Android AOSP maintainer quits

Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by pornel on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @02:51PM (#6174812)

> Does Google benefit monetarily from not releasing source code?

Indirectly, yes — choice of Qualcomm as a supplier (under condition of not releasing source code) must have been beneficial for Google.

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Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by dm2 on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @03:04PM (#6174896)

I think their options were either to delay the launch of the new Nexus 7 and possibly break a contract with Qualcomm or release it, let some non-devs enjoy the nice new hardware, and focus on the next new products. Makes sense to me, but I don't think Google benefited as much as they would have if Qualcomm would have allowed the source code to be published.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/32057-why-google-went-qual...

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Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by Dylan16807 on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @03:18PM (#6174986)

Oh of course they would have been better off in a world where Qualcomm was friendlier, but that's not the question. Let's look at the cost/benefit to Google's decision if we assume there isn't a huge outcry.

If Google insisted on shipping stock images it would have cost them. Either by picking an inferior chip, or by upsetting Qualcomm, or by Qualcomm charging them a higher price. Therefore they chose a position of some benefit to them when they decided not to ship stock images.

The best way to counter this benefit is a public shaming, so that in the end it's costlier than the other options would have been. But Google's not stupid; they wouldn't have made such an anti-openness move if they expected it to cost them.

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Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by dm2 on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @03:37PM (#6175092)

I personally see the lack of a Factory Image for a single device as being very minor. An overwhelming majority of Nexus users still choose to use stock Android and have no use for the source code. So what if there are a couple of devices missing from https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images , it's really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, especially considering how rapidly Google is pushing out new devices.

Android is still open-source and the AOSP is still very alive and will live on.

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Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by eropple on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @07:18PM (#6176317)

> I personally see the lack of a Factory Image for a single device as being very minor.

It's not the lack of a factory image for a single device. It's the lack of a factory image for Google's flagship device when they've made so much hay about it in the mists of time (oh, about three months ago).

I'm not particularly sympathetic to most "open" argumentation when it comes to devices, but Google should walk their talk.

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Re:Android AOSP maintainer quits by av500 on Wednesday August 07, 2013 @03:13PM (#6174953)

there was also the choice not to commit to this SoC unless Qualcomm agrees in writing that Google is allowed to publish factory images and binaries

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