[jrockway]

I love the quotation. I guess having a website means you make nonsensical statements and then be quoted on some smear campaign's website?

"This campaign may be the dumbest thing ever posted to the Internet" -- Jonathan Rockway, jrock.us.

Credible!

(Also, while Google ads may have funded the beginning of Android, it has enough corporate sponsorship now that it could easily outlive Google. Samsung or HTC could easily take over Google's role if some shiny new Web 2.0 startup kills it. But I'm not holding my breath. All I can say is man... people on the Internet are dumb...)

[nathanb]

Do you think that Android in its current incarnation as quasi-open-source, free to adopt, would survive? Or do you think it would be death by a thousand forks, where Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc. all grabbed their own copy of the repository and made TouchWiz, Sense, and Blur respectively a core part of the UI? I just can't see how Android as a device-agnostic OS would survive without a relatively neutral curator.

[justincormack]

An open foundation could work. Imagine Apache Android. Sure there would be fragmentation, but at the moment the need for apps is pushing them together. If web apps win then the APIs look a bit different, with more scope for UX differences.

Not that this will happen.

[Jwsonic]

I would assume the other 81 members of the Open Handset Alliance (http://www.openhandsetalliance.com) wouldn't just do nothing if Google went away...

[d0nk]

Exactly, many of the members have too much invested in android to just drop it and move on.

[nathanb]

Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

[r00fus]

This would rapidly become the Unix-wars of the 80's all over again... OR Microsoft would gladly step into Google shoes, completely uninvited but unchallenged, while wielding their deadly patent swords.

[kls]

I think it would resemble Linux personally, each vendor would probably set up their own app store and their own package system but binary compatibility would probably remain. There is just too much at stake for all involved to fracture it as bad as the Unix wars.

[mcantelon]

There are economic benefits to playing well together. Hopefully the hardware vendors will figure this out if they haven't already.

[rimantas]

HTC pays Microsoft for using Android and soon Samsung may join too. Since Googles smart-ass bidding for Nortel patent did not play out taking over "free" OS may seem to expensive for these companies: pay for development and pay patents fee.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-why-google-and-android-mu...

[jrockway]

But if they used their own OS, they would pay for development and patent fess, too. And if they use a commercial OS, the patent fees are just rolled into the final price (and other companies can still go after them for other patents; no software includes patent indemnity).

[rimantas]

Can someone point out which part of my comment is not true or is just stupid? Thanks.

[CapitalistCartr]

Your comment needs punctuation and/or rephrasing; it's difficult to parse and, even then, vague as to your intended meaning .

[jamesbritt]

Paybuyer has been around for, I think, 3 years now, maybe 4. I think they may just be desperate for attention.