As someone that follows Android development since version 2.1, when NDK became a thing, Google has been removing GPL component one after the other with each Android release.
With Q, the Linux kernel is the only GPL thing still standing.
No need to worry about Microsoft.
For each GPL component removed, do Google open source the replacement?
Re:Fuchsia Developers Website
by cannonedhamster on Saturday June 29, 2019 @10:49PM
(#20316051)
No. Google has let AOSP die in the vine. It's nearly impossible to properly run Android without the play store. Most OEMs develop a lot in house to combat the rot that's occurred in the open source components.
Re:Fuchsia Developers Website
by Nomentatus on Sunday June 30, 2019 @10:24PM
(#20322005)
Yes the new kernel is open source; it's the play store and perhaps other bits of the full OS they'll hang on to.
Re:Fuchsia Developers Website
by dodobirdlord on Saturday June 29, 2019 @12:08PM
(#20313317)
> One day Google wakes up to find some key component has been replaced with something Microsoft controls, or at least primarily develops.
Then Google just doesn't take that patch and forks the kernel. Google already has its gLinux team with their own Debian-based Linux distro, and Google has a successful history of leading OSS projects.
I'm hopeful EEE[1] is a thing of the past, but I can see why Google would hedge for the possibility of Linux and open source in general being pod peopled into an ecosystem it can't keep using. They're worried Microsoft will do to Linux what Google did to AOSP. Golang's dependence on importing stuff from GitHub is already a threat.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis...