Re:Google Issues Cease & Desist to Open Source Android Devel...
by callahad on Tuesday September 29, 2009 @02:20PM
(#850962)
The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get.
Google is completely in the right, legally, but the licensing issue means that I have no way to legally exploit the open source nature of Android while also retaining crucially important applications, like the Android Market, Google Maps, or GMail.
Which, for me, means that I can never truly use my Dev Phone for both development, and as a phone. I have to choose between openness and proprietary software that makes the phone usable as a general device.
Commercial developers, however, through their license agreements with Google, are able to work with both of these components -- the open foundation and the closed applications -- to produce a complete package. I can only provide half of that.
Oh how I wish Google would make their applications otherwise available, as they do for S60 and other platforms. I don't mind being prohibited from redistribution, but give me a way to install those applications on my own.
Google is completely in the right, legally, but the licensing issue means that I have no way to legally exploit the open source nature of Android while also retaining crucially important applications, like the Android Market, Google Maps, or GMail.
Which, for me, means that I can never truly use my Dev Phone for both development, and as a phone. I have to choose between openness and proprietary software that makes the phone usable as a general device.
Commercial developers, however, through their license agreements with Google, are able to work with both of these components -- the open foundation and the closed applications -- to produce a complete package. I can only provide half of that.
Oh how I wish Google would make their applications otherwise available, as they do for S60 and other platforms. I don't mind being prohibited from redistribution, but give me a way to install those applications on my own.