Exclusive: Google will develop the Android OS fully in private, and here's why
www.androidauthority.com
Google has confirmed it will move development of the Android OS to behind closed doors. Here's why it's doing it.
  • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.worldEnglish
    834·
    16 days ago

    ITT: People making assumptions based off the tagline without reading the article

    Basically not much changes, they’re just gonna wait to post their code until it’s done instead of letting it be viewed in progress

    • iarigby@lemmy.worldEnglish
      36·
      15 days ago

      That’s a huge change. Reviewing one years’ worth of code at once is practically impossible, this significantly reduces the chances of a third party spotting malicious changes in the code.

      • ozymandias117@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        15 days ago

        That’s already how it functionally worked for each major release

        Here’s their previous strategy: https://web.archive.org/web/20220917195332/source.android.com/docs/setup/about/codelines

        Google works internally on the next version of the Android platform and framework according to the product’s needs and goals

        When the n+1th version is ready, it’s published to the public source tree

        The source management strategy above includes a codeline that Google keeps private to focus attention on the current public version of Android.

        We recognize that many contributors disagree with this approach and we respect their points of view. However, this is the approach we feel is best and the one we’ve chosen to implement for Android.

        As far as I can tell, this would really only affect QPRs, since the public experimental branches that get made after they throw the next release over the wall is going away

        • iarigby@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          15 days ago

          oh, got it, thanks. feel so bad about people having read my incorrect comment haha

      • DrDystopia@lemy.lolEnglish
        212·
        16 days ago

        I don’t need desktop linux to “take off”, I’ve happily used it for a decade. I don’t need mobile linux to become mainstream. I just need it to be a bit better than it currently is.

        • Telodzrum@lemmy.worldEnglish
          14·
          16 days ago

          User base size dictates development resources. If you want Linux mobile to be daily driveable, you do need widespread adoption.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            3·
            16 days ago

            Exactly. I’m not using mainstream Linux on my phone (I use Android) despite using Linux on my other devices (phone, laptop, desktop, servers), because it’s not daily driveable for me. I really want to switch, but I need some base level of compatibility, and it’s not there yet.

          • DrDystopia@lemy.lolEnglish
            31·
            16 days ago

            I thought Ubuntu Touch was dang near useable years ago, what someone considers “daily drivable” is probably subjective. If dumb phones had a web browser I’d probably settle for that as I self host and every service has a WebUI.

            • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
              4·
              15 days ago

              It’s honestly not the feature set of Linux on Mobile that holds me back from the permanent switch, it’s consistent availability of compatible hardware.

              And there’s great strides happening towards fully open mobile hardware platforms.

              The year of Linux on Mobile is steadily approaching. I predict it’ll be similarly disruptive as Android’s meteoric rise.

              • DrDystopia@lemy.lolEnglish
                2·
                15 days ago

                You’re quite right, I’ve forgotten how frustrating it was not knowing if I could get a hold of a replacement if my daily driver custom ROM Android gave up the ghost back when custom ROMs weren’t as widely supported as now.

      • Player2@lemm.eeEnglish
        17·
        17 days ago

        I personally finished deleting windows off of all of my machines recently. One by one we will add up over time

        • essteeyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          16 days ago

          For every person switching from Windows to Linux, how many people got a new Chromebook or a Mac, or just do everything on their phones or a tablet?

          I have a Linux machine myself, and I love having it, but I don’t think the user base is growing particularly quickly as a percentage of PC OS installations.

          • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            15 days ago

            It’s but growing quickly (well, SteamDeck is), but it’s growing consistently. We’l recently passed an important milestone where people are being charged for no additional features in their commercial operating systems.

            That’s why the commercial OS vendors are so keen to add AI. They know they need a new differentiator, because the free options just work.

      • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        15 days ago

        It’s the year of the Linux desktop, today. Next year it’s the year of Linux on Mobile.

        (I’m not going to clarify how much of this post is fanaticism and how much is humor. Even I’m not sure.)

  • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.oneEnglish
    8554·
    17 days ago

    To summarize the article: they will deliberately open-source any updates several years later, or whenever they feel like, to ensure Stock Android is the only OS you use and new features available for people who pay Google money, which also includes security updates.

  • Alex@lemmy.mlEnglish
    202·
    17 days ago

    It’s not like Android is especially open to drive-by contributions anyway. I don’t think really changes much for the downstream consumers of the releases.

  • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    62·
    17 days ago

    now I’m less worried about goggle being required to sell android. this way it does not matter anymore

  • mariusafa@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    2·
    15 days ago

    Wow never would have I tought that a company releasing an Open Source project was only to privatized a few years later, how strange. Not like this has happened long ago and we already have a licence specifically made to counter this bullshit…

    People does not understand why we specifically denote Free Software by their name and we do not aggregate them in the Open Source term. Companies always try to change the concepts of change to their own interests, they will always do. Adapting the free software to a much more controllable Open Source, not using GNU when has GNU, etc.

    Small details that with time change the whole meaning of concepts.

    Now we have a whole community of individual developers that have helped with Android development and which work will be wasted. Just because some intrinsic concepts about software freedom. Wasted resources that cannot be used anymore. Just as what happened with BSD and UNIX with the whole AT&T litigation and stuff. But with Android we already had the Free Software movement. I guess companies are so smart in making concepts for the most of the population.