That Was Close, Google

The open-source/Android world went into a frenzy last week when Google hit Android modder Cyanogen with a cease-and-desist letter, but it seems that this situation (unlike the Apple/Google Voice debacle, which nowadays seems like it’s been going on since THE BEGINNING OF TIME) is turning around.

For those not up on the actual issue at hand, Cyanogen makes custom ROMs for Google’s Android phones – that is, he rewrites the operating system with a few tweaks. Google’s point was that, although the Android OS is technically open source, the apps that come with the “Google Experience”  phones, such as Gmail, GTalk and Maps, are not. And, since Cyanogen’s mod installs copies of these apps, he’s essentially distributing things he doesn’t have the right to (many refer to this as stealing – a concept that has all but disappeared from the brains of the under 25).

After this, an Android-hungry world of hackers went cuckoo bananas, calling Google such names as “jealous” and “liars” and “Apple” (oooh, that one hurts). But no one was apparently able to just take a damn breath. Yes, this does pretty much defeat the purpose of Android itself being open source. And yes, a cease-and-desist might have been a little overboard (diplomacy, Google!) But you really can’t blame Google for their argument, however poorly made. I would assume that some of that stuff is not fully under their control, that it’s the carriers who decide what has the “Google Experience,” and could care less about open source. Sucks, but that’s business.

But as all this was going on, I was just sitting there  wondering why one couldn’t just back up the proprietary apps, install the ROM, and then put the closed apps back on? It seem like the simplest thing in the world, yet no one seemed to be asking this question – or at least, it wasn’t the first thing they said when they heard the story (yet it was the first and only thing that popped into my head – it’s called logic, people!). Everyone just wanted to yell at Google. Suprise, surprise, the internet is filled with idiots.

Well, it turns out that this is not really an issue anymore. A new blog post by Cyanogen says that you can, in fact, just back up your closed-source apps and re-load them onto a modded Android. Go freakin’ figure. A recent Twitter post of his says that he might still have to deal with stuff from carriers and hardware manufacturers, but at least this is a step in the right direction. A step, I might add, that took a total of three days to happen – which is apparently long enough to act like it’s World War III and it is ON.

Just another example of how the internet fosters idiocy on a level that man had not known before it’s inception. *sigh.*