AOSP Maintainer Quits

In a post on Google+, Jean-Baptiste Quéru, long-time maintainer of the Android Open Source Project, has said he'll no longer be working on it. "There's no point being the maintainer of an Operating System that can't boot to the home screen on its flagship device for lack of GPU support, especially when I'm getting the blame for something that I don't have authority to fix myself and that I had anticipated and escalated more than 6 months ahead." Quéru is referring to the recently-released Nexus 7 revision, for which Google has not provided factory images of Android 4.3. This seems to be because GPU maker Qualcomm is refusing to release the blobs necessary to boot the device.

Comments

Google can fix it with a hammer.

[Anonymous Coward]

The best way to solve this problem is for Google to announce that they will not to use any parts that don't include open source drivers. The blobs will be released real quick.

Re:Google can fix it with a hammer.

[h4rr4r]

That is exactly what google should do.
If your drivers are not in the mainline kernel, your parts do not go into nexus devices.

Re:Google can fix it with a hammer.

[spire3661]

People dont give a shit how a structurally sound a bridge is constructed either, only a tiny tiny % of its users do.. Just because only a few know enough to care doesnt change the argument. Very often it is the unpopular ideas that are correct.

Re:Google can fix it with a hammer.

[spire3661]

There are public safety issues at play in a device you carry with you at all times,devices that will live in our walls, our appliances, everything. Open Source is the cement, the steel beams that will hold up future information society, dont be so dismissive of its true importance. How are we ever going have a galactic computer if we allow art to determine what can and cant be done on a computer? We should get it right and not sell out for movies.

Let anyone forget...

[CAIMLAS]

Lest anyone forget, or for lack of never knowing, that this reason is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

It's not to discount it as a significant factor, but anyone who's quit from a position knows it's not just one thing, usually, there are several - lack of pay/low pay, poor work structure, poor work environment, demeaning personalities, etc.

Getting endless gripes and complaints about lack of support for something as popular and 'open' as the Nexus 7 when they've got no ability to fix the situation - but should, by Google's own marketing claims - has got to be pretty disheartening on its own, but I'm certain it's not the only thing.

Re:Let anyone forget...

[symbolset]

"The task is not possible" can be a pretty compelling argument for giving it up.

Re:Let anyone forget...

[Trepidity]

It's also worth noting that this was his full-time day job at Google (possibly more than full-time, if it went as this kind of project often goes). That's sometimes a good situation, because you're getting paid rather than putting in unpaid nights/weekends on the project. But sometime it can actually be worse, and more stressful, because it's your real job and you have to work on it daily. At least if you get burned out on a volunteer open source project, you can ignore it for a bit, step back from the mailing list and bug tracker for a little while things settle down, and then come back to it later with some fresh energy. But if it's your actual day job that is harder to do, unless you have an exceptionally flexible boss.

Well, I guess that settles that

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Up until this news, I was seriously considering buying one.

Re:Well, I guess that settles that

[h4rr4r]

Join the club. I guess I will have to stick with the original one a little longer.

I would pay extra for a device with all the drivers in the mainline kernel. So far that seems impossible in the tablet/phone area.

Re:It's Qualcomm's decision to make

[Trepidity]

It'd be one thing if this was in a third-party android device; nobody is insisting that Google must require every Android device to have open drivers, too. But this is Google's flagship device that's supposed to show off their platform. If they really "encourage everyone to make devices that are open and modifiable", they could lead by example by making sure that's true of their own device!

One odd thing...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm not surprised that Qualcomm are being dicks about driver source(though I would assume that they have some haha-nominally-GPL-compliant shim for interacting with the Linux kernel, like Nvidia does); but the lack of a factory image seems very weird indeed.

Do they somehow think that anybody who wants to steal their precious secrets (and has the resources to actually be a threat), is going to be stopped by the need to buy a $200 consumer electronics widget and crack it open? If the device is shipping, the driver binaries and firmware blobs are shipping with it, in millions of units. They aren't going to stay secret long against anybody who cares.

Re:It is time to wake up

[Scutter]

You had me until you brought out the "dumb sheep" trope. You would be more effective in persuading people if you could leave out the hyperbole and tired, cliched insults.