[SporkLover]

I understand the point you are trying to make very clearly. You are just wrong.

You need to delineate Android from Google's other application work. You are taking issue with how Google chooses to distribute Maps, Mail, etc on Android vs WM. Clearly that is an angering issue, but has no bearing on "how open Android is." It is how Google makes money from Android. Not really an old addage, but how do you make money off open source software? You write closed source software for it and charge.

Android is Open. You have already admitted, he can modify it, and redistribute it. He was not in trouble for that.

The Apps that Cyanogen was distributing were not. He clearly admitted that. The reason you don't have a problem with it on WM is because Google doesn't have restriction on the distribution of those apps on WM. You can go and download them freely. With Android you can't. They only come pre-installed, and they are put there by a business arrangement. Cyanogen violated that. There is nothing like that on WM. If there was, you can bet that Google would jump all over that too.

Just because Android as a Mobile OS is open, does not mean it is the wild west; you still have to abide by applicable Copyright and Distribution Rights.

I don't think Kill Switches fit in with the open source effort either. But Google put it in as a good faith effort to protect users, and IP holders, because Google doesn't vet the apps in the Android market. They need a mechanism to protect someone else's IP, and to protect their Market users from being exploited. They were up front about it before the Market even opened. They did not try to hide it. It was Terms of service that you had to accept in order to use the market. Within their Terms of Service they even state what they intend to use it for.


They have similar terms for distribution in the market:

7.2 Google Takedowns. While Google does not intend, and does not undertake, to monitor the Products or their content, if Google is notified by you or otherwise becomes aware and determines in its sole discretion that a Product or any portion thereof or your Brand Features; (a) violates the intellectual property rights or any other rights of any third party; (b) violates any applicable law or is subject to an injunction; (c) is pornographic, obscene or otherwise violates Google’s hosting policies or other terms of service as may be updated by Google from time to time in its sole discretion; (d) is being distributed by you improperly; (e) may create liability for Google or Authorized Carriers; (f) is deemed by Google to have a virus or is deemed to be malware, spyware or have an adverse impact on Google’s or an Authorized Carrier’s network; (g) violates the terms of this Agreement or the Market Content Policy for Developers; or (h) the display of the Product is impacting the integrity of Google servers (i.e., users are unable to access such content or otherwise experience difficulty), Google may remove the Product from the Market or reclassify the Product at its sole discretion. Google reserves the right to suspend and/or bar any Developer from the Market at its sole discretion.

Whether we like it or not as users, as Apple, Google, MS move into the software distributor channels, they are trying to protect themselves from possible litigation for distributing Malicious, illegal, etc software, by building in mechanism that allow them to remove apps they distribute. Even MS has this capability.