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Google Blocking Asus's Android-Windows "Duet"?
theodp writes "Android is free and open," reiterated Google Android Chief Andy Rubin in 2010 as Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7. Rubin added, 'Competition is good for the consumer and if somebody has an idea for a feature or a piece of functionality in their platform and Android doesn't do it, great. I think it's good to have the benefit of choice, but in the end I don't think the world needs another platform.' But now, CNET and Digitimes report that Google is holding up the Asus Transformer Book Duet TD300 (specs), a laptop-tablet hybrid that can instantly switch between Android and Windows 8.1. A source familiar with the Asus Duet told CNET that Google is the one that has not favored the idea, while Microsoft has not, to date, been actively opposed to the idea. 'If true,' reports Apple Insider, 'it may not be the first time Google has helped to quash such a product.' South Korean electronics giant Samsung quietly canceled plans for its hybrid Ativ Q tablet last year, and Digitimes notes that Asus may not be the only company to bow to Google's wishes."
Is that not Evil or something like that?
It's still open in the sense that legally you can do whatever you want with it.
It's up to you if you want to make Google happy or not.
Only one OS will be used, propably based on which OS is currently booted. People are to lazy to reboot to change OS thats just two minutes longer to get on Facebook.
The age of "one device, one OS" is what's "stupid."
And I sure as hell hope English is a second language to you.
For example, if android is run under a hypervisor that allows 'quick switching' between the OS's, but restricts what android can do or degrades performance, I can see why Google doesn't want to impact the Android brand by releasing something substandard.
Asus is a member of the OHA. Members are explicitly forbidden to create Android forks. So much for the BS "open" argument.
Self-proclaimed geeks and nerds supporting and defending Google - sad and mind-boggling.
of boot loaders and Microsoft's more recent history and their standard practices I think someone would have to be extremely ignorant of Microsoft's history and their standard practices or a shill for Microsoft to state that this is somehow unfair to Microsoft.
Folks, I don't think Microsoft is just misunderstood. I don't think we have to worry about poor little Microsoft surviving its treatment by the "big bully" Google. I think Microsoft is getting exactly the sort of response that it has earned for its behavior.
Substandard... you mean like 90% of Android devices in existence.
And how many of those $50 tablets were approved by Google and run the Google apps suite? I thought the answer was "almost none of them".
The article gives no useful info - assuming any such dispute exists at all, it could be for any reason: seems like the blog is just assuming it must be the dual boot capability because that's what gets traffic. But if for some reason that was the issue, Asus or anyone else could ship devices running the regular open source Android, sans Gmail/Maps/Play Store, without having to deal with Google.
You forgot about the pr0n angle.
You have no idea what people will use that second OS (with its completely separate filesystem) for.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
"a laptop-tablet hybrid that can instantly switch between Android and Windows 8.1"
I agree dual boot for a tablet might not get a lot of use, though I could definitely see being able to reboot my tablet into windows occasionally for real work being a nice perk, instead of carrying around a laptop as well.
But this is not dual boot. Watch the video, both OSes appear to be running side by side, it only takes about 4 seconds to switch between them. More like a KVM switch between two computers built into the same tablet form factor.
And *that* I think has serious potential - android is better for the lightweight appliance stuff, and windows is right there, along with the clip-on keyboard, for when you want to get work done.
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Laptops aren't just laptops these day - there are more and more hybrid devices which switch from laptop to tablet (a Sony Flip, for example). Sadly, operating systems for laptops (like Windows) are wholly inappropriate - or just very, very poorly optimized for tablet usage (yes, Windows again). Android is light years ahead of the Metro interface for tablet use. So it's better to be able to switch back and forth to get the best interface you can.
Sure you could reboot every time you wanted to switch, but you may as well go back to DOS and single threaded work. Why should we NOT want to be able to transition between the OS and application that fits the job the best?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
My phone is a Galaxy Note 3. Quad core, 2+ GHz, HD display. It is extremely responsive, I like the supplied OS/app feature set (with the exception of the My Magazine bloatware from Verizon), and to make it "mine" I only had to DL five or six apps from the Play store, all free. It's light and slim, with a large display that I love. We also have iPhones in the family, so I'm quite familiar with them -- and I have a current model, maxed out iPad. So I have a basis for comparison. The notification system on the Note is far superior, for one thing, and both the email and text messaging facilities are superb. The phone portion works extremely well too. Android has come a long way from the crippled crap that infested my old Droid, and the Note hardware makes the Droid look like junk.
I really don't think Apple "owns" the high end at this point; they're dominant by virtue of a long time in the market with a good product, but there are other players and they've got some great products. I could see Android getting some real traction in this area now, and I would not have said that previously.
--fyngyrz
anon due to mod points
Android is light years ahead of the Metro interface for tablet use.
Plug a keyboard and trackpad into a tablet and is it still a tablet? I was under the impression that the traditional Windows desktop was light years ahead of Android for laptop use.