Android getting sold for money

[inittux]

Source: Android foes still beating GPL non-compliance drum

 

 

And what does everyone think of that Android is getting sold with mobile phones?

While it runs on a linux kernel which is actually opensource. And they are keeping

some of the code back I read and then they are selling it? Doesn't really sound to me

like Android is really respecting Linux GPL, and then Android wouldn't really be

opensource? What are your opinions on this?

[hybrid]

I haven't looked into this in a lot of detail, but it strikes me that the Android licensing issues are complicated, and, frankly, a bit of a mess. It has always seemed a concern to me that the spirit of the licence certainly isn't being upheld in some cases, especially where end users have to go to considerable lengths to 'root' their devices to actually exercise their rights to change the software on them. Whether or not the licences are actually being complied with, well, I'm not a lawyer.

 

It just feels messy to me. A mobile phone is a different beast to that of a personal computer, in the sense that it has always been a little bit out of your control -- its primary functions are useless without the cooperation of the mobile carrier. Personal computers have always been more, well, personal -- in our direct control. So what rights to complete freedom over our mobile phones do we have the right to expect, and what rights are we likely to actually get in practice? Many Android phones are customised by the hardware manufacturer quite a lot, whereas most PCs have only minimal customisation (a few apps installed here and there) done by the vendor to the software. All of these issues and more mix together to make it a difficult issue to navigate.

[anyweb]

personally i dont mind paying for something if it does the job and works as expected, so if Google is charging a few bucks for Android that's ok with me, its a great phone system

[inittux]

personally i dont mind paying for something if it does the job and works as expected, so if Google is charging a few bucks for Android that's ok with me, its a great phone system

 

I don't mind either but I was more referring to that android running on a version of a linux kernel, and linux license being opensource. As in you are free to change as long as you share it and don't sell as a whole new product for the changes that you made.