I made a very specific point about Oses for a good reason, it's very different from app development and the examples you've given because there is the added problem of how to handle interaction with the hardware.
With games consoles the single company OSes run on products produced by the same company (e.g. Sony PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) With PCs there is a Microsoft controlled WHQL certification process which offers a level of confidence that a piece of hardware will work with the OS. With portable devices there is usually a very close relationship between the OS provider and the hardware provider (e.g Nokia/Symbian, or where the one company does both - RIM, Apple). My point is that would Google stepping further and further back from the driving seat of Android be a good thing for Android? Al. P.S. Open source is a development model. A business model includes things like how to generate cash to either break even (for non-profits) or make a profit and so touches on aspects which are way beyond what an "open source" project has to deal with in order to produce a release. --- * Written an Android App? - List it at http://andappstore.com/ * ====== Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ralf Sent: 13 April 2009 06:32 To: [email protected] Subject: [android-discuss] Re: SDKs & comparison with the iPhone On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > > Reading you post made me concerned in regard to an aspect that had > always been at the back of my mind; > > If you look at Games consoles, PCs', etc., the current winners are the > ones where one company controls the direction of the OS. Whether it be > Xbox -v- > PS3 -v- Wii, or the PC -v- Mac battle, all the big contenders are > "single company" OSes. What you're saying is that one company that has the capacity to focus on a good strategy can complete it and create a good product. Sure, but there are many counter examples of big companies creating bad products, and there are also numerous examples of small companies being very successful at taking on larger companies (e.g. Google with search or Macromedia with Flash back in 2004.) But in any case, the point is not that a company be "big" but that it has a directed focus. That's true of open source projects with a central leadership, e.g. Python and its Dictator-for-life. Open source projects built using a bazaar approach without a central mind are just too scattered to be an efficient development model and hobby on-the-side development can only provide so much. It's never quite black-and-white so there might be counter-examples to that last point too. Switching subject, I noted a trend in several posts: developments made being closed doors and only made available once finished and polished are bad thing because it's not developed in the "open source" spirit; however development made public before completion is not good because it's not final and stable. Sorry but you can't have it both ways. Open source is a business model, not a development model. R/ > > Even where there has been a change of leadership which takes place > over more than a couple of years the old and the new winners are > single company OSes (e.g. Solaris being replaces by Windows in the server arena). > > Hmmmm... > > Al. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jay-andro" <[email protected]> > To: "Android Discuss" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 6:42 PM > Subject: [android-discuss] Re: SDKs & comparison with the iPhone > > >> >> Going back to the original topic of comparing with iPhone, here's how >> I summarize my experience with both platforms so far: >> >> 1. Android is a more powerful platform with greater flexibility in >> what it allows developers to do, both in terms of applications >> features, and development process & tools available. >> 2. In terms of potential for the future, Android holds forth much >> more promise by being ported to a variety of types of devices, and >> getting contributions from companies & individuals coming at it from >> different perspectives, whereas iPhone will go only where one company >> wants it to go. The true openness of Android may be debatable (as >> evidenced in this thread), but the true closed nature of iPhone is >> undebatable, as is the RELATIVE openness of Android compared with any other mobile OS. >> 3. Perhaps as a result of this greater openness in the SDK, Android >> pays a price in terms of poorer performance and stability (when >> multiple apps are running amok with their background proceses on a >> phone) and slower concerted movement and progress in any one >> direction,. >> 4. Apple exercises extremely tight-fisted control over the >> developer's pipeline in terms of provisioning profiles, phone ID's, >> certificates, itunes to phone restrictions, and such. After tasting >> the openness and free-wheeling nature of developing on Android, the >> iphone dev process feels very stifling. Add to that Apple's >> imposition of a gag order on discussion of its SDK's limitations, and >> the whole experience leaves a bad taste in the mouth. >> 5. However, Apple's approval process and SDK restrictions actually >> result in an iphone user experience that is MUCH more satisfying >> within each app, and a MUCH more happy ownership experience for the >> iPhone owner, while restricting the range of apps that can be built; >> whereas the lack of supervision, marketing and support on the Android >> front makes it more akin to the wild west both for users and >> developers. >> >> So, in my experience, it is a very mixed bag, with no clear winner. >> One platform is more mature, far more user-friendly, larger in volume >> with greater immediate promise of $$, but discouragingly restrictive >> on developers. The other platform is (relatively) a joy to develop >> on, has great potential, but also very frustrating for the lack of >> support and direction provided. So while this debate can rage on ad >> infinitum, in practical terms as a developer committed to mobile app >> development, I see no alternative but to have a leg on each side of >> the fence, while hoping that Android by year end will be in a much >> more happy place in terms of volume and streamlined direction from Google. >> >> PS: As a point of comparison, Blackberry I feel is somewhere in >> between in the App World JDE development model. The API's are more >> capable that iPhone's but less than Android's, their support is >> excellent & better than the other two, their rules far less >> restrictive than Apple's; but I am finding a lot of vagaries and bugs >> on their latest device, the Storm. I'd be very curious to hear how >> the new Palm OS stacks up against these incumbents. >> >> > >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
