Google Open Source Manager Says "Android Is The Linux Dream Come True"
digitizor.com
digitizor.com
If people are happy to call Android "Android", then we should have been calling the desktop os with Linux kernel "GNU" and not "Linux" all this time, shouldn't we? The full names should be Android/Linux and GNU/Linux to differentiate the phone and desktop operating systems.
It seems that the power of a corporation to create a brand and call it whatever they want is uncontroversial, and nobody seems bothered by the name Android which makes no mention of the Linux kernel whatsoever, but RMS' thoroughly rational and sensible idea that the right name for the desktop OS should correctly label its major components has been very controversial.
I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned here about naming and power relationships, and our implicit acceptance of the dominance of corporate entities such as Google over our discourse.
"Linux," like "Android" is most importantly clearly pronounceable. And anytime you have two words like "GNU/Linux" people are just going to use one, likely the one they can read.
I for one agree with DiBona 100%.
On one hand, you are correct that people found it annoying. In late 2000, I got flamed one of the FSF people for using the wrong language. (Referring to them as "Open Source".) That sort of pedantry can be very off-putting. On the other hand, it also says something interesting about our culture that factual correctness in our language and terminology is considered annoying.
If the civilizations of India and China can foster a greater respect for facts, precision, and knowledge than what we have here in the US, then they will surpass us in ways that go beyond even the economic potential of their urbanizing populations. Yes, reread that sentence and think about how tall an order that isn't. The mainstream attitude about knowledge in the US can be summed up by the word, "whatever."
Reminds me of this: http://v.cx/2010/04/feynman-brazil-education
(Substitute KDE if you go that way.)
Android/Linux? GNU/Linux? Stop, just stop. This goes to the open source community: If you name it GNU/Linux, don't be surprised when Android hits mainstream instead. Stop naming things Ubuntu when the competition is Windows. Stop naming things Diaspora when the competition is Facebook.
It doesn't matter what is rational or sensible. Branding is survival of the fittest, and so far it's been a massacre.
It's controversial because it is NOT rational and NOT sensible. If it were sensible and rational, then there would be a plethora of other operating systems named after their major components. In fact, people have almost never named operating systems after their major components. If anything, it is usually the other way around--the major components get named after the operating system.
The whole point of a name is so you don't have to identify something by listing its components.
I agree Android isn't anywhere near a perfect linux dream of open hard- and software, but it isn't as awful as you depict it either imho.
Are you saying that the GP that complained about a locked bootloader should just root his phone and update the ROM or bootloader? I mean - isn't that missing the point of the braindead idea/implementation of a locked bootloader?
I do live in the US. My phone (Milestone XT720) was released running 2.1 over seven months after 2.2 had been released and I bought it only both after verbal and email confirmation from Motorola support that a 2.2 update was on the way.
Nevertheless, Motorola officially abandoned the phone at 2.1 three months after release. They claim it was an honest mistake and the support personnel were confused. Whoops. Motorola has recently confirmed that we will never even get a security update. I didn't know at the time that Motorola were such incompetent assholes and would both lie and never ship updates. Maybe if I had known that I would have learned beforehand what was the locked bootloader.
Like I said, I've learned my lesson. My family will never, ever buy anything made by Motorola. Motorola points their fingers at the carrier and the carrier points their finger at the manufacturer. I'm tired of these games. That's it. End of story. It's Nexus only from now on. I don't trust any of the assholes selling phones. Period. If I wanted to buy a locked down phone, I'd buy an iPhone.
http://www.talkandroid.com/42568-cyanogenmod-dev-gets-sent-a...
and HTC is planning to unlock some of theirs:
http://phandroid.com/2011/07/11/official-htc-to-deliver-unlo...
The Nexus line isn't completely alone.
I for one am extremely happy that google exists, and is pushing a linux-based, mostly free operating system. The fact that it's gaining so much traction and market share compared to the linux desktop is a dream come true.
To develop an app for your mobile device, Apple requires you to:
1. Pay them $99 / year. 2. Use a language mainly specific to apple development 3. Buy their IDE through their App store (or download an older version from their password protected developer website. 4. Run development software on their proprietary operating system.
I don't know what Microsoft and other giant companies are doing, but I imagine the development process is not much better.
Conversely, I can download eclipse to any computer and write and android app in Java for my phone for free in about an hour.
That feels a lot more free to me, even if there are a few locked parts under the hood.
OpenMoko? How about WebOS?
OpenMoko was a great idea. It's more the HURD of mobile operating systems though.. A failure - it never worked well, was rewritten a thousand times and it sure seems to be dead.
Now, MeeGo could've started something new. But - here we're getting into the 'WTH did Nokia think' discussion. I'll leave this discussion to bergie, I guess.
WebOS is the sexiest option for me. It runs a real linux stack (like MeeGo), has a great UI (haven't used the N9, but before that I'd say it topped MeeGo and probably Android in most cases) and your applications are by and large web apps, written in JS (lately, using node.js).
If I could steer the market with my mind alone, I'd decide this to be the winner/future. Back to my Android now. Need to install another CM release..
I'm happy for the success of Android and it represents a significant step towards openness in both the mobile phone space and the personal computer space, but this is certainly not the end of the war, nor is it the beginning of the end. Perhaps it is the end of the beginning.
Now - I'm an Android user. I just bought one of the upper-class dual core phones and went with Android instead of waiting for the Pre3, giving the N9 a try or something similar.
But that's because
* I love Google's services. More or less every single one. I don't extend that love to the company, but I like using their stuff.
* Innovation seems to happen in the realms of popular and therefor attractive markets. If there's a new thing (tm), it won't be available on WebOS (or MeeGo, or maybe even WP7) for a while. It's more or less iOS vs. Android. RIM's dead in my world.
But - am I happy with my choice? Nope.. My choice (Another Android device: Yes/No) was basically accepting defeat and choosing the best compromise, something that worksforme. It's not the Linux dream come true, it's why I installed (among other systems) Windows on my desktop..
I suppose it depends on whose dream they're claiming it is; much like the article notes, I'd imagine most people dream of it being a mainstream desktop OS (which it isn't yet).
Perhaps in time desktops will be irrelevant, but until they are, success in the mobile space doesn't seem like much of a dream come true to me, especially with the proprietary aspects to be paid.