Comments on: On Android and differentiation http://www.macalope.com/2009/11/24/on-android-and-differentiation/ Full of sound and furry Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:20:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: david http://www.macalope.com/2009/11/24/on-android-and-differentiation/#comment-3478 david Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:35:33 +0000 http://macalope.com/?p=630#comment-3478 Android, the open source mobile OS project is gaining a lot of popularity mainly because it is an open source project. But the major problem in it is, the lack of documentation. The plugins are good, but the layout and the UI are hard to understand. Android, the open source mobile OS project is gaining a lot of popularity mainly because it is an open source project. But the major problem in it is, the lack of documentation. The plugins are good, but the layout and the UI are hard to understand.

]]> By: Scruff http://www.macalope.com/2009/11/24/on-android-and-differentiation/#comment-3477 Scruff Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:02:47 +0000 http://macalope.com/?p=630#comment-3477 > Free software only forks as a last resort. Nonsense. Look how many distros of Linux there are. The problem is that developers always think they know best, and that preexisting code/software is always wrong. The reason why the examples you gave are all non-forked is that they are published languages, based on standards, and sendmail, well, sends mail - woo hoo. The majority of open source software forks itself out of relevance, as unlike a company with goals and standards, the open source community is hardly a community, and more a collection of warring factions with their individual beliefs and notoriety being their only goals, rather then those of their users. > Free software only forks as a last resort.
Nonsense. Look how many distros of Linux there are. The problem is that developers always think they know best, and that preexisting code/software is always wrong. The reason why the examples you gave are all non-forked is that they are published languages, based on standards, and sendmail, well, sends mail – woo hoo. The majority of open source software forks itself out of relevance, as unlike a company with goals and standards, the open source community is hardly a community, and more a collection of warring factions with their individual beliefs and notoriety being their only goals, rather then those of their users.

]]> By: felix http://www.macalope.com/2009/11/24/on-android-and-differentiation/#comment-3476 felix Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:34:30 +0000 http://macalope.com/?p=630#comment-3476 This seems to place the problem squarely in the wrong hands. Far from the open source community fracturing the platform, how fractured is the Apache community? Sendmail? Perl? Ruby? Python? PHP? The real problem is the carriers and the handset makers - they have a proven record of requiring special tweaks and hacks and removing functionality to suit their own needs and differentiate themselves from each other to hide their true commodified status. That's where the fracturing is going to come from - free software only forks as a last resort. This seems to place the problem squarely in the wrong hands. Far from the open source community fracturing the platform, how fractured is the Apache community? Sendmail? Perl? Ruby? Python? PHP?

The real problem is the carriers and the handset makers – they have a proven record of requiring special tweaks and hacks and removing functionality to suit their own needs and differentiate themselves from each other to hide their true commodified status. That’s where the fracturing is going to come from – free software only forks as a last resort.

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