

Android Isn't Free - barista
http://www.slate.com/?id=2301771

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rbanffy
Android is free, and, thanks to the miracle of open-source, will always be.
Even if Google never releases any more code and decides to go on on its own
(something that's highly unlikely), manufacturers can cooperate (or not) and
continue its development and Google can do absolutely nothing about it except
demand it to be rebranded.

~~~
rjd
You might want to look up free in the dictionary.

Last time I read an article on the cost of producing Android devices Microsoft
was making a very healthy profit from each device. Guess it pays to have an R
& D lab and a few lawyers.

Also isn't Google currently holding Android code back form the public? even
before all this latest carry on?

So currently it's a release by release open source system, and not purely
open.

~~~
rbanffy
> Guess it pays to have an R & D lab and a few lawyers.

For a long time they outsourced their R&D to Apple. Guess it's no longer that
easy these days. Their lawyers, however, have consistently been top-notch.

> So currently it's a release by release open source system, and not purely
> open.

You need to look up the meaning of free and open source software. You have the
code Google released, you can use it for whatever you want, improve it and
redistribute it. It's, therefore, free. You may prefer to let Google do all
the heavy lifting for you and then get the software for free, but that's the
free Ballmer intentionally uses to create confusion with free software - it
means "gratis" - and had nothing to do with your freedoms.

~~~
rjd
MS spent $9.5 billion of R&D in 2010, I would say they have a fairly decent
lab, even if a portion is outsourced (or sponsored university projects).

And free involves things being free. Having to pay MS (and maybe Apple soon)
every time you release an Android based product is not a free product.
Remember that MS court case its won have been against core Android components
but targeted at manufacturers so they can get revenue.

So releasing an Android products means there is a court precedence that you
have to pay to use it if MS decides you are a target. From memory they where
getting USD$15 per device, thats $3 billion a year (15 x 500000 x 365) ... far
from free IMO...

And yep the currently released code is open source. I Expect Google to
continue down that path.

But its a totalitarian system if they aren't releasing evolving code, you have
no say how things are designed, you bow to Google engineer decisions. There is
of course benefits to that but its also not freedom, if you wanted true
freedom you'd branch Android and push the totalitarian aspects out of its
design.

~~~
rbanffy
> Remember that MS court case its won

Unless I am very wrong, no such case exists. HTC, Samsung, Tom Tom and other
victims of patent extortion settled out of court.

> But its a totalitarian system if they aren't releasing evolving code

No, it's not. It's only so if you don't make your own fork, which you are free
to do. Unlike, for instance, WP7, which only Nokia (soon to be renamed
"Microsoft Mobility" ;-) ) has gained permission to do - and I doubt they can
do more than add a little theme here and some preinstalled app there. Freedom
also means you have to take care of yourself. You are free to take the code
Google offers, but, if it doesn't do what you want (but does what Google
wants) it's up to you to change it.

