to freedom.

This may be an unpopular statement here but where do you think Linux comes from?

Corporations.

It's Open Source but the vast vast vast majority of funding comes from IBM, Google, etc.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#75

Post by ignoramous »

This isn't an official statement from Google. If you're interested in Android's OS update story (keywords: Project Treble, APEX [0], GenericSystemImages [1]), then the thread [2] has some interesting pointers.

--

[0] https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-apex-biggest-thing-...

[1] https://developer.android.com/preview/gsi-release-notes

[2] mirror: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1119206658423558144.html

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#78

Post by Spivak »

Jorge1o1 wrote: post #53
brianpgordon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fuchsia is permissively licensed. I swear, copyleft people have the weirdest definition of freedom. How does using a license that lets you do anything with the code, including using it to compete commercially with Google, automatically indicate some nefarious plan to lock down the new platform? If they wanted to do that, why would they release Fuchsia under a permissive license in the first place?

Isn’t only the kernel and the OS permissively licensed? There’s nothing stopping Google and others from making all of the non-OS features closed source. The nice thing about copyleft is that it’s infectious.

GPLv2 for a kernel isn't super infectious because your entire userspace can be proprietary. And you can also ship proprietary kernel modules as long as you make sure there's a minimim of logical separation. And even if you don't it hasn't been tested if the kernel plus a bundled kernel modue constitutes a derived work.

So you now basically have full control and can make nigh arbitrary modifications to both user and kernel space while only having to show the source of the kernel itself. Not super powerful in practice. Pretty deal for the kernel devs though.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#79

Post by _bxg1 »

_bxg1 wrote: post #62
_bxg1 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so much harder to do on mobile, for multiple reasons: - Hardware is not very modular (mainly because of size constraints), meaning you have to purpose-build libre hardware if you can't/don't want to run on tech-giant devices (you can right now if you're forking Android; you probably won't be able to once it's replaced with Fuschia). - Developers' needs have always been a bastion for keeping desktop OSes flexible…

Also, perhaps even more importantly, you'd be starting from scratch in terms of app ecosystem, which is even more important today (and especially on mobile) than it used to be in the PC era. You could get some mileage out of the web- but first you'd have to build or port a browser. Chromium certainly won't target your open OS, and with its 75% market share, it now strongarms the direction that web standards take. And…

For those curious, what I ended up doing was switching to an iPhone. I decided that my boycott of Google was mainly about privacy, not openness, and I resigned to the fact that I'd rather be able to fully function within our digital society than have openness in my phone (I still use Linux on my desktop). I've been happy with my decision; but for what it's worth I'd still try out a mature, truly open mobile OS if one ever surfaced.

Re: “Android is reaching EOL in the next 4-5 years”

#80

Post by 0815test »

_bxg1 wrote: post #62
_bxg1 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so much harder to do on mobile, for multiple reasons: - Hardware is not very modular (mainly because of size constraints), meaning you have to purpose-build libre hardware if you can't/don't want to run on tech-giant devices (you can right now if you're forking Android; you probably won't be able to once it's replaced with Fuschia). - Developers' needs have always been a bastion for keeping desktop OSes flexible…

Also, perhaps even more importantly, you'd be starting from scratch in terms of app ecosystem, which is even more important today (and especially on mobile) than it used to be in the PC era. You could get some mileage out of the web- but first you'd have to build or port a browser. Chromium certainly won't target your open OS, and with its 75% market share, it now strongarms the direction that web standards take. And…

> Also, perhaps even more importantly, you'd be starting from scratch in terms of app ecosystem

The "app ecosystem" on a free mobile OS would be shared with the "ecosystem" of free PC apps. Chromium does target, e.g. Debian GNU/Linux, as do quite a few proprietary apps relying on Flatpack. There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to piggiback on this work for the mobile platform. Yes, UI is different, but not that different. Modern Linux apps already come with a touch-friendly UI, for example.

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