It is true today. It wasn't like that in the past. When Android first came, most of the buyers were tech geeks who were excited with "the new Linux phone". Well that excitement didn't last long (remember how sh**y is Android 1.x?), but the initial sales drive was enough for Android (and Google's) name to gain mindshare and combined with the right strategy, catapulted Android to what it is today.john biles wrote:While it would be nice to think Android will bring a Linux Desktop to the masses it won't. Android = Google not Linux in their minds.
Today, many don't know that, and don't want to know. All they see is a flashy shiny phone - who cares if it runs Linux or not.
Correct, more and more apps now depends on services provided "Google Play Services" which isn't open source. Try uninstalling that service (if possible at all) and see whether the default apps still work.Android is that mobile phone Apple is aways suing. Did you know that Google is slowly replacing its default Open Source apps on Android with proprietary versions.
The problem is that this is a wrong perception. Linux is given away freely, without cost, yes, and with almost all freedom to tinker with it (GPLv2 four freedoms). But making or developing Linux is *not* free and in fact it is very expensive. Many people still think that Linux is developed by hobbyist - well, some of the *distros* are - but the development of Linux (the kernel) is all done *highly-paid professional experts* by tech industry giants. Don't believe me? Look at this: http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... tributors/. While "none" tops the list, try to sum-up the contributions from all others - it will be more than 50%, in fact, close to 60%. This is just the kernel, now if you combine stuff like Xorg, X toolkits (GTK, Qt), desktop environments ... you'll what I mean.By making Linux free it has no real value.
The fact that someone gives you a gold watch for free doesn't make the watch worthless. In fact, it is probably the opposite. But yes, I agree - many people simply don't see this (or don't care).
How true, see my previous comment.Just remember "Nothing in this world is free" so the slogan goes.
Agreed - this is our mentality. Example: Some places now charge "tickets" for a supposedly free event. If it is free people will just book the event, but then don't bother to come because well - it's free, there is no consequence. Even if the tickets is $2 or $5 it will make a lot of difference in people's mind (and the event's turnout, for that matter).Free is working against it.