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Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP

1180 points · 723 comments · theanonymousone

  1. wps · · focus · HN ↗
    The amount of roadblocks Google is putting up for GrapheneOS is just ridiculous. None of their decisions make any sense, from the delayed source patches upstream, to the embargos, attestation issues, etc. Google simply regrets android being open source.
    1. godelski · · focus · HN ↗
      I hope people remember this when advocating for chromium. Just because it is open source doesn't mean they don't control it. We need to start the long process of hard forking now or turn to alternatives like Firefox as a new foundation.

        > Google simply regrets android being open source.
      Android wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't open source. With all the work from outside Google. The same is true chrome.

      But they won't learn that on their own. They are breaking the deals. So we move. We force their hand

      1. StilesCrisis · · focus · HN ↗
        Hard forking doesn't solve the problem of closed source.

        If the goal of a hard fork is "the community will invest equal resources that Google does today" then you wildly underestimate how many engineers work on Chrome.

        1. MiroslavPokorny · · focus · HN ↗
          Can anyone actually share 1 - 3 examples where a hard fork of a living os project has actually succeeded ?

          If AMZN couldnt make their fire whatever it was called fork of Android really grow, what chance has the community got ?

          1. microtonal · · focus · HN ↗
            386BSD -> FreeBSD

            NetBSD -> OpenBSD

            To some extent I would argue that Linux is a spiritual fork of Minix and Unix.

            But I think it’s also worth pointing out that these were in vastly different times where a single person or a small group of people could maintain an OS. An OS or browser is vastly more complex now.

            1. bunderbunder · · focus · HN ↗
              Network effects were also nowhere near as strong as they are now.

              BSD is a sort of killer example. Using a BSD Unix got to be pretty difficult after Linux containers became hegemonic.

              1. mh- · · focus · HN ↗
                It was a bit challenging long before that. I ran webhosting on FreeBSD in the early 2000s - remember finding a tool you needed and hoping it was in ports?
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