I get it. Ironically Google didn't copy Apple for once, and their solution turned out bad. So now they need to ironically copy it, please, Google, pretty please. But the real irony is that Android developers both get to boast about Android being open source, yet when they need something, they go beg Google implement it for them.

And Google really can't implement an efficient iOS simulator for them, because there's no Android desktop operating system.

You see, while it's getting a bit old to hear Tim Cook brag at every keynote about how "only Apple can make everything work seamlessly together", truth is, they indeed share a kernel and over half their APIs between their desktop and mobile operating systems. This is why the iOS simulator is that good. Tim Cook knows it.

While a supposed "thin layer" Android simulator has to interface all its APIs with Windows and then do it all over again for OSX, and then again for Linux (common POSIX APIs notwithstanding), every version with its unique quirks and bugs, not matching the platform it's simulating.

So instead of that ball of pain, Google chose the easier task of virtualizing the actual hardware and then running the whole Android stack on top of that.

In their particular circumstances, this was, and remains the only feasible way of doing it, and no amount of blog whining will change that.

Turns out you really can't copy some things so easily.