Ars Technica reports that Cyanogen Inc. reportedly fires OS development arm, switches to apps:
Cyanogen Inc. seems to be in trouble. A report from Android Police cites "several sources" that say the three-year-old Android software house will be laying off 20 percent of its workforce. One source said the company would "pivot" to "apps" and away from OS development.
"Cyanogen" branding can be confusing, so here's a quick glossary before we get started:
- Cyanogen—A person. Steve Kondik. The guy that originally started CyanogenMod.
- CyanogenMod—A free, open source, OS heavily based on Android and compatible with hundreds of devices. Anyone can download and flash the OS to a compatible device.
- Cyanogen OS—A for-profit OS that OEMs can purchase and ship on devices. It's the CyanogenMod codebase with some proprietary features on top and update support from Cyanogen Inc.
- Cyanogen Inc.—A for-profit company that aims to sell Cyanogen OS to OEMs. Formed with key members from the open-source project.
- Cyanogen Mods—Cyanogen Inc.'s proprietary app platform for Cyanogen OS.
The Android Police report says "roughly 30 out of the 136 people Cyanogen Inc. employs" are being cut, and that the layoffs "most heavily impact the open source arm" of the company. Android Police goes on to say that CyanogenMod development by Cyanogen Inc "may be eliminated entirely." The community could continue to develop CyanogenMod, but it seems many of the core CyanogenMod developers at the company will no longer be paid to work on CyanogenMod.
The story reports that, after a long executive retreat for Cyanogen Inc.'s company leaders, layoffs were conducted without advance notice.Imagine coming in to work to discover that a generic human resources meeting had been added to your schedule the night before — and in the meeting find out your were being laid off.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:11PM
Never forget that OSS is often a business with all the upsides and downsides of being a business.
Could the owners of Cyanogen Inc see a short term profit that they can't let slip away? Is Cyanogen's future going to be affected by outside forces (e.g., Google, Oracle, etc)? Has Cyanogen given up on "free as in beer"?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:13PM
A year ago, Microsoft invests in Cyanogen. [cyngn.com]
And now they are dumping their OS development which was the one thing that made them unique.
Embrace
Extend
Extinguish
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Kilo110 on Sunday July 24 2016, @01:47PM
Is MS even to blame this time? From what I recall Cyanogen shot their own foot when they reneged on their deal with One Plus and gave an exclusive with Micromax. What OEM will do business with you after that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @01:57PM
Is MS even to blame this time?
This doesn't just happen to happen to everything Microsoft invests in or acquires. Here's a simple test:
1 - Does a company test positive for Microsoft ownership or investment?
1a - If no, praise your deity of choice and go on about your day.
1b - If yes, please choose on of the following:
2a - Embraced
2b - Extended
2c - Extinguished
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @02:54PM
We really have no idea how much MS is involved. For all we know, that OEM licensing decision was the result of MS's influence too.
All we've got to go on are the external facts and in this case we see MS get involved, the business turns towards MS's interests and then the business starts to go downhill. We aren't quite to the extinguish part for the company as a whole, but they have clearly aborted all of their work that was not directly beneficial to MS.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cubancigar11 on Sunday July 24 2016, @04:33PM
One Plus made deal for exclusive rights of Cyanogen where they were selling - China, some European countries and USA.
Cyanogen made deal with Micromax which was valid only in India.
Then one fine day One Plus management found that India is a huge market, bigger than USA or Europe combined, and they were stupid to ignore it. So they launched their phone in India and... sued Micromax for selling cyanogen? And believe me, people buy good hardware in countries like India, not barely working software called cyanogen.
One Plus wasn't selling in India for some reason. Go figure. If I have to make a guess I will say they were under the impression that India is huge toilet like a lot of white people still believe. Can we just agree that the way they ran their business was shitty? Even the invitations they sent were region locked.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @12:18AM
India isn't one huge toilet? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-rejects-the-toilet-how-government-sanitation-drives-have-failed-to-sway-those-who-believe-10466041.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday July 25 2016, @04:20AM
Red-herring. One Plus isn't in the business of installing toilets, it is in business of selling phones. And Indians are crazy for phone [unu.edu]. Ignoring that market was just stupid.
Phone is a tool for economic upliftment. Toilet is health safety. Indians sacrifice personal health for small gains, like a lot of us sacrifice mean health via spreading pollution for bigger gains.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday July 25 2016, @03:56PM
So you brought up the red herring yourself?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @09:53AM
You're right it's not, it has designated shitting streets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @07:23PM
The open source version is getting axed, I'm pretty sure their Cmod OS is going to keep on kicking. FOR PROFITTTT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSO9OFJNMBA [youtube.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:20PM
“Won't programmers starve?”
I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something else.
But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing.
The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as now.
Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is the most common basis(7) because it brings in the most money. If it were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to other bases of organization which are now used less often. There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.
Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than that.)
Accept less than shit pay, coders, because you're not worth shit. Your free software movement made you worthless.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:40PM
Not just that. A new phone with last year's premium specs is less than $200. That, combined with the always moving Linux device driver model which makes it almost certain that a driver module compiled for one version of the kernel will not work with another version, have made it more acceptable to just buy a new phone when you want a software update rather than keeping an old phone and CyanogenModding it.
There just isn't a compelling reason to buy a (non-i)phone and keep it updated forever. When Android support is dropped, just sell and buy next year's model.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Knowledge Troll on Sunday July 24 2016, @12:23PM
after a long executive retreat for Cyanogen Inc.'s company leaders, layoffs were conducted without advance notice
The executives probably stayed at the retreat until the credit card blew up then came back and had to find a way to pay off all coke they snorted off a hookers ass.
(Score: 2) by deimios on Sunday July 24 2016, @04:04PM
I just HAD to install Cyanogen on my Nexus 5 last week. Sigh...
Well plenty of other fish out there, might aswell go fishing...
On a more serious note I'm switching because of the poor call quality, don't know what they did but Cyanogen had the worst call quality of all the rom I tried. Next stop: PureNexus
(Score: 5, Funny) by romlok on Monday July 25 2016, @10:45AM
Sorry, this appears to be my doing.
I bought a Sony-Ericsson phone. SE was fully absorbed into Sony (IIRC) and the name discontinued.
I bought a Firefox OS phone. Firefox OS was discontinued on phones.
I bought a Geeksphone (FxOS). Geeksphone soon stopped supporting it, and Geeksphone now seem to be having other problems.
Earlier this year I bought a CyanogenOS phone (Wileyfox Swift).
I did have a Nokia as well, way back when, but that was so long ago that I don't think I can accept the blame.
Perhaps I should contact phone manufacturers, and see if any will pay me *not* to use their phones.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @06:01PM
Perhaps I should contact phone manufacturers, and see if any will pay me *not* to use their phones.
As a business major I feel compelled to inform you that the maximum reimbursement will be found by contacting businesses and having them pay you to use the *competitor's* phones.
You're welcome. Patent pending. Where's my 10% cut?