On 4 December 2015 at 15:52, Barry Drake <[email protected]> wrote: > I took a further look this morning. It is impossible (almost) to get > Android apps without going via Google Play. In order to use Google Play, > you have to give a Google login, and that means a Google account with all > the information grabbing they do. The outside sources (Amazon is one), have > a very limited range of apps, most of which are not for serious work. >
Indeed. On Sailfish I know some people will optionally install the necessary Google components to enable them to fill the gaps in the app ecosystem. > I've looked at both Tizen, and Sailfish > Maybe that's a good reason for Ubuntu's lack of enthusiasm for an Android > layer. > We've discussed this repeatedly at length over the years of Ubuntu Phone's development. It's very much a double edged sword. If you add Android (or indeed any other OS) compatibility you're actively making it less likely people will develop specifically for your platform. You're also tied to the Google release cycle, and as Google don't release the software for Android until late in the development cycle, you're always playing catch-up. I don't think that means we'd never have Android compatibility though. If some 3rd party made an app framework which developers could use to bring single, specific Android applications to Ubuntu phone, and shipped that library in the store, then it may well be viable. But baking that into the platform might not be prudent. Hard to tell. Cheers, Al. -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
