Slashdot Mirror
Google Targets Android Fragmentation With Updated Terms For SDK
SternisheFan writes "Google has expanded its legal agreement with developers working on Android applications to specifically prohibit them from taking any action that could lead to a fragmentation of the operating system. The prohibition was added to the terms and conditions for Google's Android SDK (software development kit), which developers must accept before using the software to build Android apps. The previous version of the terms of service, published in April 2009, didn't address the issue, but the new terms published on Tuesday include this new paragraph: 'You agree that you will not take any actions that may cause or result in the fragmentation of Android, including but not limited to distributing, participating in the creation of, or promoting in any way a software development kit derived from the SDK.' Google did not respond to several requests for comment. The issue of Android fragmentation has been gaining increased attention, but it's happened largely as a result of actions taken by Google and Android handset makers, not developers. It's a problem because it means that Android applications may not run properly across all Android devices. 'It continues to be a problem, both on smartphones and tablets,' said Avi Greengart, research director at Consumer Devices. 'Google has talked about multiple initiatives for dealing with it, but none of them have successfully addressed it.'"
Of course, the obvious solution to Android fragmentation is an updated EULA! That will fix everything!
Being allowed to fork and being allowed to call your fork "Android" are different things.
Letting carriers have more control of the handsets was one of the "ins" that android had.
People have really short memories, and forget how some carriers were infamous for disabling features so they could sell them back to you nickle-and-dime. Ringtones, wallpaper, hell they even liked to charge a premium to get photos off of your device. Verizon was known as "the phone raper". They'd sell devices that were hollow shells of their non-US counterparts.
Apple turned that model completely upside down, taking control away from the carriers. This pretty much started the smart phone boom (as we know it). Because of apple, you're not forced to buy apps through the Verizon store. The iphone is an APPLE device. Not an At&T one. Not a verizon one. Apple correctly puts the carriers in their place as commodity bit fingers and communication infrastructure maintainers. (Which the carriers hate with the fury of a billion suns)
Google was looking to be more flexible and "open". They were also willing to play ball with carriers (to boost market share and adoption) and let them molest the devices to a greater extent. But not completely. Google has a baseline standard that has to be followed. Play by Google's terms or no Google apps for you. There's been some friction over this, mostly by companies that think they can remove google maps and charge a premium rate for another product.
Yes, but this is almost certainly just a shot at Amazon (and a preemptive shot at Samsung). It doesn't do anything to address the real fragmentation problem: hardware and other issues causing manufacturers to abandon OS updates a few months after launching phones
It doesn't prohibit things like Swype. If they wanted to kill Swype, they could do it in one blow- delete the InputMethodService class in the next version. Without it, no more 3rd party keyboards (source: I worked at Swype). As much as Google seemed to love making me jump through hoops to work around their code, I don't see them doing that anytime soon.
I dislike how vaguely this is worded, but it doesn't block libraries either. What it blocks is people making phone specific SDKs, or taking the SDK and making it compile Android app to non-Android devices. Its meant as a counter to some Chinese OEMs doing just that. The only thing I really see that it blocks that was good are things like the original x86 sdk/ndk that people used before Google finally moved from ARM only.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Why does fragmentation matter on Android devices? They all use Flash RAM drives, so its not spending time seeking like the old physical hard drives
I would have thought that it was targeting OUYA from forking the SDK and bundling it within their console.
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
If you'd bother to actually read the EULA, anything covered by a separate (prior) agreement such as the GPL is already grandfathered in a prior paragraph so it's still GPL'ed.
"[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
You cant call it android unless it is the current version or the previous version. Anything older can NOT be called or branded android in any way.
Suddenly the Lazy bums at HTC and Sony will actually use the latest OS for their phones and push out updates.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I completely disagree. Carriers are actively customer hostile entities. Everything they touch becomes worse for the end user. The apple phone experience was so good because they didn't let the carriers have their way. It's why Verizon turned down apple for so long. It took Steve Job's massive reality distorting balls to to convince At&t to try it their way. Bam. Smart phone boom.
Just look at Europe, where the GSM standard mandated interoperability. Customers were free to use whatever device they wanted just by slipping in a sim, and they picked devices that weren't carrier crippled. The mobile market there boomed while it stagnated in the US with our carrier-oriented market.
Now we've got devices with a higher degree of consumer control (Yes, apple's walled garden isn't "open" but it's 1000's of times better than anything verizon ever attempted) and the market is huge.