LM for Android.

Story: Ubuntu for Android Will be Demoed at ComputexTotal Replies: 9
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2briancox

Jun 04, 2012
5:03 PM EDT
I am very excited about Ubuntu for Android ... as long as it results in Linux Mint for Android.
caitlyn

Jun 04, 2012
5:06 PM EDT
I'm more excited by companies that want to compete with Android rather than build on Android.
Khamul

Jun 04, 2012
6:23 PM EDT
You're excited by Apple and Microsoft, and maybe RIM (though it looks like they're not going to be around much longer)?

Both Apple and Google (and finally, after much time, Microsoft, but probably much too late) have figured out that apps are the thing that makes mobile devices successful. No apps, and no one wants to buy into your platform. It's the very same thing that's kept Windows so successful on the desktop even though Windows itself is a POS: no one wanted to give up Windows because it'd also mean giving up their favorite or business-critical applications. Apple made a mobile device that was easy to use, and the hipsters thought it was great, but then they added the App Store and suddenly everyone wanted one. Then Google decided to do the same thing with Android, and they too have been very successful. Finally, MS did a "me three!" and aren't doing as well, because the app developers already are annoyed with having to make two versions of everything, and many don't feel like making three versions, especially when the third one has such low marketshare. They also don't bother much with RIM, even though they have some kind of app store too finally. Throw in a fifth one with the Ubuntu mobile platform or whatever they end up calling it, and it's going to be dead in the water; if the app developers aren't wasting their time with Windows Phone OS, what makes you think they're going to spend any time on yet another small market?

As with many things, it's the first mover advantage at work here. Google was lucky to be as successful as it was, since their product was a copy of Apple's, but they made some parts of it much better (no premium price tag like Apple stuff, and also they gave it away to handset and device makers and allowed them to customize it, something Windows Phone doesn't allow, so Android is very attractive to the mfgrs), so they were able to do well in providing an alternative to iOS with clear advantages over it. What clear advantage would anything else have?

At this point, I think anyone trying to get into this market would do better making an improved version of Android, which could still access and use the Google Play store for apps. However, the legality of that is questionable (there's probably some licensing problems there, Google might not allow non-Android devices to access their service), but also, where's the money? Google doesn't even make any real money on Android OS, it gives it away for free so it can sell more advertising services, and probably also get a cut of the sales on the Play Store. Anyone else trying to make a mobile OS has to compete with that, and that's a losing proposition. Where are they going to make money? If they charge for the OS, they're competing against free, and the only people who'd be interested are those who simply hate Google (like you apparently, judging by your prior posts). Well, people who hate Google enough to pay significantly more money for a device already have an alternative: it's called the iPhone. They even have another alternative that's just as cheap as Android phones: they're called Windows Phones, and they're not selling. I'm sorry, there's not a big enough market of people who 1) hate Google, AND 2) hate Apple, AND 3) hate Microsoft, AND 4) hate RIM/Blackberry, to support a company that wants to get into the handset market, and has to both partner with big device makers like HTC and Samsung, and convince the carriers to sell their phone in stores and kiosks all over the developed world, to make the whole proposition economically feasible. You could certainly put together a "community-supported phone OS" like CyanogenMod (which is really just a modification of Android IIRC) which interested people can install on their phones themselves, but that's not going to support a decent-sized company.
caitlyn

Jun 04, 2012
6:29 PM EDT
Quoting:You're excited by Apple and Microsoft, and maybe RIM
Nonsense. I use and own nothing by Apple and nothing by Microsoft. For quite some time I've gotten the idea that you are a total jerk or an idiot or maybe both. Thank you for confirming my suspicions.

Quoting:though it looks like they're not going to be around much longer
On what do you base that expert analysis? Blackberry is still doing very well with enterprise customers. They are not doing well with consumers. That's kind of like Linux.

Oh, and I don't hate Google (or anyone else) but I object to using products that are designed to mine and collect data about me and sell it.

People will always go on to the next cool toy that captures the imagination. Don't assume defeat before something new is even developed.

2briancox

Jun 04, 2012
6:52 PM EDT
I agree with the need for competition...to increase consumer freedom. =)

http://2briancox.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/android-vs-ubuntu-...
Khamul

Jun 04, 2012
7:02 PM EDT
@caitlyn: Thank you for confirming my suspicions that you're a total bitch. You have the nastiest attitude of anyone I've seen on these forums, and anytime someone disagrees with you your ugly bitchy attitude comes right out. Nothing I said was inflammatory, you said you were interested in companies competing with Android, so I pointed out 3 of them for you. What's really pathetic is how you seem to always get a pass for your shitty attitude just because you're a pundit, even though your pathetic articles are little better than the likes of Ken Hess.
caitlyn

Jun 04, 2012
7:08 PM EDT
I didn't use foul language. You did. I didn't say anything nasty about you until you went off on me and mischaracterized me as "excited" by companies most FOSS advocates look down on. In other words, you went on the attack against me and I responded. You now have taken it to an incredibly higher level of disrespect and name calling. All I did was take what you have been writing for a long time, your thinly veiled attacks on me, and brought them out into the open. You took the bait. Congratulations.

Guess what? I really don't care what you think of me. I don't think anyone else will see my articles as "little better than Ken Hess." However, now everyone can see what your attitude is like. Thanks for that.

There is another thread running about "Linux hositility," or how hostile the Linux community can be to newcomers or anyone with a dissenting opinion. You've also just illustrated that beautifully.
Khamul

Jun 04, 2012
9:29 PM EDT
A personal attack is a personal attack, regardless of the language. I never attacked you, and it takes a real victim personality to twist my words into that. You're a prime example of "Linux hostility".
nikkels

Jun 04, 2012
9:33 PM EDT
caitlyn and Khamul

LXer is for discussing Linux things. If you want a boxing match, please join a gym. Thanks
kennethh

Jun 04, 2012
10:05 PM EDT
Wow! Really folks? It's just an article about ubuntu running on android.

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