Android not so open?

bwana

bwana

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jeez. the big G withholds some code and everyone gets into a fizz. lol.
 
good reminder that the open source code can easily be controlled be google...

dont argue, its happening right now as we speak!

scary stuff, but I doubt they will do anything stupid to harm the Android name
 
I think releasing it too early could affect the life of that version immensely. It could cause issues and variations. It's not like it's not going to be hacked to pieces within no time anyways. Let it run it's course.
 
Please note that the code is still open and manufacturers actually have access to it. The problem with Honeycomb is that it was such a rush job that it most likely is such a mess of spaghetti code its not funny, so all Google did was saying that they need time to clean it up a bit. Kind of like when you take a meeting writing the notes in shorthand, yes everyone still going to get a copy of the notes you just need time to clean it up a bit.
 
I've read about the source code for Honeycomb being withheld before and the reasoning behind it seems legit, as explained in the article:

Despite these issues, and the fact that the Honeycomb's source code won't be released in the near future, Google's Andy Rubin still contends that Android is an open source project.

Rubin told BusinessWeek that Google has made the decision to keep the Honeycomb source code under wraps because it doesn't want hardware vendors to adapt it to run on other form factors where it might not function properly. Rubin says that Google cut corners during Honeycomb's development in an effort to rush it to market. He believes that widespread adoption at this stage in usage scenarios that Google didn't anticipate would lead to a very negative user experience.
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The following just seems a bit sensationalistic and the writer may just be a dev who needs his fix of playing around with the code:

The lack of Honeycomb code availability is especially bad for enthusiasts who were hoping to be able to install custom firmware on their Android tablets. Without the code, it will be difficult for the modding community to produce custom builds that fix the software problems that plague the Xoom and other upcoming Android tablets. Users who were looking forward to better Honeycomb builds for the Nook Color and other budget devices are also going to have to wait.

For now, only a privileged few hardware vendors will have access to Honeycomb while the rest are left with uncertainty about the future of the platform. Even after the matter is resolved, the fact that Google is willing to withhold source code at its whim for competitive reasons is going to continue to cast a dark shadow over the company's increasingly hollow claim that Android is an open platform.
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It's actually very simple - Google doesn't want manufacturers and developers to muck around with Honeycomb and put it on phones. Ice Cream will integrate the tablet and phone OSes.
 
MyWorld said:
Well seeing they used GPL'd code to begin with, this is then a very big deal.
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Well, the Kernel is GPL, but rest of the Android codebase is released under the Apache licence which is much more permissive in what you can do with the code than GPL. Google has no real obligation to release their source code, just the GPL'd parts.

Frankly, if they think it's not ready to be open sourced, then it's probably not ready. We'll see what happens in a few months.
 
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