
Google threatened Acer with Android excommunication - headShrinker
http://www.slashgear.com/google-threatened-acer-with-android-excommunication-claims-alibaba-13247461/
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mtgx
If they are using AOSP, they can use it without any license from Google I
think. If they want Google's apps, then they need license from Google. If
Google wants to standardize the ecosystem and is cracking down on these
manufacturers who mess too much with Android then I'm 100% on Google's side.

Google needs to be harder on these manufacturers for the good of the
consumers, the ecosystem, and ultimately the manufacturers as well. What will
the "Android ecosystem" become if they create bigger and bigger
incompatibilities and make developers jobs that much harder?

If manufacturers really wanted to customize their own OS, then they would
never even try using WP8. And Acer is one of the WP8 licenses, too. So Acer
wants their cake and eat it, too? Sorry, but no. Google needs to take actions
against further fragmentation, and for removing any opportunities Microsoft
might have with their more unified OS.

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ceejayoz
> If they are using AOSP, they can use it without any license from Google I
> think.

I believe they can use the OS, but I don't believe they'd be able to use the
"Android" trademark and logo. They'd have to call it something else, which'd
probably cut sales dramatically.

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cube13
Does Google have a "Powered by Android" licensing scheme like what the Mozilla
foundation has for Firefox's source?

~~~
mtgx
I doubt it, but I wish they did. I think the Chrome/Chromium model is perfect
for a corporation wanting to use open source and give back, while in the same
time keeping full control of their software.

I wish Android worked like Chrome and Chromium. There should've been a version
(Chromium-like) that manufacturers could use and do anything they wanted with
it, and a version (Chrome-like) that could only be modified by Google alone,
and be the only version Google actually promotes. They're sort of doing it
with the "Google experience" Nexus devices, but that seems more like an
afterthought more than something that was thought up from the beginning and as
main strategy.

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DannyBee
See the link i posted above :)

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ajross
The details are hard to puzzle out. Apparently Alibaba was using "their own
OS" (my guess is it's an Android fork a-la Kindle, but that's pure
speculation) and Google told Acer (the hardware OEM) to kill it or they'd lose
their Android license (for what products it isn't clear -- it seems unlikely
that existing products are licensed under contracts that can be revoked like
that).

That kind of behavior certainly can be anticompetetive if it's preventing the
entrance of new products into the market. If my guess is right and "Aliyun" is
an Android fork, then cry me a river -- if Acer wants to sell an official
Android device they shouldn't expect to make money selling gray market clones
on the side. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if their contracts included a
clause covering exactly this (i.e. ship only official Android if you ship any
Android at all).

But yes: if Alibaba is really trying to sell a home-grown OS, and Google is
trying to kill it, then that's bad.

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jemeshsu
Aliyun is not a fork of Android. It is China's home grown cloud based OS based
on Linux. [http://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-aliyun-investing-mobile-
os...](http://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-aliyun-investing-mobile-os-beat-ios-
android/)

The name Aliyun: Ali is Alibaba, Yun is cloud in Chinese.

~~~
ajross
Not to be too doubtful -- but I don't see anything in that article that says
this isn't an Android fork. The fact that they are spending lots of money on
development and want to compete with Android doesn't mean they didn't start
with it as a base. Android core is open source, well tested, very widely
deployed, and works great. Honestly if Alibaba wanted to make a mobile OS play
as a new company and _didn't_ start with it I would be very surprised.

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Karunamon
Now if only they'd wield this power in relation to OEM's who seem intent on
crapping up good phones with horrible addon software (MOTOBlur, I'm looking at
you...)

~~~
Steko
The idea that only pure android phones are worthy and that carrier ui layers
are the only thing holding them back is silly. Many people like them and ICS
replicated many of the things from carrier skins for this reason. Telling
partners they can't differentiate is radically hypocritical and likely would
just drive more to fork Android.

~~~
Karunamon
_..carrier ui layers are the only thing holding them back is silly_

There's also market fragmentation, but I'd say carrier dumbassery is almost a
worse problem.

This "differentiation" or "branding" or "experience" or whatever buzzword-
compliant term chosen to describe it almost always makes the device less
useful and less functional.

Not just by being ugly, slapdash-looking "let's slap our identity all over
this" abominations, but by harming performance. The canonical example was
MOTOBlur on the Droid 2. The hardware was decent, it was an incremental
upgrade over the original Droid, but it's made almost unusable by the
preloaded Moto garbage. Compare a Droid 2 stock vs a Droid 2 running the AOSP
version of the same Android release and try to say they're even remotely
comparable. Worse battery life, sluggish performance..

Jellybean all on its own is a beautiful system. A fantasy of mine is that, for
the next major release, Google enforces the kind of UI requirements being
imposed by Microsoft - how much carrier dickery do you think will appear on
Windows phones?

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Steko
"Jellybean all on it's own" is a non sequitor because Jellybean didn't spring
into being all on it's own and fully formed. It incorporated (and ICS before
it) a lot of features from non-Google skins.

~~~
Karunamon
Could you point out a few? Somehow I doubt Google is taking cues from badly
designed carrier overlays.

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eevilspock
I'm not sure if this story is reliable, but if it is, will HN users come down
as hard on Google as it always does on Apple for being "draconian" and "anti-
competitive"?

[Not surprised this has already gotten downvoted. Anyone got a mirror?]

~~~
esolyt
Perhaps people are tired of hearing the "HN is full of Apple haters" shit.

~~~
metatronscube
Its true for the most part, everyone here likes to think they are different
from a community like Reddit or 4chan, but thats not really the case. If this
had Apple in the headline instead of Google then im sure there would be a lot
more heavily biased comments ready to jump to all sorts of conclusions with
out anything resembling proof. This lot are just as biased as most of the die
hard Apple haters from those communities. You know what im tired of hearing,
is comments like "Apple never innovates", "Apple is due a fall" ..etc Oh and
my favorite one is "The patent system needs reform" but thats all we ever hear
from this community. Oh well, deal with it and move on I guess.

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ConstantineXVI
Back from the Skyhook incident, it came out that part of the license for the
Google apps prevented Samsung from any action "that may cause or result in the
fragmentation of Android,"[0]. It would seem this clause still stands in the
current agreements used by Google, and provided these accusations are true,
would be Google's basis for giving Acer the boot.

[0] [http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-
la...](http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-
motorola-samsung/)

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ravichhabra
Speculation: Google starting from Jelly Bean (or after Jelly Bean), is going
to give early source code access to OEM partners. If Acer is going to work on
Aliyun some of those early access code could land into Aliyun, which Google
does not want?

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stephengillie
Here we see one way in which Android is very, very valuable to Google.

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ljoshua
I thought one of the draws of Android was that no specific licensing was
necessary to implement on a device? Can someone elaborate on why exactly Acer
would need a contract to use Android?

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MatthewPhillips
Google apps: Gmail, Maps, Play Store, etc.

~~~
Create
freemail, OpenStreetMap, F-Droid etc.

~~~
andybak
Definitely equivalent but not always satisfactory equivalents.

~~~
Create
Acer has enough capital to make these toys in comparison.

OSM was a satisfactory equivalent to AAPL -- to the point of deliberately not
acknowledging it (ie. worth stealing). As for f-droid, with all the iFart App
clones culled is a definite win for mental health epidemiology.

~~~
magicalist
OSM was _not_ sufficient for Apple. Their maps are based on a number of
providers, including OSM but most especially TomTom. You're thinking of the
iphoto maps that got everyone speculating in the first place.

Most companies in this space have the capital to replace these apps, but not
the will or the ability. You only have to look at the Android UIs they produce
to see that you're really going to have to commit if you want to function as
primary app provider for your phones. Most companies aren't willing to do
this, or take forever and fail (poor meego...)

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salem
I'm assuming that "Android product cooperation and related technical
authorization" means early access to source code for unreleased Android
versions and ability to package and market Google products on the phone. That
said, if Acer was making plans to work on a competing platform, which happened
to be able to run android apps, that sounds like a perfectly reasonable move.

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barista
So much for Google touting android being open...

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Kylekramer
Source code is still there. Acer still could have used it. Assuming this is
true, Google threatened Acer with removing access to the always closed source
Google apps and Play Store. It is a hardball business move and not exactly
consistent with the shiny happy feel good part of the open source philosophy,
but doesn't really make Android less open.

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kevingadd
Core parts of the Android experience not being open almost certainly makes
Android less open.

~~~
wonderyak
Android != Google Apps. Amazon seems to be doing just fine with it, just as
all the ROM developers have.

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barista
Though Amazon never extracts any marketing mileage out of the openness of
android. Google just sounds disingenuous here

~~~
wonderyak
Why would they want to advertise Google or Android? They have a product to
sell! Focus!

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capo
Allegedly...

