[russellperry]

The problem I have with this theory is that Android just wasn't written as a general-purpose GUI framework/OS. It's very mobile and memory-constraint centric, and IMO would need a whole new UI layer, if not a major re-write at the OS level. Who would want to write tablet or netbook apps with the whole Activity/Intent structures, and listviews that populate dynamically when scrolling, or apps that the OS may kill at certain thresholds of memory pressure?

[vetinari]

Actually, I think that th Activity/Intent structuring of applications is a very good idea, one that could be brought into the world of desktop applications too.

It allows to use parts of applications in a way that OLE/COM promised, but never delivered.