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Android O Is Now Officially Android Oreo (theverge.com)
Android O is now officially going by the name of Android Oreo. The operating system is available today via Google's Android Open Source Project. OTA rollout is expected to arrive first to Pixel and Nexus devices, with builds currently in carrier testing. The Verge reports: The use of an existing brand makes sense for Google here -- there aren't a ton of good "O" dessert foods out there, and Oreos are pretty much as universally beloved as a cookie can be. There's also precedent for the partnership, as Google had previously teamed up with Nestle and Hershey's to call Android 4.4 KitKat.
Oh, sorry - wrong product placement.
#DeleteChrome
But it always pisses me off that it's necessary to do that. Just go with version numbers, people!
Google Android engineer here: In most cases I don't actually know what the numbers are without looking them up. I kind of get the complaint in Debian's case, since the choice of Toy Story character is arbitrary, but both Ubuntu and Android have been going in alphabetical order (though Ubuntu has to wrap, or something, in October), so it's just as easy to tell which release is before or after another as if they were numbered. Internally, we pretty much only use the code names (or letters, before the names are announced).
Actually, Android does have a number sequence that I track closely: API level. The OS version number doesn't mean that much to me.
I do know 8.0, though. I added a feature to Nougat that binds Keystore keys to OS version and security patch level as another layer of defense against rollback attacks (where the attacker pushes a legitimate but old OS that has known vulnerabilities). Keystore is used for disk encryption keys, among other things, so when Keystore keys break, the device doesn't boot. Due to an error in the version number management on internal testing devices (which are used by large numbers of employees as their everyday phones), we had to roll back the version number. I found a workaround, but for a while it looked like we might have to wipe everyone's phones.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
The real problem with Android is how users aren't using the new releases
That would be better phrased as "user's can't get the new releases". It's not the users' fault, it's the vendors' fault that the phone the user buys is a legacy product the minute their payment clears. What's fucked up is the ecosystem, not the users.