To add to this, at least Android being open source allows for alternative versions that can be used on some hardware that truly don’t track and can be consistently supported long term. With Apple’s devices, that’s not a practical option.
Google’s relationship with Apple is particularly significant given its unilateral access to iPhone customers. Internal Google notes of a meeting between Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook released Monday by the DOJ give an interesting insight into that relationship. The meeting, which began as a discussion of the regulatory environment in D.C. eventually turned toward the question of Google’s place as the default search engine on Apple products.
Cook, according to the notes, told Pichai he believes the two companies were “deep partners; deeply connected where our services end and yours begin.” In another note from the meeting, Pichai reportedly said, “Our vision is that we work as if we are one company.” Pichai tried to distance himself from that line during this testimony on Monday.
No kettle here, just a couple of pots. The kettle is shiny and reflective. The pot is seeing its own reflection in the kettle. Hence there’s no kettle in this scenario.
Yes. LineageOS and GrapheneOS among other forks are some obvious counterexamples to the narrative that Android isn’t open source. Then there are the countless vendors that use it in China without Google software. I know it’s cool to hate on Google and I do partake but that’s simply a fact.
You can build a version of Android, but not the version that is installed on the device you buy in the store.
There are dozens of forks of Android so I don’t know how you can NOT call it OSS.
Because even those forks ship closed source binary blobs. You simply cannot build an Android phone with 100% open source. The phones you can actually buy in the store? A huge part of those is closed source.
Yes. I would like to see a DIY selfhosted replacement for play services that is a direct swap in, in the sense that as an end user I couldn’t tell the difference (notifications primarily)
Edit: wow! Didn’t realize selfhosting replacements for Google services is so controversial!
Pot, meet kettle.
To add to this, at least Android being open source allows for alternative versions that can be used on some hardware that truly don’t track and can be consistently supported long term. With Apple’s devices, that’s not a practical option.
Edit:
From the news today:
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!
Hello from GrapheneOS 👋
The same GrapheneOS kicked out of AOSP Alliance for being toxic and shady?
I dunno about that but the toxic guy was also kicked out of Graphene
SOME hardware. I hope you’re not picky with your devices.
I mean, it’s a higher count than Apple with exactly…0
Does anyone else remember that old project from many moons ago that was working on getting Android working on iOS devices
Yep! I remember running Android on an original iPhone (just for fun, really, and like two or three years after the iPhone had debuted).
I member!
If you’re planning to do this, you will find yourself in a sea of options.
I’ve seriously looked into it and I disagree.
We need open source drivers for devices. Without those, your smartphones with any other open source OS would be next to useless.
what the fuck
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
These are only the official ones which are up to par with the quality assurance of LOS, there are countless of unofficial builds for almost any phone.
For example, Pocophone F1, my first Xiaomi phone still gets security and feature updates:
https://download.lineageos.org/devices/beryllium/builds
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/beryllium/
It’s now 5 years old, that’s Apple kind of support for an €350 Android device.
Vote with your wallet and only buy phones on the device list of LOS.
No kettle here, just a couple of pots. The kettle is shiny and reflective. The pot is seeing its own reflection in the kettle. Hence there’s no kettle in this scenario.
🤯 Thank you for your service.
Hahahahaha. Good one.
Yes. LineageOS and GrapheneOS among other forks are some obvious counterexamples to the narrative that Android isn’t open source. Then there are the countless vendors that use it in China without Google software. I know it’s cool to hate on Google and I do partake but that’s simply a fact.
Those are missing major parts of a full Android system. Play Services is a huge one.
No, they’re not. You can use sandboxed google services, if you want to. Or you can use FOSS apps.
Or your own proprietary implementation if you’re making an Android device yourself and you were lazy.
Keep digging, bud
Go buy any Android phone from a major brand (Google, Samsung, etc) try to rebuild the OS as it’s installed from the factory from source. You can’t.
Even theAOSP based Android distros like LineageOS ship with closed source binary blobs for crucial parts of the OS.
Calling Android OSS is a marketing gimmick to trick nerds into choosing Android.
I don’t know how to rebuild shit but certainly plenty of people can and have.
There are dozens of forks of Android so I don’t know how you can NOT call it OSS.
You can build a version of Android, but not the version that is installed on the device you buy in the store.
Because even those forks ship closed source binary blobs. You simply cannot build an Android phone with 100% open source. The phones you can actually buy in the store? A huge part of those is closed source.
No one is talking about off the shelf OS’s.
Android is opensource. It has closed source components, but they aren’t necessary to run Android.
And they’re completely replaceable as there are clean interfaces between the closed source components and the open source base.
If those are you idea of clean interfaces… wow.
Feel free to post comparison images of core apps on different mobile OS’es to strengthen your incredulity.
Exactly. It’s like saying Linux isn’t open source because some distros come with proprietary NVidia drivers.
Mayor parts that are very much necessary for a fully functional Android system are closed source. Play Services is a big one.
Yes. I would like to see a DIY selfhosted replacement for play services that is a direct swap in, in the sense that as an end user I couldn’t tell the difference (notifications primarily)
Edit: wow! Didn’t realize selfhosting replacements for Google services is so controversial!