Android not so open – but alternatives are developing
According to this Businessweek article, the source code for the latest version of the software designed to run on tablets, is not being given to programmers just yet.
“Google says it will delay the distribution of its newest Android source code, dubbed Honeycomb, at least for the foreseeable future. The search giant says the software, which is tailored specifically for tablet computers that compete against Apple’s iPad, is not yet ready to be altered by outside programmers and customized for other devices, such as phones.”
Looking at Android for mobile phones, Glyn Moody of h-online points to another problem. Apparently, while the core of Android is free and open software, many of the parts in the mobile software stack that directly interface with the device are in fact proprietary. And so it has been that Microsoft, with a large patent portfolio, has been able to force both HTC Corp and Samsung to ‘buy protection’ in the form of licensing fees for what is supposed to be open source software.
Moody’s article Is Android’s bane a boon for Free Software? is all about how this increasingly tightening control on Android is perhaps not such a bad thing. Several alternatives to Android are developing, and they may get a boost from what are perceived to be corporate bully tactics.
Open Source Alternatives to Android range from CyanogenMod to Replicant, Openmoko, NeoFreeRunner and Tizen to Meego, which seems to have its own unique set of problems. But on the whole, the word is that Android’s trouble may actually lead to someone getting down to serious work to make a real open source stack for mobile devices.
