Android Source Code Gone For Good? 362
First time accepted submitter vyrus128 writes "Many people were upset at the revelation, reported here in May, that the Honeycomb version of Android would not be open sourced. But Google promised that the next version, Ice Cream Sandwich, would have full source available. Now that ICS is out, though, the source is nowhere in sight. In the thread, Android's Jean-Baptiste Queru offers the following, as to the question of whether source will ever be made available: 'At the moment I don't have anything to say on that subject.'"
Bad title. (Score:2, Insightful)
Only Ice Cream Sandwich is up in the air, not all Android source code.
The title implies that it was all taken down, which is simply not true.
Impatient, much? (Score:4, Insightful)
Too Early, comes with official update push (Score:5, Insightful)
SDK has been released, SDK Roms should be out soon and by December ICS source should be under heavy development for CM 8 and other roms if history is any indicator.
Google reported on the live stream last night plans to put the ICS source up, something they said they had no plans to do with Honeycomb.
Incorrect (Score:5, Insightful)
No shit (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should they release the source for an OS that isn't even out in the wild yet? They've already said that the source will be released once the Galaxy Nexus is in stores (probably so that the Nexus is actually the first phone running 4.0. I'm there will be plenty of custom ROMs for other phones/tablets within days of the ICS source being released)
Re:Well then why bring it up? (Score:5, Insightful)
I welcome that kind of pressure to keep Google honest. Something has to push back against the many pressures to keep Google dishonest, and to keep Android source unavailable. Pressure from the large geek community is good.
The Sky Is Falling? (Score:5, Insightful)
So, essentially, this "story" is nothing more than I-Hate-Google-The-Sky-Is-Falling conspiracy speculation nonsense.
Is Slashdot pandering for page-views?
Re:Umm.... (Score:0, Insightful)
They've released more OS source code than Apple and Microsoft combined ever will.
Haha another ignorant fandroid. Your statement about Apple might be true only if we ignore Darwin, cups, llvm/clang, bonjour, webkit, macruby, etc. Oh and if we ignore their contributions to things like Apache, GCC and various other GNU utilities, Samba, etc. Basically your talking from your ass.
Slashdot is turning into Fox News (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:FUD Alert. FUD Alert (Score:5, Insightful)
Or do you happen to know someone who has a device running Honeycomb and was able to follow up on the legal requirement that the source be made available to them?
I haven't followed Google's behavior with the Android source code that closely, but what legal requirement are you talking about? I thought Android was Apache licensed?
Regardless of Android's license, there is no legal requirement for Google to release any code except portions to which they do not hold the copyright and are licensed (to Google) under viral conditions (i.e. GPL). Google's own code (as long as it is not classified as a derivative of someone else's work under the GPL), even if it was released under the GPL (or any open source license) in the past, does not have to be provided freely because Google is the copyright holder and therefore is not subject to the license as if they were a licensee.
As far as I'm aware, Google is adhering to any licensing terms that they are subject to. They also open source some of their own code, as well. Non-story.
Re:Umm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
what good will it be to get the source?
See obvious answer here. [cyanogenmod.com]
Having the source to the drivers would be preferable as then they could be improved as well, but nothing other than being a purist stops you from using the binary blobs as-is and improving the code that is open source.
Re:Well then why bring it up? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry but it's not just a word. It has power that can't be willed away. If you use it like that you're asking for trouble, regardless of your intention. I find it offensive (as would most other residents of the United States, I'd guess), particularly when used the way you just used it. You can't make that reality go away by saying "get over it, people".
Re:Well then why bring it up? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm really not that worried about this possibility, simply because Google would be fools to not release the code and they know it. They've benefited greatly from contributions to projects like Cyanogen, and the collective will of the Internet tends to come up with a lot of good ideas for them to integrate back into the official distribution.
I suppose it's possible that they *could* just decide "oh, we'll let them keep playing with Gingerbread and just steal any good ideas we see," but I think they know that's short-sighted and will cost them a lot more than good will.
--Jeremy