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[return to "Google makes Android development private, will continue open source releases"]
1. bitsan+5i[view] [source] 2025-03-26 20:42:08
>>colone+(OP)
Android has been bad-faith open source for as long as I can remember. Android is look-but-dont-touch source. Its massive codebase that requires immense resources to build is not open for negotiation, its existence is to serve Google's whims.

Android was already a platform on life support. Google has wielded its authority to dictate how apps should behave such that even 3rd party stores do not stray far from Google's rules. Users of android phones have little hope to run a program from 5 years ago, or to roll back a bad update in an era full of bad updates.

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2. dangus+Uq[view] [source] 2025-03-26 21:35:13
>>bitsan+5i
Ah yes, the most popular mobile operating system in the world is “on life support.”

iOS must not even exist anymore because it’s closed source. I can feel my iPhone disintegrating before my eyes.

Look-but-don’t-touch source, except for how there are multiple successful alternative builds like /e/os, LineageOS, and GrapheneOS

The second largest country in the whole world gets by using Android without Google Play services even being available there, with Android commanding a 77 percent marketshare.

https://microg.org/

Sure, I fully agree that Google isn’t super enthusiastic about open source for Android beyond the ways in which it benefits them, but there’s a lot of hyperbole in your comment.

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3. bitsan+9y[view] [source] 2025-03-26 22:15:20
>>dangus+Uq
I don't know why you are relating any of what I said to popularity or the merits of closed source. I guess you misunderstand what I mean by "on life support".

Android is unhealthy versus its former self in that it has been increasingly hostile to developers. Your examples of /e/os and lineage are representative of the "look-but-dont-touch" nature of Android.

Not to diminish the hard work of the developers of them, as they are useful, but they do not stray far from what Google provides them for better and worse. As you say, they're alternative builds, primarily to reduce the ties to Google, but they largely adhere to the same APIs, have the same menus, have the same quirks. Perhaps graphene goes above and beyond, I have not used it. I remember Cyanogenmod having more divergence in feature set and appearance from what Google provided versus what Lineage can do for you now. I miss when Android was good, but it's just become the platform I don't want to upgrade and see what I lose next.

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