Re:MicroG Project: A re-implementation of Google's Android a...
by yellowapple on Friday November 04, 2016 @03:40AM
(#12870934)
> Since when do we define "operating system" as including libraries for specific online services?
Since apps started relying on Google's proprietary Android components. This problem is apparent on ROMs which do not include GApps (like CyanogenMod by default and - in my case - CopperheadOS); there are plenty of applications which depend on things like Google Play Services (Slack being among them), for example. It's very similar (albeit not quite as severe) as the macOS ecosystem's dependence on a proprietary framework (Cocoa) despite otherwise running on a FOSS platform (Darwin).
Since apps started relying on Google's proprietary Android components. This problem is apparent on ROMs which do not include GApps (like CyanogenMod by default and - in my case - CopperheadOS); there are plenty of applications which depend on things like Google Play Services (Slack being among them), for example. It's very similar (albeit not quite as severe) as the macOS ecosystem's dependence on a proprietary framework (Cocoa) despite otherwise running on a FOSS platform (Darwin).