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Google Android not so open

by on07 April 2011


Opensource is when we tell you
We have learned quite disturbing things about Google Android policies and we can tell you that Android feels as open source as Apple's iPhone OS.

You can remember the big fuss about Motorola Xoom, the first Honeycomb Android 3.0 device, and many do remember that Nvidia Tegra 2 is inside. According to many industry sources, it turns out that Tegra 2 is the reference design for Android 3.0 and even some big names such as Samsung had to go after Nvidia chip to get the Honeycomb. Industry sources from TI and some independent ones close to Qualcomm have also told us that Google has picked Nvidia, and that this is the Google's way of doing things. They pick the smaller player give it a lot of love, in return for a lot of control over the terms of release.

Nvidia has patiently waited to make a big fuss about Tegra 2 only when Google said its ok to do so. Some big players including Intel still wait to get Honeycomb code so they cam make the final drivers for its Atom based Z670. We don’t get it how can you control 100 percent something and then call it open source, it gets a bit fuzzy here. Still the company who spies what websites you search and watch and serves you an ad based on that such data, is definitely a player that likes to keep things under its tight grip.

If you don’t use Tegra 2, Honeycomb becomes available to you roughly a quarter later, and this is most likely Google’s way of saying thanks. The boss of Android, Andy Rubin already had to defend its open source tactics and he did it in the part here.

 

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