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They want to be able to change the kernel [easily], but nobody discusses anything about how nothing in the kernel can be changed [easily]. Maybe if the kernel wasn't monolithic, it would be easier to provide security updates when the whole system's stability didn't depend on the change not breaking the whole circus.

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They're free to base their tablets on QNX (highly modular) or FreeBSD (no reciprocal license obligations). The fact that they've decided to use Linux means they have to abide by the technical decisions, and licensing, of the Linux community.

At this point, androids kernel is really just a fork of Linux that's wildly more popular. I'm not sure why they need to abide by anything unless they want to.

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