News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary.

Re:Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by... by yeet on Sunday October 20, 2013 @10:01PM (#6582746)
google had a very good reason to move services outside AOSP, to update them without relying on carriers. they could release billing API v3 w/ 90% compatibility in day 1. this is how they could workaround fragmentation. as an android dev, i love being able to read framework source code for better design, performance and less bugs. that is all really matters imho.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by... by zobzu on Sunday October 20, 2013 @11:05PM (#6583023)
for development yes, thats like providing a SDK. I can develop just fine on Windows phones and even iOS :) So basically, its not really all that opensource anymore, that's what most people mean.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by... by yeet on Tuesday October 22, 2013 @03:18AM (#6590255)
it is not the same with providing an SDK. Well, if android was documented better, we would not need source code this much but most of the time, it requires checking the actual implementation to understand the whole picture. Probably it is the difference between being "just fine" to creating great things.
[ Parent | on HN ]