IBM's Lou Gerstner was be-knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
|
|
|
Google wallops Android developer
YOU KNOW THAT BELIEF that Google was using Android to draw on the strengths of open sourcerers? Well it turns out that is not quite the case.
One of the most prolific developers of Android software, Steve Kondik, has been slapped with a cease and desist order from Google central.
Kondik offers a free, after-market firmware product that bundles closed source Google apps such as Gmail, Market, Talk and Youtube. Dubbed the 'Cyanogen mod', it already has 30,000 users.
The letter orders him to stop distributing the closed source Google apps as these are meant for "Google Experience" devices.
According to Tweaktown, what seems to have gotten up Google's nose is that Cyanogen provides an array of useful functionalities that are not yet in the company's official Android releases. Some of them could never be in official Android releases because they stick it to Google's partners.
Kondik intends to start talks with Google not only to see if he can talk some sense into it but also to find out what it is really worried about.
However the Cyanogen application is not really going to blow the whole Android operation out of the water. Google has had a pretty relaxed attitude about its Android applications. µ
Share this:
Share
What?
Maybe I'm missing something, but I've gotten similar ROMs for winmo, and MS hasn't said a thing. Google seems to have taken a turn down the wrong road and is driving towards evil town.
Ah so!
Cyanogen.
There are few states, I suppose, which exact so severe a toll from one's nervous system as the anticipation of "do no evil legal".
Hey, his page is currently down, but over the weekend he made an update that he (with others including some google folks) has found a legal way to continue distributing the Cyanogenmod ROM LEGALLY. More details to come so stay tuned or hit his IRC #cyanogenmod on freenode.
As pointed out by Altair, Google is merely upset about him redistributing their closed-source apps. You might want to google "Cyanogen" before writing an article about him. This might have led you to read his own blog post (from yesterday) where he seems very happy to remove those apps from his distribution. This will also mean the default inclusion of another appstore which will be a big boost for whichever one he chooses and give us Android owners more choice.
I actually use cyanogen and they included quickoffice in the last stable release. They have since said they will remove it because it is 'warez'. They also have the mail app from the HTC branch etc.
It isn't a huge amount of software but what I think Google is saying is: don't include software that is closed source or bundled with the vendor specific branches.
I think that is fairly reasonable but I would assume Google is intelligent enough to know that cynanogen can strip down the rom and people will still install this software anyway.
How do you redistribute web pages? Those are web based apps. I don't see where Google can bitch if someone writes a custom app that connects to the web and pulls down those web pages.
It's like being mad that there is a custom icon application for Blackberry phones that takes you strait to the ESPN web page.
I haven't had my coffee yet, so maybe I'm missing something but it seems to me like Google is sending a cease and desist for re-distributing software whose license does not permit redistribution. Talk about what devices the redistributed software targets seems beside the point.