Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 9:00 AM
As you might have heard, on the 22nd of October we will start to see the first deliveries of the T-Mobile G1, the first phone based on the Android mobile platform. This is an incredibly exciting time for us, the culmination of over three years of work done by hundreds of people at the companies that make up the Open Handset Alliance. All of us are waiting with bated breath to see how the phone is used and what its impact will be on the future of mobile phones and computing.
But that's tomorrow....
Today I'm very proud to announce that we are releasing the code that went into that same revolutionary device. Let me present Android: the first complete and highly functional, mass market, Open Source mobile platform. Built with and on top of a bunch of Open Source software, this is one of the largest releases in the history of FOSS. Our goal was to make millions of terrific phones possible, to raise the bar on what people can expect from any mobile phone and to release the code that makes it possible.
So check out the code, build a device, send in some patches and become a committer.
Android is terrific now, and with every new developer that joins us Android gets better. Not just for the Open Handset Alliance, not just for Google, and not just for T-Mobile G1 users — but for everyone. Through the use of Open Source we can change how the world thinks of cell phones and portable computing, together.
If you'd like to know more, visit the Android open source page and read all about its debut there.
14 comments:
The Linux license says that if you are using their source code, modifying it and selling it, then the end user who buys your product/software has a right to get the source code. So Google HAD to release the source code with the release of G1.
That's certainly true for the Linux kernel, and we've had the git repositories for our kernel available since the SDK shipped back in February.
However, releasing the rest of the platform wasn't an obligation - it's what we felt was the right thing to do. We're hoping that a free and open mobile platform will transform the industry and the world in the same way that a free and open platform for the web did.
Can I run Andriod in my Neo Freerunner?
If google is making an OS free, so I could run this on the most free Phone!!!!
At this point, no one has contributed a port to the Neo Freerunner.
But it's only been open source for 3 hours, 49 minutes! There's still lots of time. =)
While you're feeling all open and revolutionary, might this be a good time to bring up a sketchup linux port?
No really, good job guys. I look forward very much to the future of mobile computing. Perhaps my next phone will run android..
There is a large interest in the Openmoko community to port Android to the Neo Freerunner. Currently there are no stable OS's, and certainly no OS considered to be consumer ready.
I want to see some Googlers using their 20% time to work on this :) (there must be some there who have a Freerunner)
Some of the git repos seem to be incomplete: dbus.git/NEWS
Point 3.3 of the terms and conditions don't seem at all open source ("you may not copy (except for backup purposes), modify, adapt, redistribute, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or create derivative works of the SDK or any part of the SDK.")
I know that maybe Android is huge, and the SDK is only a part of it, but with such a license, don't expect may free software enthusiasts to use this, especially now that Nokia owns Qt and has made it available on S60, and with the planned opening of Symbian.
Well looks like someone started to port it to OpenMoko http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.handhelds.openmoko.community/28756 I am truly enjoying this smartphone battle and definitively the best thing could happen to Open Source Smartphones is Google since they have a massive merchandise power.
Now I am totally convinced to get one Android when it hits México.
I think what you guys (and gals) are doing is awesome. Google, as a whole, is an incredibly wonderful (for lack of a better word) company, and I hope that I can help develop this platform in the future, just to have assisted with a revolutionary part of mobile history. I love Google!
And Jeff, you're so cool. How many posters actually respond to the readers' comments?
I hope you guys get what you should and totally dominate the market, as that would be best for *everyone*!
Apparently Android already runs on the Freerunner:
http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/openmoko-kernel/2008-October/005966.html
For T-Mobile G1, there will be a bundle of tmobile g1 accessories online to select from; everything from Backup Batteries to Car Accessories, G1 Cases, Chargers, Cables, Headphones, Cradles, Bluetooth Accessories, and more. The list goes on and on, but basically the primary purposes of any g1 accessories are to add functionality, such as where you can use it and what you can use it with, make some features easier to use, and extend the use of the G1 Android phone.
How can you get in touch with the people at Google Android? I don't have a bug request.
@ Josh: You might want to try the project's mailing lists.
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