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Dell and Baidu Introduce a Smartphone With Forked Version of Android

Posted by timothy on from the primordial-soup-software dept.

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?'

95 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. With the expected Chinese requirements. by sethstorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Perhaps they want something onboard that makes Carrier IQ look tame.

    Search for or have anything deemed subversive on the device, it reports you silently.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by InterestingFella · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Seriously, I'm tired of these stupid comments towards China. Especially when US government is much worse. Have you lived there or actually know it? Because it isn't like that. I have my own experience. Sure, do keep up with the "China == bad" bullshit, but you're only lying to yourself. Just like with communism == bad during cold war. It's bullshit without real experience.

    2. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by adriantam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      http://www.ieaa.org/~adrian/
    3. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I can't tell if you're trolling or really that poorly informed. For all my complaints about how we do things, your suggestion that the situation in the US is worse than China is patently absurd.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China

    4. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How many meetings of Chinese people for a free Tibet or independent Taiwan clubs are you allowed to go to? Why is the Chinese internet so censored?

      remember to post something about Guantanamo your question dodging response!

    5. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or he's one of hundreds of thousands of commentators hired by the Chinese government to post pro-Chinese sentiment across the internet.

    6. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?

    7. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Your figures may be a little out of date - Baidu's current market share in China is 60.67%.

      Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-CN-monthly-201011-201111

    8. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Patch86 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      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?

    9. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Democracy??? Really? What about the guy that wrote essays supporting democracy? He just got sentenced to 9 years in prison.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204464404577115623080454832.html

    10. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by retchdog · · Score: 2

      hello, 50 cent army, and welcome to slashdot! i hope you have a terrible time!

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    11. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      what is the score in Tibet?

    12. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Darri · · Score: 2

      one party != democracy

      Agreed.

      Say the Chinese communist party were to split into two factions, both deeply committed to communism, but with subtle differences when it comes to implementation details, then all of a sudden you'd have a model democracy, right?

    13. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by marcello_dl · · Score: 1

      I think that USA and China are part of the same system, else the first would have retained control of its economy instead of basically helping out the second. Both morally bankrupt like ummm all the rest of the worldwide system (I'm not talking about the NWO I am talking about the de-facto situation, in morally sound systems trials elections patents and thousands other things would be less dependent on how powerful the players are).

      Anyway, it's true, in a lot of forums and discussions China is readily defended, while the USA defenders are more subtle or even absent. The puppeteers in USA know that it's irrelevant how much you speak about something, as long as actions do not hurt real interests.

      Back to the poster defending China. You might be right but make better points than "you have no experience of X, how can you tell it's bad?", just substitute X for crack to see how hollow it is.

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
    14. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by mynickslongerthanurs · · Score: 5, Informative

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

      Because its major competitor is suffering from blatant malicious QoS deterioration?

      • Every 15 minutes, any attempt to access google is met with a reset. The blocking lasts 15 minutes, causing an artificial 50% downtime for ALL Google services.
      • When the service is accessible, searching for a potentially 'inharmonious' word (including seemly innocuous false positives like 'carrot') resets the connection immediately and deny future access to Google for 5 minutes.
      • Don't even THINK about using Google Search over SSL.
      • G+ doesn't work. Well, neither does Facebook.
      • Blog service (blogspot/blogger) doesn't work. In fact, searching for the word 'blogspot' resets the connection.
      • Video service (Youtube) obviously doesn't work.
      • No site managed by Google Sites works.

      Oh, and I'm a native.

    15. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by makomk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    16. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      China finds plenty to do within its own borders. They are just constrained by their means at the moment from stepping outside. The Chinese government also finds its own laws somewhat less restricting than the US, and hence has no need to circumvent them.

      Hey, I'll be the first to denounce the things you mention in the US, however most of the ground the US government is covering has been passed over long ago by those in power in China.

    17. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 1

      Why would you think he meant to refute anything? He was only updating a statistical figure. You may be only trolling, since here his intent was more than obvious, but expectying a reply to be either "This!" or a complete refutation is not an uncommon stance here in Slashdot. Collaborative discussion is rare, giving way to a belligerent disposition that fosters binary thought.

    18. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Patch86 · · Score: 1

      I'm no Bing fan, but I'd hardly call it unusable. Search results are OK, homepage is clean (unlike Yahoo), and the maps are actually pretty good. If you wanted to use Bing, you could certainly do worse.

      The point is, Google is better. So people choose to use it more.

      Baidu is presumably better liked by Chinese users than Google or the other alternatives, so people use it more.

    19. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    20. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Those essays were RIOTS!

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    21. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      What the romans did worked

      Ahh, I thought you were going to say slavery!

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    22. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      It's called that, but none of the systems are really democratic. What the romans did worked - a lottery, the same as with jury duty.

      It sounds like you're talking about sortition, which AFAIK was a Greek thing, not Roman. Personally I'd quite like to see sortition used as a method to appoint government representatives tempered by voting to recall unsatisfactory ones. Just as an experiment, that is.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    23. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What about the secret prisons INSIDE China? Villagers who exercise their "constitutional right" to come to Beijing to complain to the central government about corruption are detained in unofficial jails, often kept for weeks/months in crowded zoo-like cells, and are then "repatriated" back to the very people they were complaining about. Does wonders for reducing the number of complaints...

      China's human rights record is a complete fail. Only the wu mao dang or the extremely naive would place their record in the same playing field with that of the US.

      And only a fool would trust a Chinese government blessed "fork" of Android for use with anything but the most mundane of tasks.

      It's only a short matter of time before this house of cards collapses. Try going to China outside of one of the silos of prosperity (20 or so major cities). The natives are VERY restless.

      Best,

    24. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by JimCanuck · · Score: 1

      No one else offers what Baidu does in one package specifically tailored to (mainland) Chinese people, especially good working pinyin input. Even in Canada Baidu is used extensively by the Chinese community due to ease of use.

    25. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 1

      The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists gives the president the right to declare anyone, even an American citizen, a terrorist and have them put in jail indefinitely without trial. The National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2012 would make this explicitly allowed, and has been approved by both the Senate and the House. The US government has not yet abused this on as large a scale as China, but that's likely only a matter of time.

      --
      Not a sentence!
    26. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by InterestingFella · · Score: 1

      If you want to criticize China, please point out when have you gone out to riot on streets? How did the police respond that? Or did you actually go out, or just stay at home? I thought so.

    27. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by theedgeofoblivious · · Score: 1

      In Soviet China, the government controls the businesses!

    28. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by symbolset · · Score: 1

      http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Google+market+share

      --
      Help stamp out iliturcy.
    29. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by ncgnu08 · · Score: 1

      I completely agree. Communist Russia was proven right when the US collapsed in the late 80's... oh no wait....

      --
      Member of American Sarcasm Society - Motto: "Like we need your help!"
    30. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by ncgnu08 · · Score: 1

      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.

      I feel we can be open to a discussion of the driving forces and goals on the Iraq war, and the Bush administration. But to state the US = evil is purely asinine. Unless evil is now = the only reason the world has been held together for the last 85+ years. Look what happened last time we, decided to keep to ourselves, ie withdraw from the League of Nations. I think it is a pretty safe assumption that no matter where MightyYar is from he or she is happy to not be speaking German....

      --
      Member of American Sarcasm Society - Motto: "Like we need your help!"
    31. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by ncgnu08 · · Score: 1

      Also of note, this has not been signed into law and is doa according to the administration.

      --
      Member of American Sarcasm Society - Motto: "Like we need your help!"
    32. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I have lived there and I know that the internet is censored severly, that they try to track my identity all the way and I also know what happend to my friends.
      One friend of mine broke up with her bf who works for the Chinese gov and moved to another city. Unfortunately, he tracked her mobile phone and found her and could track her on the streets over the camera system. I've also been tracked by the government once for another reason (and in that case it actually benefited me, but it was still scary), so it probably wasn't a single case...

      Tracking people is of course also possible in the US - but there are much stricter laws against data abuse. And if the US government wants to access data from companies, things get really tricky and there must be an official investigation that is approved by a judge. Baidu, on the other hand, is forwarding data to the Chinese government by default.
      I would therefore never use a baidu phone. But in the end, it's an individual decision how much data one wants to refer to the governments and to witch government.

    33. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 1

      Because they claim the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists already gives them the power to indefinitely detain anyone already. NOT because they are opposed to that power.

      --
      Not a sentence!
    34. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by James_Duncan8181 · · Score: 1

      I think it is a pretty safe assumption that no matter where MightyYar is from he or she is happy to not be speaking German....

      This assumption may be untrue if MightyYar is from Germany, of course.

      --
      "To any truly impartial person, it would be obvious that I am right."
    35. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Heh - I'm from New Jersey, and I don't think America is evil :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    36. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by calinduca · · Score: 1

      youporn works though.

    37. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Ive been there, its not bull. They monitor literally every cell conversation, every webpage. The great firewall is no joke. They even redirect www.skype.com to a customized version that reports everything you do to big brother.

      Believe me, I know people who are on a VPN 24/7 because of the government's shenanigans, and they even screw with the VPN to make it lossy and bad.

    38. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      You know basically all of those figures include civilians killed by the other side, as well, right?

      You didnt? oh.

    39. Re:With the expected Chinese requirements. by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      When another country attacks us and destroys a major landmark in our biggest city, how would you propose we respond? With a UN censure?

  2. Not at all by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Not at all by Acheron219 · · Score: 2

      I think the "interest" angle here is that it's a Dell branded device, rather than a Chinese brand name. (Built in China though, for sure). It's moderately interesting more in the implication of what this might do with Google's relationship to Dell, if Dell has any intention of competing in the US market at all any more.

    2. Re:Not at all by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Not at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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".

    4. Re:Not at all by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      Technically, their intent was to fork it. The Chinese government was adamant about not wanting any secret US back-doors in it.

      My guess is that they probably did it just like our US Department of Defense. They probably froze it to an older version to try to secure that at least, and then when they finally could deliver something to their bosses, they got yelled at for delivering a version so old, that Google had already published at least half-a-dozen new major versions in the mean time.

    5. Re:Not at all by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      probably won't affect dell's relations with google at all.

      it's china customization of android.

      think about it - it's pretty hard for google to justify acting all nasty just because you're making a version for a market on which the customers wouldn't be able to use the google services anyhow......

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:Not at all by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      in regards to amazon, their 2.3.4 derived version would be defined as a fork by most people. there's just so much changed - the customizations in fire are much wider in scale than just throwing their own launcher on it. in fact it's the most customized android device I've yet to see which still resembles android in some fashion and which can install and run vanilla androids applications. for example, there's no hw buttons. there's a home/menu/search bar instead of that, that's a major customization - and it gets hidden in some applications, which makes it a larger customization. the top drop down has been altered drastically as well, volume controls are in sw up there too. default search still goes to google though.

      of course if they start again from 4.0 for an update then I suppose it's not a fork. the fire with ICS would probably be a pretty nice device though. but what they will do with it in future is still up in the air.

      their default launcher sucks by the way, the other customizations are sort of justifiable, by losing buttons they don't infringe on some stupid patents and can make the device more solid(and save a few bucks while doing so - no wiring pesky buttons, no buttons to break and so forth).

      the customizations for this dell baidu thingy seem more like to be in the same boat as most carrier customizations though. they're more likely to boast it as being more different than it is though - they're chinese, remember.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    7. Re:Not at all by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 1

      I think it's interesting in that Google's role is being taken over by their Chinese competitor. It's not just a phone vendor making Bing the search engine, it sounds like it's going to be marketed as a Baidu phone. Bing isn't selling Bing-branded phones that search Bing.

      --
      September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
    8. Re:Not at all by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Yes I guess time will tell if this is a fork or a glorified distro.

      Also the no buttons thing is more of an in vogue customisation rather than something drastically different. The Galaxy Nexus also has no hw buttons.

  3. Google will smile and laugh by triceice · · Score: 1

    Google will do nothing to change their stance, but they will work to better integrate in to Android and make it so people want them not Baidu.

    1. Re:Google will smile and laugh by InterestingFella · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Google is really bad in Russia and China. Most people use Yandex or Baidu because it gives much better results. Google simply fails to give good results there. Google has ignored that market, and it will eventually bite them in the ass.

    2. Re:Google will smile and laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google didn't "ignore" the chinese market, they pulled out for ethical reasons (present chinese government wanted them to censor).

    3. Re:Google will smile and laugh by InterestingFella · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That was only last year. They had a minor market share to begin with, so gaining good publicity by "pulling out of china" was only good for marketing purposes. They weren't profitable there to begin with. Google has a good marketing team tho - instead of announcing that they failed to profit in Chinese market, they turned it upside down and told they're getting off for ethical reasons to make it look less failure.

    4. Re:Google will smile and laugh by triceice · · Score: 1

      Hard to give "good results" when your indexing is limited by the "Great Wall". But yes I agree with you.

    5. Re:Google will smile and laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google had a significant portion of the Chinese market before pulling out - over 35%. And even with the current situation where they have much less marketshare, they're profitable. So basically you're full of shit.

      Google had been against censorship all along, but decided to try and change China from the inside. Eventually, they discovered that it wasn't possible, so they stuck up for their principles and took their ball and went home. It's rare that you see a company put principle ahead of profit, and they should be commended for it.

    6. Re:Google will smile and laugh by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      Google will do nothing to change their stance, but they will work to better integrate in to Android and make it so people want them not Baidu.

      In what way is that not changing their stance? So lets get started with our reasonable demands: first thing is, not being able to drag a running app to the trash or equivalent is pure brain damage. Let's see Google climb down off the patronizing justifications for this design flaw and fix it.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
    7. Re:Google will smile and laugh by maroberts · · Score: 1

      Yes, but if you do your test search whilst you are located in China, I suspect your Google results will be filtered or blocked in some way, reducing the coherency of the results to below that of Baidu.

      --

      Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
      Karma: Chameleon

    8. Re:Google will smile and laugh by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      Oh look, it's the Anti-US troll once again!

      Hi troll!

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    9. Re:Google will smile and laugh by zerojoker · · Score: 2

      That's because they are competing on an unfair market. The Chinese government is highly corrupt and is trying to support chinese companys where they can. They do not only block youtube, twitter, google and the like for political reasons, but also to support domestic companies. If you cannot reach youtube due to the firewall, of course you will change to a chinese alternative. Same goes for twitter, google, and all the other google services...

    10. Re:Google will smile and laugh by identity0 · · Score: 1

      Interesting. Does that hold true for Taiwan as well? How well do they do in overseas Chinese communities,?

    11. Re:Google will smile and laugh by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Google is actually very decent for Russian. Yandex is marginally better, but, frankly, more people use it out of habit, not because it's some conscious choice.

    12. Re:Google will smile and laugh by Lazy+Jones · · Score: 1

      Google had been against censorship all along,

      Don't be ridiculous. Google has a long history of supporting censorship in Europe and elsewhere.

      --
      "I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
  4. Flooding the Market by Dancing+Propeller+He · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Flooding the Market by crhylove · · Score: 1

      This. And of course the many great improvements on Android that already exist in the wild, like cyanogenmod. I probably will never buy another phone not capable of running cyanogenmod.

      --
      I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
    2. Re:Flooding the Market by mikael · · Score: 1

      Mobile phones and tablets are "systems-on-a-chip" - all the hardware is in one ASIC chip. This avoids the overhead of multiple ASIC packaging, sockets, multi-layer track, motherboard interconnections, smoothing capacitors, resistors and other glue components, as well as the potential to have multiple hardware combinations. That saves on memory space for drivers.

      For a PC 75% of the components on the motherboard are for just for interconnection purposes. Compare the size of the actual silicon for the CPU and GPU, and how much of the packaging is just to connect the silicon to the motherboard socket or PCI Express connector.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:Flooding the Market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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.

      Problem is, that Android doesn't offer anywhere near the compatibility across hardware and software as Wintel do. The platform is too fragmented.

  5. Non Google services or a code fork? by Kenja · · Score: 2

    They would not be the first Android phone to not use Googles services, hell Motorola replaced the Google services with Yahoo on some of their phones. That does not mean that it is a code fork. So what specifically is different about the OS, other then the non-Google bundled apps?

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Non Google services or a code fork? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The name?

    2. Re:Non Google services or a code fork? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nothing, Linux is still used as OS in that Android version and Android itself is still same. Difference is just that Baidu and Dell has swapped official Google apps (gapps) to own ones. They are non-Android parts.

      Article writer does not have a clue what Android is.

      That article is now a mission to make Android look bad and get a later valid argument to say that Android has scattered to multiple versions what are incompatible to each other.

  6. Impact? by NoMaster · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "How will this impact Google's support for Android and open source in general?"

    Not at all, or possibly for the better?

    If they didn't want people to fork Android (and, as noted above, it's debatable if this is really a fork or just replacing bundled apps / settings), they shouldn't have open sourced it.

    If they get pissy and decide to close it off due to forks/mods like this, then we're still left with the previous versions of Android - and we're better off without a developer that wants to take their bat and ball and go home at the first little upset.

    --
    What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
    1. Re:Impact? by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "How will this impact Google's support for Android and open source in general?"

      Not at all, or possibly for the better?

      Definitely for the better. Truth be told, Google's attitude towards free software sucks in major ways, not least their overt campaign to undermine the GPL and copyleft in general. Yes, this is overt, and shameless. There is one loose cannon in particular whose name I will not mention whose personal vendetta includes not only the entire GPL ecosystem, but Debian too. Might as well have a serial puppy shooter on staff.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
    2. Re:Impact? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Impact? by rtfa-troll · · Score: 2

      There is one loose cannon in particular whose name I will not mention whose personal vendetta includes not only the entire GPL ecosystem, but Debian too.

      Could someone name and shame here? I'm not saying this is untrue; maybe the parent has a real reason not to name; but strong statements require evidence. Google continually claims to be supporting and helping Linux.

      This is a pretty serious accusation against a company which would have been priced out of the market if it hadn't had Linux and wouldn't have had Linux (or for that matter BSD) if the GNU project hadn't provided a shelter for FOSS during the bad days around the BSD lawsuit. Google, IMHO would have been swamped by Microsoft by now without GPL software.

      --
      =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
    4. Re:Impact? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      GPL != the only open source.

      Open source includes BSD which allows companies to do whatever they want with it including keeping their source closed afterwards. Google uses the Apache license (for their framework on top of the Linux kernel) which is open source but is closer aligned with BSD then it is GPL. You can't say it's not open sourced when the very license it uses is considered open source by pretty much everyone. What you want is something else, freedom for users rather then freedom for developers. Both have it's merit, but in this case, freedom for developers is ALOT more attractive to phone manufacturers which is who Google needs entice since they don't make their own hardware.

  7. Baidu is awful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Baidu is absolutely laden with spam. The English searches are a little better, those come from Bing rather than Baidu's own engine, no great but passable.

    But when I was in Shanghai I used Baidu almost exclusively, because they keep blocking Google. Sometimes Google works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it works but is so ridiculously slow that it's unusable. I know this is not Google making, but the Chinese tricks. However I still need to find things.

    It's not a political thing I think, a lot of it is just corruption. It's not that the guy running the routers is such a communist puritan that he favors Baidu comrades, it's that he's such a corrupt person, ten bucks in his pocket and he'll route you through a Pentium 4 firewall! Baidu just know who to pay off.

  8. My Xperia came with a forked version, too by oheso · · Score: 1

    Oh, that's not what you meant?

  9. Hmm by lightknight · · Score: 1

    Given the amount of care that has gone into Google's search results recently, I don't think Google will care.

    --
    I am John Hurt.
  10. Corruption is politics. by reiisi · · Score: 1

    That's the point being missed here, corruption is both the result and the driving force behind politics.

    --
    Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
  11. Nothing new here... by sociocapitalist · · Score: 2

    Follows the pattern that Baidu appears to have adopted in duplicating what Google does. Typical copy, change the picture and the name, and paste.

    Given the history, Google should have left the software open source elsewhere and kept it proprietary in China.

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    1. Re:Nothing new here... by toriver · · Score: 1

      News flash: The parts they have replaced are the non-open-source parts, i.e. Google's proprietary apps.

    2. Re:Nothing new here... by sonicmerlin · · Score: 1

      In other words Baidu is the Samsung of China?

  12. GNU/Linux is nothing BUT forks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    200+ versions. Some have inittab. Some BSD-rc. Some with faster startup. Some with Gnome 3, others with Gnome 2 or KDE.

    If consumers can select to go to the Android apps store and spend $ to buy someone's App and it works - Meh.

  13. Android Fighting for the Bottom? by BoRegardless · · Score: 1

    In spite of the "open" nature of Android, I truly wonder if open = superior customer experience?

    Likewise, I am not convinced "free" = best for the consumer as that is only one small part of the consumer cost and experience.

    A smartphone today is a special device, not a thermostat or light switch.

    1. Re:Android Fighting for the Bottom? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I get to compare Android to it's competitors on a daily base. In my experience the closed OS bring a nice featureset to the table, but when it comes to customizing the phone to your needs nothing compares to Android. Even if you personally lack the skills or resources to mod or code, there are lively communities that are open to suggestion and pick up good ideas and are very likely to implement them in their "homebrew" versions.

      But it's the small things that can make a huge difference in user experience. No matter how much you like the iPhone experience for instance, but when it comes to physical access to your own files, for instance, iOS sucks badly. From getting the files on your device to accessing it on the go and finally placing them elsewhere Android is so much nicer to use. And that has nothing to do with openness of code, but how much freedom do you allow your customer to have; it already starts with basic things as the charge/data interface on the device.

  14. Android + Google apps for the full experiance by giorgist · · Score: 1

    Yes ... their is the Android OS as well as Google apps, which are amongst the most popular.
    Google have managed to opensource the OS, but stay in relative control considering the full experience requires the Google apps.

    1. Re:Android + Google apps for the full experiance by jscotta44 · · Score: 2

      Wow. The "full experience" requires the use of Google apps? So much for open source and choice.

      Yes, if you have the technical ability that /.'era are supposed to have, then you can root your phone, fork your own version of Android, yada, yada, yada. But Google would go broke if the only people using Android phones are /.'ers. So as more organizations move to fork Android for their own purposes, it will be interesting to see just how long it takes before Google pulls out of supporting it.

  15. less RIAA fascism there... by Lazy+Jones · · Score: 1

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

    I cannot comment on the claims about malicious Google blocks, but it would be naive to ignore their different stance towards IP and therefore their higher perceived quality when searching for / downloading MP3 files etc. ... (e.g. Baidu 500). Many "westerners" will consider this bad, but it is a form of liberty ...

    --
    "I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
  16. ask zhao lianhai by decora · · Score: 1

    how 'different' it is.

    1. Re:ask zhao lianhai by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Or Liu Xiaobo.

  17. slavery is freedom by decora · · Score: 1

    war is peace. brought to you by the new Chinese-American-Corporation-Party, the party for liberty!

  18. GPL and business by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 1

    Which is why the GPL is bad for businesses: Why would you want to spend resources catering to non-customers?

    Asking your question here is no more than a rhetorical ploy, and a rather poor choice of one at that.

    Ask instead one of the businesses which uses or relies on Linux in its products, such as many NAS vendors. Here's one example.

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:GPL and business by toriver · · Score: 1

      Sure, on the receiving end. And as long as you can get away with modifications like TiVo did. But I was thinking about writing and selling software, and then some non-customer comes along and demands source, just because they heard of it or got it from someone else.

  19. Stanadards.. by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Who needs them? Lets fragment everything to the point nothing is inoperable and once you choose a vendor you are truly locked into their infrastructure.

    I say boycott it.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  20. I will never buy another dell by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    anybody that is running my data through a net that is owned by the chinese gov (and it is), is insane.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  21. It's working exactly as designed by yelvington · · Score: 2

    From http://source.android.com/faqs.html#what-kind-of-open-source-project-is-android

    Why did we open the Android source code?

    Google started the Android project in response to our own experiences launching mobile apps. We wanted to make sure that there would always be an open platform available for carriers, OEMs, and developers to use to make their innovative ideas a reality. We also wanted to make sure that there was no central point of failure, so that no single industry player could restrict or control the innovations of any other. The single most important goal of the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) is to make sure that the open-source Android software is implemented as widely and compatibly as possible, to everyone's benefit.

    "No central point of failure, so that no single industry player could could restrict or control the innovations of any other."

    Seems pretty clear.