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Domain: openhandsetalliance.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to openhandsetalliance.com.

Comments · 59

  1. Re:open but for who? by boredhacker · · Score: 1 · on Google's Open Source Mobile Platform

    I see no problem with this if one is very-very happy about storing their data on a google server and accessing it via the google phone OS. But I wouldn't call it free in any of the senses of that word we're accustomed to on /.

    The gPhone platform (i.e. Android) will be "free" as in Apache v2 open source license, which is an OSI approved license. I would imagine many slashdotters are accustomed to this kind of freedom as well as other kinds of freedom like BSD, Mozilla, SPL, CPL, Artistic license and even Ms-PL (to name a few).

    Quoting the FAQ:

    Why did you pick the Apache v2 open source license?
    Apache is a commercial-friendly open-source license. The Apache license allows manufacturers and mobile operators to innovate using the platform without the requirement to contribute those innovations back to the open-source community. Because these innovations and differentiated features can be kept proprietary, manufacturers and mobile operators are protected from the "viral infection" problem often associated with other licenses.
  2. Re:open but for who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative · on Google's Open Source Mobile Platform

    As far as I see it, Google mobile platform is the same thing inside an OS package. The platform will be "open" to carriers and makers who are participants of the Google alliance. However, nowhere in the Google materials have i seen a commitment to make the phone open to the outside developers. Nor does it make any sense for them to open it.

    Depending on how it is rolled out, we may see some sources, but likely we'll never have a chance to apply a patch to the OS actually in the device, or build an application outside of whatever sandbox they put in the OS. There will likely be APIs and widgets tied to the google servers and services, but hardly much freedom beyond that.


    Finding details has been frustrating, but it looks like they're going to open up the complete SDK to everyone, as open source.

    http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/wheres-my-gphone.html
    http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/android_overview.html

    Wait until Nov 12 I guess.
  3. Re:Creativity by SnowZero · · Score: 4, Informative · on Google's Open Source Mobile Platform

    Google has never called it the "gPhone"; Bloggers and press came up with that name since they needed to call it something. Google's name for the platform is Android.

  4. Re:We already have fifty! Finish one! by sciurus0 · · Score: 3, Informative · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]

    Keep in mind that the quote about favoring Google applications and services is from the LiMo foundation, which is trying to produce their own Linux-based cellphone platform. The Open Handset Alliance claims the exact opposite: "Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone's capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users will be able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos."

  5. Re:Linux, with Java on top... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]
    from http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/android_overview.html

    All applications are created equal
    Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone's capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users will be able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.
  6. no QTopia by m2943 · · Score: 1 · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]

    I'm not sure who tagged this "qtopia", but given that Trolltech is absent from the alliance, it's a pretty good bet that it's not Qtopia based.

    http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/press_110507.html

  7. Re:How open is open? by pavon · · Score: 3, Informative · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]

    Here is the actual Open Handset Alliance Website describing Android. Third party developers will have access to all the hardware capabilities and software libraries that the Google software has access to. So developers can do anything that the phone is technically capable of. I imagine it will be fairly easy for end users to load new software onto the phone.

  8. Re:no single gPhone by mikiN · · Score: 1 · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]

    Huh? Guess who is on their member list? Colorful logo, offers fortune cookies, name starts with a 'G' and ends with an 'e'..?

  9. no single gPhone by twoboxen · · Score: 1 · on Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated]

    There is no "gPhone". There are many gPhones on the Android open platform.

    http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/