Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

mainecoder · 2025-03-26T19:14:08 1743016448

I hope they make it closed source and make us much money out of it as possible for shareholders that is their job and their duty, why are they giving this away for free they have already captured market share by claiming opensource and building a community now all they have to do is make it proprietary and the old opensource version slowly wither and become unstable, then they can charge money for the operating system just like mircrosoft but this time on phone millions and billions of phones, $$$$$. /S (I obviously do not agree with this)

IshKebab · 2025-03-26T19:10:37 1743016237

Hmm while this could be sold as just to prevent leaks (which occasionally happen), I think this is more likely a first step to closing the source, in light of the EU messing up their open source monetisation strategy.

Well, more like the 5th step really. They already moved a ton of functionality into Google Play Services, and discontinued a load of the open source stock apps like Calendar.

johnnyanmac · 2025-03-26T18:46:51 1743014811

>This does not mean that Google is making Android a closed-source platform, but rather that the open-source aspect will only be released when a new branch is released to AOSP with those changes, including when new full versions or maintenance releases are finished.

I'll believe it when I see it. These days, words are basically meaningless from these large tech companies. Actions are what matter.

at the very least, I'm not convinced this internal branch and AOSP will be close to feature parity if they do throw some stuff out.

merb · 2025-03-26T19:14:37 1743016477

The good thing is that at least the kernel and the VM/runtime need to be open source

rchaud · 2025-03-26T19:15:43 1743016543

No OEM is interested in AOSP builds, because no one is going to buy an Android phone without Google Play Services, which is required for many popular apps to work (banking, games). There were some Chinese OEMs that ran an Android build and have unofficial ways to get Play Store working (Boox eReaders for example), but those are increasingly rare now, as years of sanctions has led to Huawei de-Googling itself fast, with others following.

rozab · 2025-03-26T19:29:10 1743017350

Kindle Fire? Your smart TV? Your car infotainment? Android is everywhere even without Google

ironman1478 · 2025-03-26T18:37:01 1743014221

This headline really is misleading. The source will still be released, it just means that the work leading up to a release will be in private. IMO, there's nothing wrong with that, since it's likely that a lot of the intermediate com mediates are likely just noise.

mberlove · 2025-03-26T19:01:41 1743015701

I think the determinant will be how transparently this process is maintained.

nthingtohide · 2025-03-26T19:16:41 1743016601

First they came....(Explains the strategy)

jokoon · 2025-03-26T19:20:15 1743016815

I mean nothing changes, it was already open source, and few people outside Google know how to dev things around android, it's now a very complex os

2OEH8eoCRo0 · 2025-03-26T18:34:26 1743014066

It will remain open source

> This does not mean that Google is making Android a closed-source platform, but rather that the open-source aspect will only be released when a new branch is released to AOSP with those changes, including when new full versions or maintenance releases are finished.

safety_sandals · 2025-03-26T18:08:12 1743012492

[flagged]

IncreasePosts · 2025-03-26T18:30:25 1743013825

Not really clear how moving this project to a private repo is evil.

If you're going to argue it is a "bait and switch", that implies intent to deceive. Do you think that was the plan? Release the first version in 2007 and then wait 18 years and pull the ol switcheroo?

johnnyanmac · 2025-03-26T18:50:03 1743015003

>Do you think that was the plan? Release the first version in 2007 and then wait 18 years and pull the ol switcheroo?

Sure. Not a long con, but I'm sure some executives were arguing for years, even a decade+ about moving stuff privately. It's an argument every company has at some point regarding its code.

I'm sure those who championed for OS are either gone or have given up, so now this prevails.

soraminazuki · 2025-03-26T18:33:36 1743014016

It's called a bait and switch.

Regarding this parent edit:

> If you're going to argue it is a "bait and switch", that implies intent to deceive. Do you think that was the plan? Release the first version in 2007 and then wait 18 years and pull the ol switcheroo?

Whether they had nefarious intentions from the get go is irrelevant.

Oracle closed the once open source Open Solaris, stating at first that it will merely make real time development private just like Android. This was widely condemned, despite there being no intention to pull off a switcheroo when it was open sourced.

> We will no longer distribute source code for the entirety of the Solaris operating system in real-time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=2482s

ferbivore · 2025-03-26T18:47:18 1743014838

This isn't some random project nobody cares about, it's the most widely used operating system in the world.

Gating access to their main branch behind a GMS license was already extremely evil, this is just adding insult to injury for Android fork maintainers.

johnea · 2025-03-26T18:44:48 1743014688

Depending on how it's done of course.

If all commits are squashed into a single giant commit for each release to AOSP, then tracking exactly what happened since the last release will become much more difficult.

All of this highlights the ever increasing need for linux phones, with the ability to run android apps in virtual machines. Although, goggle apps already refuse to operate in some of these environments, and I'm sure API update requirements will increase the goggle play API dependency.

For anyone interested in freedom of communication, this is a significant development. (this is different from freedom dollars, where the one with the dollars gets the freedom)

Goggle will continue to exert ever increasing restrictions and surveillance on communication via android for one simple reason: because they can...

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