Categories open source

Attack of the Androids

by mobileman (11/07/2007 - 03:52)

The Google-led Android open-phone initiative grabbed the headlines today. I normally take the pro open-source, open-platform position. In this case, I am not. The target of most open-source projects have been Web servers, application servers and database servers.

There is a fundamental difference between a phone and a server. A server is designed and developed by IT professionals. It is maintained, monitored and administered.

In contrast, a phone is a consumer device. Consumers expect their electronics to work out of the box and not have bugs. The PC industry has flourished in large part because of the existence of two large commercial OS platforms courtesy of Microsoft and Apple. While there are Linux PCs, they are generally in the hands of the proud dorks, geeks and other technologically gifted individuals.

Consumer product are more like toasters than servers!

An open-source phone platform might be a powerful platform for application development free of royalties from OS manufacturers and carriers.

However, phone design is not a hobby. It is a huge commercial enterprise and the various phone platforms are designed with quality and ease of use in mind. Phone engineers are not going to have their salaries replaced with tips and donations. Every company in the consortia has strong profit motives, and that means competition.

Even if the Android project succeeds in pushing phone standards, I guarantee that each phone manufacturer and carrier will have its own proprietary variant. Given my suspicions and skepticism about Android, why is it being launched? To understand that answer, read my previous blog. Android can succeed in its goals without ever writing a line of code.

Category: open source