Dell and Baidu Introduce a Smartphone With Forked Version of Android

cortex writes "XDA developers is reporting on the release of a new smart phone which runs a forked version of Google's Android operating system: 'Dell and Baidu, the Chinese search giant with over 80% marketshare in its home-country, unveiled the Streak Pro on Tuesday (via Computerworld). The device has a 4.3 AMOLED screen with 960×540 resolution and packs a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor. Most notably, however, is the operating system it runs: a forked Android version dubbed Baidu Yi, which replaces Google's services with those of Baidu.' How will this impact Google's support for Android and open source in general?'

Comments

Not at all

[SuperKendall]

There's already some Android phone out that uses Bing as the search engine. And then of course there is Amazon who essentially is forking Android.

Google had to know this would happen, they simply don't care. If they keep advancing Android it keeps Android devices more desirable than others in theory. Plus at this point what would the strategy really be? Close Android off and watch vendors run to Microsoft?

Re:Not at all

[thegarbz]

Depends on how you define forks. Amazon has to my knowledge not "Forked" Android. To do so would be to take Android and do in house development in a different direction. From what I can tell they have simply taken Android as is and put their modifications on top of it. Amongst them removed the Google Apps, and added their own primary interface and own apps.

Most phone manufacturers do this already just not on the same big scale. Samsung ship phones with TouchWiz, a Samsung specific home screen and app drawer for their phones which is more like iOS than Android, as well as the Samsung Marketplace. The difference is that they still have Google's partnership and ship the phone with the complete set of Google Apps and the official Market.

When you fork a project you take the project at a given time in a new direction, and the codebase typically starts separating more and more from the original. Customising Android, regardless of how heavily you do it does not make it a fork until you essentially take over a whole new project.

Re:Not at all

[Anonymous Coward]

Android is not being forked, not on those and not on this article.

"Most notably, however, is the operating system it runs: a forked Android version dubbed Baidu Yi, which replaces Google's services with those of Baidu.' How will this impact Google's support for Android and open source in general?'"

Gapps (Google Applications) do not belong to Android, they are separated applications from Google.

Android source code is available from source.android.com and that is the Android. Gapps are not avalable from there as they do not belong to Android.

Gapps and Android needs to be think as Windows and Adobe CS suite. Even if some PC manufacturer would preinstall Adobe CS with Windows to PC and add that price to that computer price, it would not be forking Windows.

But people do not understand smartphones or Android, it is just a software system like Windows is, but instead including NT operating system, it has Linux operating system in it.
That if you swap official (and usually preinstalled) Google applications for Android with official operator or manufacturer applications, does not mean it is forking Android.

Amazon has never forked Android, neither is Dell and Baidu forking it now. They are simply swapping non-Android applications to other non-Adroid applications. Microsoft has done that as well with Verizon by swapping gapps to bing, hotmail and others applications.

Installing a own launcher (homescreen) or doing any other tweaking isn't forking. Amazon has not toke Android source code and started to develop it in own branch making it incompatible with Android and Android applications. Amazon knows that would be a suicide and Amazon could not even use a name "Android" at that point as it is a registered trademark.
Even if with Windows would be open source, Microsoft would not allow someone to take Windows, making it incompatible with Windows and still keeping its name as "Microsoft Windows".

Flooding the Market

[Dancing Propeller He]

This is great for the Android hardware ecosystem. Android hardware can then become the commodity computer of the future. The PC model of real hardware and software choices needs to move into the phone/tablet market as well. Otherwise we will simply be just the iJailed users of these devices.

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[adriantam]

I agree with you that "China == bad" is not always true. But how do you explain the 80% market share of Baidu? In China, you can't do big business without kowtow to the government. That's a reason for that bullshit to exists. And that's a way to get rid of those bullshit: lift your hands off the people and let them have the freedom. By the way, I am Chinese.

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, point me to the last time china killed over 100.000 foreign civilians outside its borders.

Also, let me know about the secret prisons china has outside its borders in order to torture people and circumvent its own laws.

Lastly, please do tell me about the wars china made up in the last years, just to sell some guns and loot and endebt the ravaged places.

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[Tubal-Cain]

Also, let me know about the secret prisons china has outside its borders in order to torture people and circumvent its own laws.

.

You assume they need to be outside the country?

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[Patch86]

But how do you explain the 80% market share of Baidu?

The same way you can explain Google's 80% market share in the US?
http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-US-monthly-201011-201111

That is to say, that they're popular because they deliver what people are after?

Re:Impact?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all os us who love open source software love GPL... I don't mind the puppy shooter.

As a programmer, I open source a lot of what I do (a decision I usually make after I have working code), but I don't touch anything GPL, because that's taking away my freedom to decide my license, and therefore what I can do with my code. Sometimes if I can't did what I want as non-GPL source, I write it from scratch. But since I usually open source it, I guess everyone wins. Users then have two open source options, and the next developer that comes along has a BSD option.

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[Anonymous Coward]

what is the score in Tibet?

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[makomk]

If you try to start riots, then yes you're going to get problems.

If you try and peacefully petition the Government for redress, you're going to get in trouble too. The whole reason there are so many riots in the first place is that China is horribly corrupt, it has a massive income disparity between rural and urban areas, because of the corruption rural dwellers can have their land taken from them at any time with essentially no compensation, and if you try to peacefully complain about any of this you're going to jail.

Re:With the expected Chinese requirements.

[MightyYar]

Please, point me to the last time china killed over 100.000 foreign civilians outside its borders.

Interesting that you apply different morality to who they kill depending on whether or not they are in or outside their borders.

Does Korea count? How about Tibet? Ask the people in Taiwan about their gentle neighbor.

I can understand how people are anxious about the behavior of the US - but just because the US is evil nowadays doesn't mean that China is automatically good.