[1vuio0pswjnm7]

What I meant was remove the code to make these automatic connections to Google servers from the OS source, re-compile and re-install.

That is what I look for in "open source". If I cannot edit, re-compile and re-install, much of the value to me of "open source" is lost.

[dhodell]

But this is not always a fair label to apply. If I release a device running Android that prevents you from using your own Android, that's a problem with me and the device I released, not with Android. This seems to be conflating hardware and software -- which is understandable in the context of operating systems -- but we should be clear about the cause of the problem, which has nothing to do with the openness of the code.