

Motorola Cliq XT Won’t Get Android 2.1 Upgrade - gabrielroth
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/02/03/cliq

======
veidr
Gruber is good at this kind of snark, but I think his point backfires in this
case.

Sure, executing five command line operations and rooting your phone is more of
a pain in the ass than doing nothing. But if I was stuck using a Cliq XT as my
daily phone (certainly would never happen, but let's just suppose), then I
really would be sitting there saying, in earnest and without irony, "Well,
luckily Android is 'open' and I can fix this."

But I'm not actually sure if rooting and upgrading your Cliq XT is really that
easy, or if Gruber is just taking Andy Rubin's tweet out of context to make
today's snarky little if-technologically-handicapped-people-can't-understand-
it-then-it-sucks point.

------
srik1234
Translation: Android users are at the mercy of hardware manufacturers and
carriers.

~~~
ddlatham
So are iPhone users. The difference being that Apple has shown a track record
of updating their older phones, while Motorola is developing a track record of
the opposite.

There's nothing stopping a manufacturer from developing a good track record
with an Android phone, but so far most haven't. Developing such a reputation
could be a strong competitive advantage for someone making Android phones.

~~~
srik1234
so, what would be the advantage of being "open"?

~~~
ddlatham
There are many advantages of being "open", but being "open" is not a good
substitute for having the manufacturer keep the phone up to date.

------
darthg0d
What does being open have to do with Motorola not updating one of their
phones?

~~~
ddlatham
Being open means that someone technically proficient could then update it
themselves. Gruber is arguing that most users aren't that proficient, so being
open doesn't compensate well for a manufacturer, like Motorola, failing to
update their phones themselves.

~~~
darthg0d
I get that. But Motorola being incompetent doesn't mean being open is not
advantageous - which is what the article seems to imply. Would you blame C++
if someone uses C++ incorrectly?

Take for example CyanogenMod - the guys involved in the project don't get paid
by any of the manufacturers, but they are able to build ROMs that can run on a
host of devices while providing a consistent stock-Android user experience.
How is that for being open.

List of devices with nightly CM7 (Gingerbread) builds:
<http://mirror.teamdouche.net/?type=nightly>

------
ddlatham
i.e. Don't trust Motorola to update their phones.

~~~
pan69
What do you mean? We should "trust" Apple instead?

~~~
mrsteveman1
Trust them to update the software on their own phones? Yes i trust them to do
that, especially for the current model which is more than i can say for a lot
of Android OEMs.

~~~
pan69
And trust them to take the software away as well...

------
rlmw
Yet another straw man post. He's identified a poor update and then claimed
that you need to check out the android sources in order for the advantages of
openess to become apparent. In reality I know people who aren't programmers or
IT people particularly install cyanogenmod on their phones.

This post comes across as a fairly passive-aggressive attack, or a snarky
child. I don't know why people rate Gruber's posts. I haven't found his
analysis to be particularly insightful. He is usually clear in communicating
his feelings about an issue and for that I'd give him credit. But whats the
point in reading a clearly communicated thought if its effectively, "I dislike
Android, and I intend to bad mouth anything related to Android at any possible
opportunity."

------
lurkinggrue
CyanogenMod to the rescue?

------
tejaswiy
That comment came from Rubin in the context of Jobs completely botching up the
definition of "open-ness". Yet another out of context reference just to be an
utter douche. He's been that way ever since Google went after Apple during
2010 IO.

------
yanw
What's his point? it's just the usual passive-aggressive dickishness, I don't
understand who keeps upvoting this drivel.

~~~
ugh
You don’t get jokes, do you? This is definitely not HN material but it is also
not drivel.

