I want a full Linux installation on all phones. Dockable.
A spokesperson for Google offered some additional context on this decision, stating that it helps simplify development, eliminates the complexity of managing multiple code branches, and allows them to deliver more stable and secure code to Android platform developers.
I am not a developer, but this sounds like bullshit. Google does have the ability to manage multiple code branches, they are one of the largest and richest software services companies on the planet.
The “deliver stable and secure code” also sounds like generic copytext that you would without any real context.
Large american technology companies cannot be trusted by definition.
The “deliver stable and secure code” also sounds like generic copytext that you would without any real context.
Sounds more like “we’re trying to close it off completely without saying it out loud and hope everyone forgets about our numerous GPL violations”.
Could people ask them for the code constantly.
“do no evil”… right?
Apparently all Sundar heard when he took over was “Do mumblemumble evil”
There was a whole term called “branching strategy” to handle things way more complex than a quarterly release - this is about nothing more than control. Bet it will be one to zero releases next year. They’re speed-running enshittification before a worthy open replacement can be written.
Cutting a release (and publishing) does cost significant time and effort. You effectively need to code-freeze, get all code merged into main, run all tests and QA, fix any breaking bugs, compete signoffs etc. On some of our small projects, doing a release could burn up to 2 weeks of real time, which on a monthly release cycle was killing us.
So I can almost buy their reasoning. But otherwise, agree that they can’t be trusted, and releasing once a quarter doesnt seem that hard.
You could just have less releases but still develop everything openly…
Of course. Although I can kinda see why they dont want to do that either. All the fly-by-night OEMs would be using dev and shipping half-baked ROMs (which I guess they do anyway, but it would be worse).
I don’t mind it since Android doesn’t change much these days
Do you mean visually or under the hood?
Writing code for a website and writing code for a platform that supports many hardware devices with different architectures are very very very different software engineering tasks. And this is before discussing BSP’s.
Your assertion about the difficulty of this process is not tethered to reality nor informed by experience with OS or hardware support. I make no claims about any other points you made.
Have a good day, friend.
They might not, but I do have experience as a developer for the operating system for a manufacturing robotics company, which had a large array of different hardware configurations to support, some stretching back to 1982. I actually managed the build system for the company (with branch management handled through Perforce, though I’ve done plenty in GIT since).
It’s absolutely not as hard as you’re making it sound and they’ve shown for years they can manage it just fine. This follows on the back of several other anti-consumer announcements such as the side loading lockdown and their removal of entire chunks of AOSP like device trees and such. This is absolutely just to lock out custom ROMs and they’re giving the most thin veneer of an excuse.
They’re still managing all those branches internally. Absolutely nothing is stopping them from doing, I dunno, a preview branch or whatever. Other large open source projects, including complex operating systems, manage it just fine.
I agree that I have minimal experience with this. :)
I simply don’t trust what Google says and I assume that their being less than honest by default.
You know I used to think Google actually had some legitimate arguments against being a monopoly by keeping Chromium, Android, and other things open source, while also allowing users to install apps outside the Google Play Store. Since then, they have essentially said they intend to make it harder for users to install third party apps, they’ve closed Android in many ways & they’ve added Gemini & more spyware into Chrome. I think there is a much stronger argument now that Google has monopolized & should be broken up. Either way, they definitely need to get rid of Pichai. He has done nothing but make terrible decisions at every turn.
Google and Facebook – ahem, Meta – are both society-harming monopolies. Microsoft (who is certainly no saint) seems like a tame monopolist circa the late 1990s in comparison.
Alphabet
Trueché.
Google could easily take market share from Microsoft. The problem is that there stuff sucks really bad.
I don’t ever want to have deal with the horrors of Google admin center ever again
They are going to go back to releasing security fixes monthly which is much better for security.
“Going back”? Aren’t they explicitly saying nothing will change?
Finally, Google told us that its process for security patch releases will not change and that the company will keep publishing security patches each month on a dedicated security-only branch for relevant OS releases just as it does today.
That is really great for the whole ecosystem. Other manufacturers won’t have much time to prepare for new releases. Well done, Google.
Other manufacturers get sources immediately, so no it only harms open-source part of andeoid.
I’m pretty sure big OEMs like Samsung do not rely on the public AOSP release.
OEMs of course aren’t held to this half a year of wait.
