Google may not share its Honeycomb...

[Skull One]

Has the success of the independent ROM devs finally got Googles undivided attention?

"Google says it will delay the distribution of its newest Android source code, dubbed Honeycomb, at least for the foreseeable future."

This might be the look on a lot of faces after reading the following article by Business Week.

Google Holds Honeycomb Tight - BusinessWeek


The Android OS saga might have just got interesting.

 

[13th angel]

Wasn't it "not ready for independant devs" or something like that? Saw a tweet about it and that's it so far.

Sent from my Liberated D2G

 

[Jaxidian]

As much as we all want to complain about Google "holding back on us", this very well could be that the AOSP code has a bunch of work-arounds in it that they don't want to release until they resolve. I can definitely appreciate that, as a developer.

It could be politically/competitively motivated, as well, though.

 

[Hugh Jass]

"Rubin says that if Google were to open-source the Honeycomb code now, as it has with other versions of Android at similar periods in their development, it couldn't prevent developers from putting the software on phones "and creating a really bad user experience. We have no idea if it will even work on phones."

As though the devs don't test software? I find this very odd.

 

[Skull One]

I think Google might be concerned with a non-phone maker dev team doing what some phone makers say they won't or can't do.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Actually I think they're afraid they might get shown up themselves, not phone makers. More than likely HC for phones will be built off of source from the current version. If our devs make a decent product before Google can even get theirs out, could make them look pretty bad. Could be other motives too but it might be on their minds.

 

[OneTenderRebel]

yeah totally.......I have nothing of substance to add to this convo just wanted to jump in and lend my support. The end.

 

[czerdrill]

doesnt sound very open source to me...

 

[UltraDroid]

doesnt sound very open source to me...

No, but unfortunately, that seems to be the trend in the cell phone industry. Look at HTC adding locked bootloaders to the Thunderbolt and Inspire. I'm not sure what their motivation is, but they're joining Motorola in their efforts to make it more difficult to root your android cell phone.

-Mike

 

[Skull One]

How about all the phones that were rooted without the users permission or knowledge from apps that were legally placed on the market?

 

[UltraDroid]

How about all the phones that were rooted without the users permission or knowledge from apps that were legally placed on the market?

Skull, I'm not following you at all on this one. Are you saying there are apps out there, available on the Market, that will surreptitiously root a person's phone - FULL ROOT? I've never *heard* of such a thing! Can you list a couple of examples?

-Mike

 

[Jordan8]

I think they just rushed the code, to get it out & onto a tablet asap. Now they want to pretty it up before they release it.

 

[Skull One]

Skull, I'm not following you at all on this one. Are you saying there are apps out there, available on the Market, that will surreptitiously root a person's phone - FULL ROOT? I've never *heard* of such a thing! Can you list a couple of examples?

-Mike

Currently not near a PC to get a proper link for you but Google had to pull 21 apps from the market because of that very issue.

A quick search on the subject should yield plenty of info.

 

[UltraDroid]

Skull, I'm not following you at all on this one. Are you saying there are apps out there, available on the Market, that will surreptitiously root a person's phone - FULL ROOT? I've never *heard* of such a thing! Can you list a couple of examples?

-Mike

Currently not near a PC to get a proper link for you but Google had to pull 21 apps from the market because of that very issue.

A quick search on the subject should yield plenty of info.

WOW! A Google search turned up this - Android Malware Scare Causes Google to Pull 21 Apps - and you weren't kidding about the rooting part. That's what I find so incredible, rooting the newer phones is no piece of cake - I spent an hour this morning, rooting my HTC Inspire - but these goofy programs manage to root phones behind their owners backs! There is some kind of fundamental injustice there.

-Mike