Google's biggest competitor in the smartphone arena isn't Apple's iOS, which commands less than 15% of the global market. Google's certified OHA version of Android still leads with 65%, but Open Source versions of Android are at 20% and growing faster than any other mobile OS.
Now, according the The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is joining other parties to invest around $70 million in the celebrated Open Source Android vendor Cyanogen. Kirt McMaster, Cyanogen’s chief executive said in an interview last week “We’re going to take Android away from Google”, and it appears that Microsoft is determined to help with the separation.
Why Microsoft would choose to invest in Android is unclear, but they have little to lose in the mobile phone market, with WP8.1 less than 2% of the market and falling last year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/29/microsoft-to-invest-in-rogue-android-startup-cyanogen/
Ars Technica also has coverage.
Related Stories
Roy Schestowitz at TechRights reports
Cyanogen is not about privacy, not about software freedom, not even about choice. It's about "anti-Google". It has been like this for a while and it got a lot worse once Microsoft paid Cyanogen, almost as though Microsoft rewards Cyanogen for the "Scroogled"-type rhetoric and seeks to use Cyanogen as a Trojan horse or carrier of Microsoft's proprietary and privacy-hostile 'apps' for Android.
MS-CM, or the Microsoft-backed fork and FUD source against Android, is having issues. Partners leave. Maybe that alone is a reason for leaning on Microsoft. Maybe the "anti-Google" angle is becoming the business model. Days ago Linux Veda wrote: "Today's announcement may now mean that OnePlus devices will now longer ship with Cyanogen OS at all, if it turns out that they have made their own ROM."
Only two days later a followup said that "OnePlus kicks Cyanogenmod out, announces two new ROMs". As the article puts it: "After a disappointing spat with Cyanogen, OnePlus have decided to ditch the once community driven, now Microsoft-back custom ROM--CyanogenMOD--and bring their own ROMs to the market."
[...]A lot of the "Google controls Android with an iron fist" type of characterisations came from Microsoft-friendly sites like The Verge (I first spotted this and wrote about it in 2013). It's not that it's 100% untrue, but they have accentuated this to incite against Google and then tried to use it to poison the minds of OEMs while Microsoft (and proxies like Nokia) attempted an antitrust angle, not only in the US but in Europe too.
Microsoft is, as usual, playing dirty. This is the latest example of it and those who give CM the benefit of the doubt do so at their own peril. MS-CM (maybe CMS, as in Cyanogen MicroSoft) is definitely trying to just commit suicide by aligning itself with Microsoft, like many other dead 'partners' ([of] convenience).
Related:
Microsoft may Embrace Android and Invest Heavily in Cyanogen
Microsoft Loves Linux, and Open Source. We know this because the press is telling us this almost every day.
The TechRights Blog, and writer Dr. Roy Schestowitz, explains that this is part of the Microsoft master plan. Just when you thought Embrace, Extend, Extinguish was going away, the article explains the multi-prong attack that Microsoft is quietly working in the background. And they are relying heavily on their friends in the press. Microsoft has always had its share of shills in the press, but, with the focus on Google Android and Apple its quietly become less of a Journalist career killer to be openly Pro Microsoft. Schestowitz explains the attack as killing Linux Softly with APIs and the lock-ins they bring as more Microsoft packages and services are ported to Linux, and by getting appointments to key Linux Foundation subcommittees, by slinging dollars and software contributions.
By becoming financially dependent on Microsoft partners like Nokia and Intel (Wintel) the Linux Foundation lost its ability to antagonize rivals and it might not be long before the Linux Foundation silently tells Torvalds not to denounce Microsoft because of his new senior colleagues from there and because “Microsoft loves Linux”, according to Microsoft. As we have shown before, several Linux Foundation sub-committees are having heads appointed to them from Microsoft (Neela, Ramji and more). It is like a coup in slow motion as we are gradually witnesses more of its impact.
In the area of cloud services, for storage, virtual machine platforms, communications - skype and email, Microsoft is moving slowly but steadily into the Linux world.
And of course we've already discussed Microsoft's Trojan Horse attack on Android via their $70 Million dollar investment in Cyanogen.
The press seems to be lapping it up, because Google has now become the company to hate, and many of the Journalist starting out today don't remember the never ending supply of dirty tricks used in the past.
I recommend you read the long-ish article, or at least scan its major points. It may explain why you will be seeing more and more stories about a company you had come to believe was irrelevant. [Corrected at 17:54 UTC]
(Score: 2) by datapharmer on Friday January 30 2015, @03:29PM
embrace, extend, extinguish. Nothing to see here, please move along.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MrNemesis on Friday January 30 2015, @04:19PM
The problem for me with this comment at least is that... well, in my albeit blinkered view Google isn't any better than MS in the EEE field of things these days. Not that MS is anywhere near a saint, or even better than google, but if they can use the money to take a swipe at google and apple then I'd actually be quite happy to see it.
First off I'll provide the disclaimer that I don't really have a horse in this race (I still use an ancient nokia) but I'm unhappy with all of the major smartphone platforms. iOS is apparently unusable without an apple account and I detest the walled garden approach, MS is effectively, android is hobbled without one and google are apparently increasingly leaving the open source parts of android to rot whilst subsuming the functionality into the closed-source google apps, effectively forcing manufacturers and application developers to be reliant on the google services and libraries. Please correct me if I'm wrong - like I say, I don't use these platforms myself (although I did get a nexus 7 that I put CM on but it doesn't have internet access and is only used as a glorified XBMC remote).
I don't want to be tied to an account provider for access to my own email, I don't want my phone contacts shared with an advertising agency, I don't want to have to fund manufacturers that try and sabotage local storage so as to coerce you into renting timeshare on one of their mainframes, I can perform my own backups, install my own adblocker and generally use my device as I see fit. MS taught me to never trust a major technology provider with your data since when push comes to shove they'll always try and use it to make money out of you.
So in that regard, forks like CyanogenMod are a ray of sunlight; lots of nice functionality that should be in android versions but isn't, like decent application permissions, google apps not installed by default leaving you free to try something like f-droid or just install your own programs from files (although that's remarkably difficult too). So I can understand why people would be worried that a consortium of which MS is a part would be putting money into it - but surely it's just a swipe at google's own EEE tactics, and the open-source nature of forks like CM would mean that even if MS and their cronies did succeed in getting their hooks into it then there'd be another fork springing up to replace it...?
"To paraphrase Nietzsche, I have looked into the abyss and been sick in it."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Friday January 30 2015, @04:36PM
Google has long since stopped doing neat, interesting, and useful things with new tech.
For me, at least, any good will they might have acquired has long-since been extinguished in a steaming pile of unnecessary Plus integration, needlessly killed tech experiments, and an almost ceaseless invasion of ads into spaces I don't want them.
To worry that one major corporation is going to take an open source platform from another major corporation is the kind of cheer-leading I think no one here much likes.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Friday January 30 2015, @05:38PM
I disagree. With driverless cars, Glass, and a pile of others, they are one of the few that actually *are* doing interesting things. IBM is another. Have you seen how much these companies spend on R&D?
(Score: 2) by nightsky30 on Friday January 30 2015, @06:15PM
Google perhaps, but IBM's budget on R & D is questionable, especially after this:
http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/01/26/1446243 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Friday January 30 2015, @08:49PM
IBM seems to be one of the few doing research on new storage tech, faster chips, replacements for silicon, etc ... the real physics and hardware stuff. I realize neither of these companies is being altruistic; they're looking for the next big thing. With Google at least though, they do seem to be trying to solve some of humanity's big problems though, and make a profit doing it. They're one of the few companies that seems to be smart enough to look beyond the next quarter though.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Friday January 30 2015, @03:38PM
I'm glad to see Microsoft EMBRACE the open source movement like this!
With any luck they'll EXTEND its capabilities, adding useful new features.
Of course, I'm sure Microsoft has some sketchy business plan for this, something like:
Step 1: Embrace
Step 2: Extend
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit
But I'm sure that being the honest and responsible corporate citizen that it is, Microsoft will be acting in everyone's best interests and this move will benefit the market.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @04:38PM
*IF* MS wants to stay relevant (and I am pretty sure they want to). They need to be in the game. They need to sell software on the 99% platforms (namely andriod and ios). Their platform may be neato and wizzy and cool. But it is on a fraction of the phones/tablets out there.
They sell software (and sometimes a bit of hardware to sell more software). Its what they do. In the end if they are not making software for the dominant platforms they will go out of business. In a few cases they created the platform. In this case they didnt.
Balmers myopic view of the world was hurting them. There was a time if you bought a mac you also bought a decent amount of MS software to make it usable.
(Score: 2) by arashi no garou on Friday January 30 2015, @07:00PM
If this was five years ago, I'd completely agree with your snark. But Microsoft seems to be moving towards a rebirth as a more open source friendly company, while Google is steadily moving in the opposite direction. I'm not sold on it yet (I do use Windows Phone but I still prefer GNU/Linux and BSD for daily computing) but I'm cautiously hopeful that they mean what they seem to be saying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @11:51PM
You clearly don't understand M$'s business model.
It's ALL about anti-competitive actions and SECRECY.
As the Barnes and Noble episode illustrated, M$ won't even *talk* to you until you sign an NDA.
(M$ **ASSuME'd** B&N had already signed--because everyone else does without any questions--and M$ started talking openly to B&N, spilling the beans about which patents they were claiming infringement of; it turned out to be chickenshit nothings related to their 4th-rate filesystems and B&N was free to reveal that to everyone.)
If M$ can't patent something, they try EEE.
The Hyper-V episode illustrates another aspect of this and why EEE is unlikely to work.
M$ got caught violating the GPL and was forced to release the source code of their derivative work.
(The M$ shills like to call it a "donation" to the kernel.)
...and the 1st thing gregkh had to do before allowing it into the Linux kernel was remove over 60 percent of the code because it was useless crap. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [unixwiz.net]
(...showing once again the extreme "quality" of M$ code.)
N.B. M$ has stopped all support of their Hyper-V "donation" to the Linux kernel.
The name "Android" and the Little Green Robot are trademarks of Google.
If you don't follow Google's rules, you can't use those.
So, the only ways M$ can use EEE is to pay devs to create crappy apps to try to dilute the pool of hundreds of thousands of Android-compatible apps.
...or find open-but-not-GPL apps and screw them up then get folks to come to -their- repo and download and install -their- shit version.
Good luck with that, M$, you slimeballs.
So, to summarize, M$ will continue to produce closed-source software and will try to put turds in the FOSS punchbowl.
What they WILL NOT do is willingly hand over power to a competitor.
They have NEVER done that and they won't be starting that now.
It's antithetical to how M$ operates.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @12:10AM
I think the reason we haven't seen Hairyfeet show up yet is that your post gave him a conniption and he's currently convulsing on the floor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @12:32AM
I'd bet is that he has been busy cleaning off infections from his clients' machines and will be till about 9PM my time.
When he's not doing that, he'll be occupied trying to convince people they need to pay him for EULAs for software to accomplish tasks that can be done using $0 Free(dom) Software.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @10:13PM
the thing about freedom is that it works both ways
its great if you can find a bargain ('free' is a pretty good bargain) but on the same token companies like microsoft are free to sell their products for a profit
if only you understood the profit motive and how consumers benefit from it. you don't even know what capitalism is
markets are corrupted when governments get involved (patents, exclusive licensing, subsidies, import tariffs, non-competitive contracts, etc). that's how monopolies are created. without all the protections given to corporations like microsoft, apple, google, comcast, etc by the federal government, foreign competition would have wiped these uncompetitive monstrosities out years ago
(Score: 2) by emg on Friday January 30 2015, @03:39PM
Maybe this will give Google an incentive to actually add useful features to Android, like proper app permission control.
(Score: 2) by useless on Friday January 30 2015, @04:52PM
It's already in there. They just disabled it before general release (KitKat, I believe). A bunch of ROMS just activated the existing functionality.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @05:23PM
Ask yourself: by doing this, _who_ would benefit? In what way does those entities benefiting, increase the bottom line (monetarily, market share, etc...)
I don't know about your answer but mine is: it benefits the end-user and it doesn't increase the bottom line so there is no incentive to do it.
You need to stop thinking about this company as if it is somehow more virtuous than any other company, because it isn't. It's just after your money. And when they get all of it, you'll be coerced into telling them that you're happy that they got it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by emg on Friday January 30 2015, @05:35PM
Duh, that was precisely my point.
Google don't care about users, because there's no real competition. If users start switching to Microsoft Android, Google will have to start caring about what users want, rather than what advertisers want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @03:50PM
Backdoor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @05:27PM
Backdoor.
To the consumer or the consumer's device/data?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @05:54PM
Pick one or both.
(Score: 2) by nightsky30 on Friday January 30 2015, @06:21PM
So now Windows 10 and your MS branded Android tablet/phone/POS (NOT Point Of Sale) can log your key strokes!!! Science!!!
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 30 2015, @06:48PM
This just in! Dev version software has overly verbose logging!
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @09:46PM
I could see this happening too... "We're sorry, you have to upgrade your hardware to use this update. We've gone ahead and crippled this device until you upgrade your hardware and buy a new license to use it"
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Saturday January 31 2015, @09:40PM
Myes Apple?
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by morgauxo on Friday January 30 2015, @04:42PM
I'm concerned this might be an attempt at another embrace, extend, extinguish cycle just like everyone else.
But.. I also see it as a possible way for Android to pick up some development that Google seems intent on quashing. Maybe Google can keep enough control to prevent that extinguish phase while still losing a bit of control to Microsoft. (wow, a few short years ago I never thought I would be rooting for o'le Mickeysoft vs Google!)
I still have a Motorola Lapdock. Motorola really sucked when they brought that thing out, the price was absurd and the software side of their implementation was all wrong. They made the software better before it was discontinued but it was already too late. (don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a Linux desktop but not one that only runs Firefox, no other applications)
Anyway.. why did Google (who purchased that part of Motorola) discontinue it? Because it failed to sell? I think the idea could have sold with the software and the price problems fixed. At the very least they could have made the ability to go into Lapdock mode a standard Android thing. In later software releases you don't actually need a Lapdock to take advantage of the mode. If you plug it into HDMI it can go into tablet mode (which enables more screen size using features on many apps). It also goes into higher, desktop like resolution and the touchscreen on the phone becomes a trackpad. Add a keyboard, (usb or bluetooth) and probably a mouse (if you don't like the on-screen trackpad) and you have a desktop. It's pretty neat. It even can use usb accessories. (I've used storage devices and an rtl-sdr stick)
Google killed it.
Why did Google kill that software feature? I've heard it's because they have made a decision that they do not want Android to be a desktop OS. Why? Because some apps written for pocket sized devices might not give me a good desktop experience? So what?!?! Just pop up a disclaimer screen or something, (This app not intended for desktop use, press ok to use it anyway but don't blame us if the UI stinks). Just look at the iPad! Has access to iPhone apps which are not optimized for tablet screens harmed it?
I like Microsoft's idea of using the same OS across all platforms and letting the same applications run on them. Yes, I know people hate that mobile friendly UI on their desktop. That can be solved by just continuing to develop the old desktop shell and giving the user a choice(a shell in Windows is like a desktop manager in Linux). Just like you can run the same applications in Linux regardless of desktop/window manager choice you should be able to run the same things on Windows regardless of shell choice.
Maybe with Microsoft trying to take a roll in steering Android development we can get a native ability in Android to switch to a more desktop-like mode when the apropriate hardware is attached. Then I can finally upgrade my phone! My Bionic is getting kinda slow!
(Score: 2) by morgauxo on Friday January 30 2015, @04:53PM
All that said, Ideally I would much prefer to see "the year of the Linux desktop" actually happen.
And... an actual Linux phone. I'm talking gnu, X and a touch based window manager, not just java or an html engine that happen to be sitting on a Linux kernel. Ok, Wayland is acceptable... IF and ONLY IF it gets a good, fully developed network-transparency solution first that does everything X can.
And, I would like a Lapdock-like capability built into this mobile Linux OS.
And, really good integration between this Desktop and Phone Linux.
While I'm at it, can I get new Lapdock like hardware? I want a touch screen on the dock. Plus, a second, no-keyboard dock that makes my phone into a tablet. Maybe a Surface-like solution where the keyboard dettaches would be better. Still a dock for my phone though, I don't want two active devices to babysit. I'd have to play with it and see that it is mechanically sound. I don't want weak clips that break, nor do I want it to be prone to separating and the screen part falling off when using with the keyboard. But.. however the dock works.. don't lose the USB host feature!!!!!!!!!!
Well.. since I know about how likely I am to get this wish list... I'll just hope that Microsoft's moves result in the Lapdock coming back.
(Score: 1) by schad on Saturday January 31 2015, @12:50AM
You would? Based on the direction the Linux desktop is going, I'd rather see the year of the CDE desktop, featuring Solaris 7.
(Score: 2) by morgauxo on Tuesday February 03 2015, @04:47PM
Sure I would!
Getting a majority or even a strong minority on the Linux desktop would mean more software compatiblity (Photoshop, games, Netflix on less popular browsers than Chrome, etc...)
Mostly what I want it for though is to resolve an old fear. I used Linux back when everybody seemed to just HAVE to make their websites require Flash. And.. Flash had no recent enough to be useful Linux releases. That sucked. I'm not really expecting a Flash comeback but maybe some other tool will come around that has no Linux support and a significant portion of the content of the internet will be hidden behind it. The year of the Linux desktop would prevent that. Given the open nature of Linux it might also gaurantee that even less common OSs like the BSDs or further out there Syllable and stuff like that would have full access.
Don't let controversial distro decisions get you all bent out of shape.
Don't like their default desktop, use a different one. Don't like their default init system.. same answer.
Your favorite desktop manager now requires the init system you don't like? Well.. then how are you going to run it on some other OS? I guess you have a decision to make until someone comes up with a work-around.
I think it's a relatively new thing for default choices to be such a big deal. When I started RedHat was a desktop distro but Mandrake was a better one. It was called Mandrake, not Mandriva. You got a choice of KDE, Gnome or a number of Window managers right in the installer, no default. After that I went to Debian, they didn't have a graphical installer and you had to apt-get your own desktop manager. Same now with Gentoo which I currently use. It seems really weird to see so many complain because they don't like Unity or some other desktop. So what? Install what you like! I guess the super-userfriendly distros probably gain something in integration and 'just works' ease of use by doing that. If you even know what CDE and Solaris are, even if you are joking about using them... I bet you are smart enough not to be locked in to anyone's default choices anyway.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by ramloss on Friday January 30 2015, @06:29PM
Most comments are about Embrace-Extend... but what about the revenue stream that MS has from Android? Seems logical that they want to invest in their source of profit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @09:48PM
By revenue stream, do you mean the patent troll revenue stream they're getting?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @07:08PM
"Why Microsoft would choose to invest in Android is unclear"
It's perfectly clear. There is no room for a third incompatible phone OS and there
is no way for them to create an iPhone apps infrastructure with Apple already in
total control of the platform.
Since Google has the attention span of a puppy, this is the perfect opportunity
for MSFT to take control of it.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Friday January 30 2015, @09:44PM
attention span of a puppy - LOL! good one.
I have never been an MS fan. but these days, my ordered list of companies in the big 3 that I hate, from most hated to least hated is:
google
apple
MS
and so, I'm actually hoping MS comes thru and gives google (and apple) some hard times. MS does not actively seek to sell me to advertisers, MS doesn't claim to be a 'do no evil' company (that bald faced lie really annoys me no-end) and MS has a clear revenue story, unlike google whose business is basically to sell the privacy of their users to ad agencies (and god knows who else). apple is much too control-freaky and so, MS ends up on top of the 3 most hated list. not sure how that happened, but it did (for me, at least).
I'm not saying MS perfectly ethical - they are NOT - but they tend to be more hostile toward companies than users, and being a user, at least its not ME that they are trying to market and sell.
like I said, a cold day in hell must just have happened for me to say any kind words about MS. but given their competition, they end up being the one who 'sucks the least' (sigh).
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SlimmPickens on Friday January 30 2015, @09:28PM
This is not about embrace, extend, destroy. It's about hanging on for dear life.
From the summary of the Microsoft Looks to Embrace Android Apps [soylentnews.org] a few days ago.
[...] according to a former Microsoft employee, the biggest priority for Microsoft this time around is to “stop the leakage” and prevent Android and iOS users from completely abandoning Microsoft’s operating system. Apparently, this has led Microsoft to discuss whether or not Android apps should be allowed to run on Windows Phones.
They will do either or both of making AOW64 (Android runtime on Windows) or WOA64 (whatever). Maybe duplicate any successful apps for both runtimes.
They're in a position for embrace, but not for extend or destroy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @09:50PM
They should do a proper NT subsystem based on interix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday January 31 2015, @03:54AM
"The enemy of my enemy is Micro$oft"
No, that doesn't work.
"The enemy Micro$oft is also the enemy of a friend of mine."
Better
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer, and your invisible friends even more closer."
That's just crazy.
"The friend of an enemy of Micro$oft is a friend."
This could be true.
"Poor Cyanogen, they did not know what they were getting into, and never saw the end coming. We will mourn them. Along with Nokia. Poor bastards!"
True.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 31 2015, @05:24PM
Don't let friends drive Micro$oft.