[ale] almost OT: Cyanogen mod

[Robert Reese]

Hello Boris,

Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 1:26:12 PM, you wrote:

> They claim " we want to liberate Android from finacial grip of Google " and doing so with taking millions from others known and "unknown"
> companies. So the question is who is going to harvest profits no really in favor of customer.
> I see this like : You feed the dog, and the dog barks back at you :)

Not exactly. The whole business of open source is that the community as a whole benefits. Up 'til now, the only major benefactors were the cellular providers, the tablet manufacturers, and Google.  Google has increasing tightened its grip on something it should have made more open over the years.  Remember, too, that Android is a Linux distribution at its heart.  

CyanogenMod reopens competition, forcing Google to become again more open while simultaneously accepting responsibility for maintaining parts of Android.  The cellular providers might also like an Android alternative, especially ones that aren't opposed to users doing things to the phones they OWN. Naturally, though, those providers and manufacturers aren't going to like the ability for customers to remove the spyware the providers and manufacturers have so "lovingly" thrust upon their good customers.

This is definitely a good thing, even if Google doesn't like it.  Which is the great thing about Android: Google might not like it, but because it is built on Open Source, then even Google can't do much about it lest it angers the populace.

Cheers,
R~