Time To Accept That Android Is No Longer Open Source?
22 Oct 2011I read today that Google and Samsung have unveiled Galaxy Nexus Android 4.
It has been well known that the Android 3.x is not open source yet, but I had expected 3.x to be open sourced at any moment. Now that 4.x has been released and there is still no sign of the 3.x or 4.x source code, I think we have to ask - is Android really open source now?
Well Google has given some reassurances that 4.x will be open sourced “We plan to release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices”, but this lacks credibility when they still haven’t released the code for 3.x.
This could all change in moment, all it takes is for Google to publish the source code, but this is truly not how an open source project is supposed to be run.
2011-11-03: Further to this article, Google has announced that Android 4.0 is to be open sourced in the coming weeks.