Slashdot Mirror
Carriers, Manufacturers Are Strangling Android
loconet writes "This article in Gizmodo claims that Android's fragmented model is harming it, but Google has the power to save it. The rumored Google Phone could be a ploy to upset the wireless industry, or it could be an expensive niche device. Either way, it would be a bid to take Android back from the companies that seem hell-bent on destroying it. '...once handset manufacturers (and carriers, through handset manufacturers) have built their own version of Android, they've effectively taken it out of the development stream. Updating it is their responsibility, which they have to choose to uphold. Or not! Who cares? The phones are already sold."
It isn't fear mongering, it is "Hey, Android still sucks right now, it didn't solve all the old problems and buy me a pony like I thought it would."
The U.S. carriers all treat their customers like shit, it's too bad that the customers put up with it.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
"Improved user experience" is marketingspeak for feature upgrade or bug fix. The parent got modded down, but if I had points, I'd put it right back up. Crippled software sets, suddenly enabled by market pressure, isn't an upgrade.
When apps are truly upgraded, so much the better, but this doesn't follow the computer industry model. And I wouldn't expect it from others.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Maybe you're real, and altruistic.
Maybe you've swallowed the koolaid.
No matter: 'making stuff better' as a phrase has often been used in contexts where bug fixes and small potatoes have a price tag called an upgrade.
I code, too, as in write software... but not for money anymore. I have a chip on my shoulder from disabled/crippled phone firmware, operating systems, as well as those found on client and server platforms.
My immediate pavlovian reaction, and I apologize if I've besmirched you, is to be very skeptical of release quality. A good friend of mine once said: nothing works, we start from here, and most of the time, he's right.
Therefore, there's a highly trained (over 33years) detection of the scent of marketing prattle, sales-speak, and apologetic jargon that must be over come. I detect it here, but in fact, you may be indeed sincere. Decades of listening to failed promises makes me doubt this, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.