Why would one need an API? What functionality would this API even expose that isn't possible already? Cortana can already be disabled and you are free to run any software you'd like.

As of insider build 14332, Cortana can no longer be disabled and is not an opt-in feature anymore. Upon first boot it's already "getting to know you".

Cortana is integrated into the OS a lot more deeply than a normal app would be.

replacing the perma-button on the taskbar? and a short-cut key?

Such an API sadly doesn’t exist on Android either. I’d love to have a Google-free Android with still all the features.

https://developer.android.com/training/articles/assistant.ht... disagrees

Sample code: https://github.com/commonsguy/cw-omnibus/tree/master/Assist/...

Yet, still, I can’t replace the Google bar in the Recents menu: http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/03/61/63551918823389/0/quick-...

The procedure described here (https://www.reddit.com/r/nexus6/comments/3xo66d/remove_googl...) works just fine on a stock nexus 6.

That works on my Moto G, but not on my Nexus 7 – the Nexus 7 is stuck on Android 5.1, and there’s no way to remove it.

If I use root to remove the Google app forcefully, I get a black box with the text "widget failed to load".

EDIT: Within of 10 minutes the comments go from +2 to -3? Seriously? Leave a comment instead of downvoting, please.

Replace your launcher with another one... Not sure what installing the Cortana app will actually do/allow as side effects beyond that, as an alternative... I actually prefer the Google toolbar.

Okay, I know dang will warn me for that, but I’m getting a little angry now.

You're the 10TH PERSON THIS WEEK telling me this, and NO, IT DOES NOT WORK, CAN NOT WORK, WILL NOT EVER WORK.

The search bar IN THE RECENTS MENU is provided by the SystemUI.apk and can NOT be changed without modifying the base os.

You are talking about the search bar ON THE HOME SCREEN, which, yes, CAN be modified by replacing the launcher.

But NO, the search bar in the RECENT APPS SCREEN, which is SEPERATE FROM THE LAUNCHER, can NOT be modified by replacing the Launcher.

Here, THIS http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/11/android-... http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/03/61/63551918823389/0/quick-... is the one I am talking about.

It can NOT be modified at all on Android L. You can remove all Google apps with root, install the fucking ADW Launcher, but no, it does NOT change that search bar.

I’ve tried to explain it before, too. Please listen to what I say and don’t suggest the same stuff everyone else has suggested before again when I already explained why it will NOT work.

I do find it ironic that you're getting so worked up about how a device that's actually from Google with Google's spin on Android has Google baked in. Since your Moto device doesn't do that, and since Nexus devices are specifically designed to let you install any ROM of your choosing (e.g. this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKKBbRHwIVQ seems to let one remove the search bar), I fail to see the problem here.

What do you mean by features?

Do you mean Google apps like gmail, play store and youtube because I think it should totally be up to the Google to distribute those apps on platforms.

Because, otherwise you can get Google-free Android. Just look at Amazon FireOS or CyanogenMod.

Or, in fact just go ahead a grab a copy of the source and make it how you want it to be.

really?

ive got an archos 55 platinum. would love to do this but cant find any way I'd trust to even root it.

No, I can’t.

As long as Google forbids OEMs from producing both FireOS and Google Android devices, I can’t buy a CyanogenMod device from Motorola, or similar.

And no, I don’t think Google should be able to hardcode any of their services into Android – instead each service should be provided via a standardized API, so users can select defaults (like it already is done with many apps on Android).

But you can buy a Fairphone 2 and install their Android version that comes without Google Mobile Services. Other manufacturers are free to do the same. https://www.fairphone.com/2016/04/28/releasing-the-fairphone...

What do you mean by hardcode? I disabled all Google apps incl Play Services, Services Framework, etc on my smartphone and it still works quite well. Sure, many people don't know how to do that but most of them certainly wouldn't want to do without either.

I mean, for example, the Search bar in the recents screen: http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/03/61/63551918823389/0/quick-... http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/11/android-...

It is hardcoded to access the Google app, and if you remove the Google app, it just shows an error.

There are several such cases.

For example, Doze will terminate all apps – except for Google Play Services’ GCM service, that one can stay. This is, again, hardcoded.

The only way to modify these things is by actually recompiling SystemUI.apk and framework.jar. Which no normal user can do.

Google develops Android for a reason - so you use Google more often rather than its competitors. It's a simple business decision.

Which they can not legally do. That’s the point of Antitrust laws, to prevent one company unfairly taking over a market through their power in other markets.

Google has to treat all competing services the same as their own on Android or Search – in general, in all markets where they have a majority.

Microsoft had to add BrowserChoice.eu, and Google will have to add the same for Android, too. Microsoft was prevented from forcing OEMs to install Windows everywhere, and Google’s Anti-Fork Anti-Kindle clause will be declared invalid, too.

This is the law, and if Google wants to avoid doing so, they’ll have to avoid operating in the EU.

How would this even be possible unless company X replaced Google in which case company X knows all your secrets the same as Google does? There's a reason Google can remind you that your flight is in 3 hours; they parse your emails for that information. Another company would have to do that same thing.

I’m not talking about another company – I’m talking about me, myself.

One of my goals is to not share any data with a company I can’t trust – so I write my own tools for all these purposes, my own apps, and self-host these things.

I already have a several GB large archive of my mail as I self-host it, why shouldn’t I be able to write software to parse it and remind me?

Why do I always have to use services of a company when I buy a device, instead of being able to hack together my own?

When you bought IBM PCs, they didn’t force you to use Windows with Notepad either – instead, people could write Linux, GNU, and Emacs for their own usage.

This is what I expect from an open system, like Android.

I know this is getting into off-topic territory: That's exactly why I want a solid "real-linux" phone. Android is just too locked down and closed off for me. I've yet to try out the Ubuntu phone, but I'm really excited about it. Other than that, there's just no non-android linux phone that I know of.

A lot of that is the binary drivers for essential phone components... that said, Cyanogenmod is pretty close to "stock" (no google apps) and if you're on a rooted phone with a first or third party build of Cyanogenmod, you can do pretty much whatever you want.

Unfortunately, it's really the chipset builders and the lack of UEFI/BIOS or something similar in ARM (and other non-x86 mobile platforms) that locks it out even further.

Yes, but compiling 40GB of Android source myself every time I want to change things is quite annoying.

And having to write my own smartlock provider as a system app isn't great either.

It'd be great if in addition to everything being AOSP, they'd also allow changing more at runtime.

So, you can't create a user plugable interface and submit the changes upstream? Who knows, they might even be accepted.

Honest question: Should I care? This sounds to me less like a genuine thing to worry about and more like unresolved angst from 20 years ago.

IE is too deeply embedded in the OS to remove, sure. That doesn't mean that I ever use it, or need it for the things it does. I just leave it there, mostly ignored, and go use another browser for my Web surfing needs.

Or if we're talking mobile devices, there they do have a bit more control over their garden. But still, meh. Microsoft has no power in the mobile space.

When people ask an "honest question," in general they are explicitly stating they'd like an honest answer (in this case, is there an API) and not a charged and irrelevant commentary that snarkily begins with the words "honest question."

Don't mean to pick on you in particular, but this drives me nuts on HN. The parent probably really just wanted to know if there was an API and figured fostering discussion would be nicer than simply googling for the answer.

I did not get the impression the parent was making a comment about Microsoft with any political valence attached; there are genuine technical and taste reasons to wonder if you can swap out a search engine or a browser on a computer for a given task.