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from the if-Google-won-did-we-the-people-lose? dept.
Android is 10 years old this week. In part one of a larger story, The Register looks at the beginnings of Android, including some early competition, and a brief comparison to Microsoft.
Google was in the game, at a time when others didn't realize what the game was. Or did, and couldn't turn the ship around fast enough. Android succeeded because it was just about good enough, and its parent was prepared to cross subsidize it hugely. Android wasn't brilliant, but it was better than Bada, and uglier than WebOS. Symbian simply wasn't competitive. If you were a Samsung or Sony or HTC, then Android gave you what you needed, it gave users a better experience. Developers were happy writing for a Java OS, it was a doddle after writing for WM and Symbian.
[...] Motorola also had a significant part to play in Android's success . . . as did Verizon. Carriers like Verizon had been snubbed by Apple's carrier exclusive strategy, and Verizon was badly burned by the BlackBerry Storm. It went all in.
[...] Android is far bigger and far more invasive than a PC could ever be. Google's dominance over our personal lives is far greater than Microsoft's ever was. The clunky laptop in the corner did not track your every movement or read your emails.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday November 14 2017, @03:03PM (5 children)
Most people that use Linux download binary code, trust it, boot it on their hardware, install this binary code onto their system and then begin using it.
I'm sure you could very likely get all of the same source code that "shady hacker" got and compile and build it all yourself. At no small effort.
Now it wouldn't hurt if it were made easy to download and then do a single gigantic build of the whole binary ready to flash onto your unlocked phone or tablet.
But once upon a time it wasn't exactly easy to get Linux installed on to a PC. It involved downloading lots of floppy disk images from a "shady hacker" website and jumping through all kinds of hoops to get it installed, get it to boot up, get it configured and begin using it.
Just sayin'
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @03:47PM
Maybe they do, but there are at least other options. There are fully free operating systems endorsed by the FSF, and even fully free laptops (though they are older, which won't please people who care primarily about power).
It's not ease of use that's the issue, but freedom.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @04:01PM (1 child)
To root your "device" you need to exploit a security flaw in the existing system.
This exploit is not readily published; it's kept obscured not only to prevent abuse but also to inhibit the closing of that loophole.
You have to break into "your" device in order to actually own it.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 14 2017, @10:47PM
Not in all cases. Some phones are available unlocked, and offer you an option to unlock the bootloader.
My phone is a Google phone, used on AT&T, for example. If I had an AT&T phone, it would be locked. But I didn't buy my phone from AT&T, so AT&T has nothing to say about it. They just give me a SIM and my phone works. The amusing thing is that when I brought my sweet (at the time) Nexus 6P in to the AT&T store for a SIM, they seemed to get me right to the desk, without waiting, got a SIM popped into the phone, and then rushed on my way out of the store before anyone sees what kind of phone I had.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Tuesday November 14 2017, @08:44PM (1 child)
Quite... but those shady hackers of yore were nothing compared to the networked sociopaths of today. It's a bit like comparing mosquitoes to the bubonic plague.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 14 2017, @10:48PM
I say "shady hacker" in jest. Back in the 1990's, most Windows PC users had no idea that Linux existed, what it was, or how to install it. As they become aware of what it is, it appears to be some deeply dark technical thing that requires magical skills and patience and is the realm of dark basement dwelling hackers.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.