The official tablet (and other useless electronics) thread!

[G.Irish]

Gerald I think you are misunderstanding my point. Im not arguing that the source code behind Android doesnt fit the literal definition of "open source", its that a mobile OS is more than code, it is an ecosystem. And since google keeps their ecosystem under tight wraps, its effectively impossible for you or I or a small company to come to market with a successful Android device, which is the spiritual point of OSS. Google wants complete control, the OSS thing is just a trojan horse, and that is most certainly out of the 'spirit' of OSS, which has always been about 'the little guy being able to compete'

Yeah I guess if you view OSS as a community or philosophy then maybe you could say Android doesn't fit. To me I don't think open source means that you have to give everyone everything so they can make money. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think one of the central tenets of OSS is, "Thou shalt provide everything that someone would need to be able to build a device and make money from selling it." OSS is not about guaranteeing someone will have a viable business model if they build something with your code.

now Im no OSS zealot, so I dont care much other than I roll my eyes when google and its fanbois hide behind the "open source" while doing the same evil empire shit that every other large company does.

Yeah I would say the whole, "You can't put competing apps on your device if want to be able to use the Android Market.." move falls squarely into "evil empire" territory. Enough so that I wouldn't be surprised if the Feds go after them on that

it just really makes me chuckle to see that Amazon has the size and resources to take away Google's control, turn their OS around and fuck Google in the ass with it.

Yeah but I just don't really think it was something Google wasn't aware could happen, otherwise they would have built Android in a way that prevents users from ever sideloading, or they would've gone closed source. Either that or Google is the most myopic company ever.