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by scarface74 1347 days ago
How is Google “more open”? Surely you don’t mean because of Android?

https://www.engadget.com/2018-07-18-eu-commission-google-rec...

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on...

2 comments

I think you are using "open" in one sense (open source) whereas the original meaning may have been in the sense of "more open use".

Obviously yes, Google is more open source than say apple, but clearly less than say red hat. That's not to say Google is "completely open source" but objectively it's "more" than some.

In terms of usability though Google is pretty open.

You can install any software on your android phone, whereas apple controls everything you do on ios.

You can access pretty much all Google services via an api, Facebook and twitter much less so.

In general, Google is more open in that sense.

In the sense of open source, Google is more open than some, but generally would not be considered an "open source company". Other than android there's not much offering there.

Still far better than Apple for open
How so? You can not profitable sell an Android phone without the closed sourced Google Play Services in any country outside of China any more than you can sell a phone running Darwin.
As you said, they can sell without Google for China and technically it's possible on other market (see Amazon Fire, Meta Quest) and widely used for embeddeds, thanks to open core OS. AppleOS device is by 3rd party strictly impossible.
Yes if you have the resources of a company worth over 1 trillion dollars you too can take advantage of the crumbs bestowed on you by Google to make a successful platform in the West…
You can see other non big tech examples like DJI controller, and don't miss embeddeds like credit card terminal. Anyway no 3rd party can make AppleOS device, period.
My tv runs Android. My exercise bike runs Android. My DJI drone's controller runs Android.
Your TV probably runs Android with Google’s proprietary stack on top..
My TV doesn’t (I’m in China).