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Chief Replicant Dev On Building a Truly Free Android

Posted by timothy on from the if-you-love-something-set-it-free dept.

angry tapir writes "While Android is open source, it won't work on a phone without software that generally isn't open source. The Replicant project is an attempt to build a version of Android that doesn't rely on binary blobs for which the source code isn't available to end users, and the software currently works on a handful of handsets. I caught up with the project's lead developer to talk about their efforts to make a completely open source version of Android."

1 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Say goodbye to most coprocessors. by houstonbofh · · Score: 1, Redundant

    This will not happen.

    I love statements like that. So certain of the future... But, there are a few projects now looking at fully open source ARM based systems. (for example, http://rhombus-tech.net/ ) This means all specs out there, and drivers. As they come out and get popular, the cost will fall, and more closed companies will use them as they are cheaper. As this continues, they will end up with a competitive advantage over the closed hardware, which will open, or perish. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.