Hacker News Reader

Comment by james-skemp | Hacker News Reader

For what it is, I personally think the Nexus 7's OS is perfect for the device. It's been years since I've played with Ubuntu, and this potential announcement probably isn't going to change that.

And is Ubuntu now going into touch devices? Honest question: How is this different than throwing Windows onto something like this?

View on HN

I love how you say "the Nexus 7's OS" when clearly, Android is used on a wide variety of devices (who calls the software on their phone the Droid Razr's OS or the Galaxy SII's OS? just saying...).

Oh, and honest answer: It's a full-suited desktop OS, so you're right - it's not different than throwing Windows on it (aside from the obvious differences in the Windows/Linux software architecture and distribution models). You still get all the benefits of a full desktop OS :)

I bet he meant the "Nexus 7's OS" as opposed to TouchWiz or Sense or whatever UI has been bolted on top of the Android innards.

> You still get all the benefits of a full desktop OS

like hunt-and-pecking in the smallish menus on a 7" screen? this is just ridiculous, and (given their UI plans) way too early to be useful.

"... as opposed to TouchWiz or Sense or whatever UI has been bolted on top of the Android innards."

Uh, what? This is a Google/ASUS device, you won't find any of that stuff here. I'm pretty sure the Nexus 7 is as close to AOSP as you can get...

Woosh...

That's exactly what he said... I think you misunderstood and thought he said the exact opposite.

Even if it's a nexus device it's pretty different from what we were used to with stock android : it's a blend of both the phone and tablet UI. Some apps are using the tablet UI, while others use the phone UI, and the launcher itself is based on the phone UI, rather than the tablet UI. What runs on the Nexus 7 is a form of Android that has never been seen before, and there isn't any other Android tablet that behaves in such a way, even those from Asus that are as close to stock android as an OEM can be.

Even with TouchWiz, the Tab 7.0 feels more like what we were used to than the N7.

I'm just stating facts though because I actually like the changes made for the N7 better, I think it fits a 7" screen more than the old tablet UI and I hope those changes will be copied by the others.

"who calls the software on their phone the Droid Razr's OS or the Galaxy SII's OS?"

I do. "operating system" is a very ambiguous term. Depending on who you ask, Linux, GNU, Gnome and Ubuntu are all called an "operating systems".

Android is not a operating system in the sense the term is used for Windows 7 or iOS. The comparable OS to those systems is what Samsung, HTC, Google etc. ship with their devices. Different operating systems based on a common platform.

"Normal" Windows won't run on ARM afaik. So you'd be looking at running WinRT which is stripped down version of Windows that doesn't allow things like sideloading or desktop apps.

Ubuntu will be a better bet for people who want to run desktop type applications on their tablet. Quite how popular a use case that really is remains to be seen.

If someone "broke" WinRT enough to get it running on the N7, I'd be very surprised if it wouldn't also be possible to get a compiler going and build normal desktop apps. It's still capable of running at least a significant subset of "classic" Windows (at minimum, however much it takes for Office to run); so once it's been convinced to disregard security, it should theoretically be possible to get many other Windows apps compiled for and running on ARM as well.

That said, if you want to run desktop-style applications, you're far better off just buying one.

Assuming that you can get the source to these desktop applications and re-compile them for ARM. I also doubt that older Win32 libraries will be compatible with WinRT.

You would basically be getting WinRT "homebrew" like you do with some consoles, a cool hack but probably miserable for getting work done.

OTOH an ARM based ubuntu might be a usable dev system.

AFAIK; an eventual move into touchscreens has been one of the justifications for Unity. And since you mentioned it, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw WinRT get hacked up on the N7 at some point, given that it and the Surface are packing the same chipset.

Thanks. Like I said, I haven't kept track of Ubuntu, so I wasn't aware of the change of focus.

Given the possible pricing of Surface devices, it would be interesting to see WinRT on the Nexus 7. But I doubt Microsoft would let it last.

Of course they'd make token gestures to block it, to appease their shareholders. But like their loose grip on Office piracy, a WinRT pirate is far better for Microsoft than a legitimate Android or iOS user.

If MS Surface hardware isn't complete garbage, I'd be much more excited to see Android running on it. In the same vein, wouldn't it be nice if we could run Android on a iPad 3?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com