CyanogenMod: the History of an Android Hack 118
An anonymous reader points out a Wired story about some of the efforts behind CyanogenMod, a popular piece of Android modification software. Quoting:
"CyanogenMod expanded into a team of 35 different 'device maintainers,' who manage the code for the 32 different devices that the project supports. Like Google, the team publishes its code to an online repository and accepts online submissions for changes to the code from other developers. Seven core members decide which of the submitted changes make it into the next release of CyanogenMod, and which don’t. ... Ultimately, CyanogenMod aspires to be more than just a software mod. 'I think one of our biggest dreams is to see a phone ship with Cyanogen on it,' says Soyars. But pairing the software with a phone is no easy task. First, CyanogenMod would have to pass the tests required by Google’s certification program in order to bundle Google’s proprietary apps — Gmail, Calendar, etc. — on the phone."
CM7 saved me from crucifying my Samsung Captivate (Score:5, Interesting)
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MIUI is a Chinese ROM that is NOT opensource. Be wary of using it.
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CM7 has been stable for quite a while now. Currently on 7.0.2 final, IIRC...
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I run a TMobile Vibrant. Awesome phone after I put Team Whiskey's stuff on it. It wasn't "bad" before that, but it is definitely better and has things enabled that TMobile would rather I not enable such as wifi tethering. (But that's okay, I only use it when absolutely needed and that is RARELY. I did need it once because I had a crappy eBook reader that wouldn't get on my company's guest wireless.)
You sound like you are having some pretty rough problems with the phone though -- have you done an Odin re
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Which is one of the things that Cyanogen-Mod doesn't do on the original T-Mobile G1: WiFi.
Wanna tether? Have a nice day. Doesn't work. Wifi doesn't work. Bah.
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Congratulations (Score:3)
Congrats to the whole CyanogenMod team. Even if the numbers show that CM users are the minority, I think its a pretty damn good project. I love my CyanogenMod enabled phone :)
I am happy to be able to get a phone that is unlockable by design, and put an alternate mod on it that provides me with features that a stock OS doesn't. Thanks CM team! :)
Talking about Googles proprietary apps.... (Score:3)
The calendar is weak, I want more view options, how many days ahead can I see, setting the start and end time of the day so I can see 8:00am till say 9:00pm in a single window snapshot. Things like that.
I've taken to installing one called "Business Calendar Free" but it's not quite right either.
Does google ever update it's apps or do they just assume users will swap to third party applications so they only do a basic one?
P.S I was going to link to the Android marketplace to show the calendar app I'm using but oddly enough it's not in the list of devices on my handset, no idea why - this kind of inconsistency is frustrating with Android, I think I should just switch back to Appbrain and forget Market.Android at this point
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Use the online market link [android.com] and you can see all applications, and whether they're compatible with your phone or not (if you log in with your Google ID).
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It's like getting a new phone (Score:4, Interesting)
I have installed CM7 twice:
- Once on my brother's X10 mini pro. The thing was barely usable before, extremely slow, bloated crapware... With CM7 it feels like a new phone, much snappier, and with a much better interface and software portfolio.
- On my own WinMob 6.5 HTC HD2. More to check if it actually worked than to really use it, I am quite happy with WinMob since I don't do anything fancy with my phone. Well, strike that. I now run android all the time. The interface is much better, so are the apps... I only miss winmob's RDP server.
So kudos, and thanks, to the CM team. Phone manufacturers should pay you, or at least help you. You breathe new life into old and clunky phones.
One remark though, being totally new to modding phones, I struggled a bit with the instructions on the XDA-Dev site. The hackers there assume some knowledge of modding (how to boot in "Flash Update" mode, installing the root...). Following 10 lines of instructions for the X10 install took me about 3hrs, lots of cold sweat... but worked on the first try.
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The phone handset manufactures lose money by extending and enhancing the capabilities of old phones. So, you won't be seeing much help out of them. However, if enough people care about modding their phone and make their purchasing decisions on that fact, the manufactures might let you have an open bootloader. But, as the userbase gets larger, the likelihood of that gets smaller.
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It's true. The industry is being suppressed by the carriers. It reminds me of the old days when you couldn't own your own phone at home and had little to no choice of which phones you could select for rent from Bell.
Even now, you are highly controlled as to what you can do and what you can use. It hasn't gotten "bad enough" just yet for the government to step in and do anything about it... but take heart -- things are getting worse in the U.S. so we can look forward to much worse things as TMobile will b
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What CM for the mini pro did you use? I've been thinking about doing it to mine.
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Agreed. I'm running CM7 on an original HTC G1, which as modern smartphones go is a dinosaur, but runs just fine with CM on it. One of the major selling points for me when I upgraded was to find a phone that's compatible with CyanogenMod so I wouldn't lose those features.
Going back to Android 2.1 or 2.2 on a brand new phone when you've been using 2.3 via CM on a G1 is just silly.
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The G2 (Desire Z) is an amazing device. CM 7.0.2 running nicely here. One thing I really miss about my G1 is the keyboard...
The G2 has a keyboard. Its true the G2 keyboard is a 4 row instead of a 5 row like the G1, but its usable. However, ever since I replaced my G1 with a G2, I typically used the swype virtual keyboard instead of the physical one. Its possible to extract swype from the original ROM if you backed it up before flashing CM. That is what I did. Swype + CM 7.0.3 is nice.
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You are better off just getting swype from the developer - the beta has open for ages now, and the "stock" version that came with your device doesn't get any updates.
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I agree. I put Cyanogenmod on my HTC Aria, and things just work better now. One thing I like is being able to turn off individual radios instead of the all or nothing of just plain airplane mode.
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That's exactly why phone companies won't ever do it, and aren't at all interested in CyanogenMod. They aren't interested in improving existing phones; they are in the business of pushing new expensive phones. Or at least new contracts. Want to upgrade your year old clunker phone? No problem. Just sign here to start a new two year contract and you're good to go!
Nook Color (Score:2)
I bought a Nook Color for the sole reason of installing CyanogenMod on it and using it as a general purpose touch pad. Works great.
Now if I could just get a variation of the koi live wallpaper that has piranha that attack your finger whenever you touch the screen.
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yep, same here. love my NC + CM7. best cheap tablet you can by.
Cyanogen deserves credit (Score:1)
I took the plunge and bought my nexus one "without contract" a few months after it was released. Since then I unlocked and and have run different versions of cyanogen mod. Doing so has increased it's functionality (For instance FM radio did not work on the stock roms but does with the radio updates used in Cyanogen mod)
Although it was only a small amount I donated what I could to support them. May the folks involved in the project get all the credit they deserve. Thanks for the good work guys!
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Saved me from terrible Motorola's Froyo (Score:1)
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Non sequeter (Score:2)
But pairing the software with a phone is no easy task. First, CyanogenMod would have to pass the tests required by Google’s certification program in order to bundle Google’s proprietary apps — Gmail, Calendar, etc. — on the phone.
Non sequeter. Having Google's proprietary apps is not necessary in order to "pair the software with a phone". Sure, it helps, but it's not necessary.
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But pairing the software with a phone is no easy task. First, CyanogenMod would have to pass the tests required by Google’s certification program in order to bundle Google’s proprietary apps — Gmail, Calendar, etc. — on the phone.
Non sequeter. Having Google's proprietary apps is not necessary in order to "pair the software with a phone". Sure, it helps, but it's not necessary.
That's not a non sequitur. Banana pancake.
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AFAIK, one of the proprietary apps is Android Market. Without that, you don't get buyers. Without buyers, no profit, no phone.
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Ever hear of the amazon market?
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No.
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It's not just Gmail, Calendar, etc. It's the Market app itself also. That's the lynch pin. If you can't get the Market app on the phone, how are you going to get easy (customer-friendly) access to the rest of the things (Google-owned or otherwise) that you want? Sure geeks can side-load apps into Android devices, but non-geeks won't in any real numbers.
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Isn't this one of the reasons for the existence of the Amazon Android Market?
Cyanogenmod is the shizz (Score:1)
I've been using Cyanogenmod on my phones since JesusFreke decided to quit maintaining for the G1..and it's really great to see how the community has grown. There are more phones and devs maintaining them than I ever would have imagined back then.
I hope SOMEONE eventually has the balls to ship a phone with Cyanogen on board..at least a developer phone or something..I think it'd be good for the community and good for the phone companies to see what can be done. It's OUR hardware once it's bough
Cyanogenmod is great! Except... (Score:2)
... You never know when they might randomly stop supporting your device. :( I'm looking sadly at my Mytouch 3g (which can TOTALLY handle gingerbread, btw).
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Because you payed them a lot for all the free versions you got (that, I'm sure, are better than your stock rom).
Also, that is a very weak phone. It might "handle" gingerbread, but not well enough (that's what I'm told, i believe that's the same as the htc magic).
2.2 is miles away from the rom that came with that phone, you should thank them for what they done instead of complaining.
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A first-gen android device IS underpowered for gingerbread. Even CM6 was on the heavy side on my G1 (same hardware as your myTouch). You had to be careful what apps you installed so you didn't kill performance. That's not a satisfactory experience.
But the shelf life of these devices has nothing to do with the actual capability of the hardware. From the manufacturer the problem is planned obsolescence. From a community project, support runs out when there are no volunteer developers left who think its worth
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... You never know when they might randomly stop supporting your device...
How is this different than your carrier and handset manufacturer?
They can't support things forever but they should at least tell you up front what they are going to support. For example:
* Up front they should state OS upgrades only for x amount of time (I think a year or none is fine).
* Security and bugfixes for as long as they sell their phones plus the length of their longest contract.
Their business model is all about limited lifetime hardware and longer contracts.
sad that it must depend on exploits (Score:1, Insightful)
On most (all?) phones, installing this or other mods requires using an exploit to get around the phone's security. It's a sad, dismaying situation to me. With PCs, you get to own it after you buy it, by design. You can install whatever OS and software you want, and it obeys you. With phones, even if you pay full price and forgo a plan, they're mostly locked down hardware. Newer ones like the HTC Sensation have cryptographically signed bootloaders and haven't even been broken yet.
The whole situation is
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Surprising as it may be, Sony Ericsson even put up a site with step-by-step instructions to unlock the boot loader on their new Xperia phones (well, and having you check off a box that you acknowledge that this might void your warranty) and also put up instructions how to build a kernel and flash it to your phone:
http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/05/06/how-to-build-a-linux-kernel/ [sonyericsson.com]
np: Shackleton - Deadman (Fabric 55)
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Though remember that this is Sony we're talking about, and the way they've got it set up means they can withdraw the ability to unlock the bootloader from anyone that hasn't already done so at any time they feel like it. (You have to request a bootloader unlock code tied to your phone serial number from their website.) Wouldn't be terribly surprised if they did either.
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So buy a nexus. I have an OG Droid, no exploit needed to flash a new rom.
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3 CM (Score:1)
CM 7 on HTC Passion (Google Nexus One)
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I don't know if it is 100% legal to use Google's closed apps on a unofficial firmware; perhaps it is, because the phone hardware was licensed to run them originally. So far, it doesn't look like Google have had particular problems with people doing this.
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I don't know if it is 100% legal to use Google's closed apps on a unofficial firmware; perhaps it is, because the phone hardware was licensed to run them originally. So far, it doesn't look like Google have had particular problems with people doing this.
There was a short period of time where Google had a beef with CyanogenMod when it included the Google apps as part of its distribution. Wkipedia [wikipedia.org] has a bit of coverage of the event.
The short version is that Google allows end users to back-up the Google apps that are licensed for the device from the OEM firmware, and then re-install them onto CyanogenMod later, however CyanogenMod is not allowed to distribute the apps themselves.
Superior power control widget (Score:2)
First thing I did when I got my Desire HD was to get rid of the stock sense rom and install CleanDHD (Cyanogen 7-based).
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I too have a Desire HD too and was considering installing a custom ROM for the heck of it. But I don't see what advantages it offers beyond the slightly-nebulous "more control", although your power widget example was quite useful. Since you seem to be a fan, is there any chance you could expound upon cyanogenmod's virtues? :)
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A lot of stuff is listed there. I think Cyanogen provides a pure Android experience, plus some handy extras that I find pure AOSP builds lacking. If you'd rather have Sense, you can find all sorts of supertweaked Sense ROMs on XDA. But heck, go ahead and try CyanogenMod and see if you like it. After rooting, taking full backup of your phone is trivial, so experimenting after that is not that much hassle.
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The problem is in the fine print (Score:5, Informative)
Yes Cyanogen is great, I run it on an Android phone or two and love it to bits. But that's not really the point...
The question here was about shipping a phone with CM preloaded, and that comes down to a number of business concerns.
In order to get the real penetration that this would need to get off the ground, CM would obviously need to pair up with a hardware OEM in order to get a handset crafted (or repurposed) and then they would also need carrier backing in order to get the sales penetration needed for a sustainable plan.
The major issue carriers will have with CM is the fact that the OS is rooted out-of-the-box and that carriers have a multitude of requirements imposed on handsets they'll slap their brand name on. Carriers tend to have business needs that require them to preload certain content on the device, rooting a device allows the user to quickly remove this content (something a carrier might have to swallow from the more knowledgeable users, but not something they would be willing to allow their userbase to perform at the flip of a switch). Rooting also opens a whole mess of security questions, which a carrier would tend to want to stay away from:
User: "My personal info was stolen from my phone!"
Carrier tech support: "Well your phone is rooted and you downloaded some nasty apps that captured your private data"
User: "But you sold me a rooted phone."
You also face issues like some of those mentioned in the comments here to the tune of "CM7 makes it easy to use Netflix". This is one example of many, but Netflix is currently only supported on select few handsets. I can imagine the lawsuits if a carrier were to sell and sponsor a device that "allows user to easily bypass device restrictions" put in place by app vendors. I'm not saying I don't have fun tinkering and hacking around apps in my spare time... but opening those doors to the masses and being liable for such a product is a whole different story.
Now the carrier is faced with having to support and guarantee a product that in the hands of an ignorant or unknowing customer can go horribly wrong.
Sony Ericsson has tackled this issue lately, allowing them to certify phones with carriers and have a secure out-of-the-box experience, but allow the customer to void his/her warranty by punching in their handset's IMEI on a website, obtaining an unlock code for the bootloader allowing full modification of the device. Forcing the customer through a lengthy agreement that renders all warranties null and void makes the carriers and OEMs safe from fallout if the user screws up their device from that point forward.
Cyanogen mod has quite a ways to go yet until they're ready to play in a commercial (and corporate) world where legal implication and stupid users require everything to be dumbed down and secured for consumption by everyone from preteens to seniors. I look forward to the day when I can sign up for my wireless plan and walk away with a Cyanogen handset, however I fear that if they look to commercialize the product they will end up taking away all that is great about CM in the first place.
In my opinion CM will thrive best staying where it is, being the best after-market mod/distro for Android devices.
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Unlocked phones sold without carrier interference.
Like the rest of the free world does it!
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This is the same exact conversation without the"rooted" part you'll get anyways. The whole Vendor Lockin is bogus to start with. How about the conversation I had ...
User: "I don't want that app, how can I remove it because it is killing battery life"
Carrier tech support: "Why would you want to remove it"
Us
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The problem is the expectation (in the US) that a problem with the phone has to be fixed by the carrier, again because the carrier sold them the phone.
How does it make sense to maintain a whole support team for resolving handset issues is beyond me. To get back to car analogies, the highway department is not who you buy your cars from, hence you go to the car dealer/repair shop and not to them when the engine doesn't start.
Odd that bit about the Google cert program... (Score:4, Interesting)
I consider it odd that carriers can hobble Android at will and pass the Google cert program, but a community of dedicated programmers devoted to restoring functionality to Android users would have problems passing this so-called certification process.
Read between the lines: You must be a mobile carrier with $$$ to pass a certification process -- this permits you to have carte blanche to lock down your phones and remove features as you see fit. A real certification process would ensure the Market app would be able to run on each phone or tablet running Android, prevent the device from being loaded with crapware by the carriers, and allow the user to have "root" privileges.
Until a user can do what he or she wants on their mobile, this certification is a bad joke by Google and mobile carriers at the expense of their users and customer base.
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The problem with giving the users root access is the same as giving users admin access on a windows machine.
This is a phone, first and foremost. If it cannot make calls or function properly people will scream b*tch and yell at the phone companies. Letting the average users (idiots) have root access to their phone would inevitably lead to them screwing it up leading to a massive increase in support calls and complaints about phone manufacturers. Having a "you will void your warranty if you root" will keep
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Cyanogenmod doesn't have quality control - at least not in the traditional sense. If a changelog shows any changes between the last build and the release candidate, then you essentially don't have quality control. Now, this is par for the course for enthusiast-backed distros, and cyanogen quality is better than most.
What the Cyanogenmod team calls stable is really beta at best on most controlled projects - it means that maybe some devs have used the build for a day or whatever. When updates don't boot or
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Yet, the quality of CM7 is leaps and bounds beyond that of the 2.2 rom on the droid.
Your suggest QA system is one designed for ass covering, not results. This is because CYA is far more important in the corporate world than have the best outcome possible.
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You need to look at it from a different perspective.
A recent CM7 deployment wouldn't boot on some phones. A dot release was quickly issued to fix the problem. Probably quite a few people got burned. However, what kinds of users got burned? They were early adopters who managed to root their phone and who generally know how to boot into recovery/etc. So, getting their phones back up and running wasn't that big a deal - just an inconvenience.
Suppose that same update went out OTA to EVERYBODY with that mo
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Mod this up. Google is the no evil company? Give me a break. The way they handle Android is really a bad joke. It could have been a wonderfully open platform, but instead it causes nightmare to users all over the world. I've seen so many new phones that are barely usable it's not funny.
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And that is Google's problem? Correct me if I am wrong but the only phone Google actually release has stock Android and provides a wonderfully vanilla user experience.
Now the second half of the argument is that Android is open source allowing users to do what they want such as release CyanogenMod.
Just like any other open source project why is the parent company evil if others use the code, modify the code, and then release it in a way that makes the user experience worse? Is Linus Torvalds evil because I re
Hope it never happens (Score:2)
I love Cyanogen, which is why I hope they never pair it with a phone. Call me paranoid, but I'm convinced a lot of effort which now goes into supporting a wide range of phones will then be diverted into their "own" phone. A cool phone potentially, but only potentially, and at the cost of choice.
Don't get me wrong, they have every right to do that. Hell, they could even become a closed brand and make loads of money if the wanted, but I hope they don't.
I hesitated before installing it... (Score:2)
Then I got frustrated for the bugs, the limitations and the obsolescence of the single 1.6 ROM that HTC had granted to my phone and I decided to void the warranty and install CM.
It turned out that CM is much more stable than the stock ROM: just to make a single example of its quality, the original ROM had a delay of a couple of seconds (!) between pushing a button on the headset remote and the phone executing the matching act
Mod envy... (Score:2)
When they get a working build for the Fascinate, I'll happily toss some cash their way.
Mobile TV Elite Bonus (Score:1)
Except CM breaks a lot more things than it fixes (Score:2)
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I would say 35 for 32 devices is not really enough. There is a lot of testing and development, porting that needs to happen.
Also, hardware fragmentation isn't really fragmentation, Its choice.
Android fragmentation usually refers to the pathetic fact that many phones don't get their system updates ported on time (or at all), thus leaving a platform with multiple major OS versions around.
If you are going to troll, at least do it right. :P
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Likewise, roughly one person is all it takes to maintain the software side of Android for a model phone. So, why can't hardware makers come out with updates in a timely manner? They use their programmers working on the bloated crap like HTC's Sense that nobody wants.
My old HTC Hero (October '09) was pretty slow and difficult to use until I rooted it and went with other ROMs. HTC barely came out with Android 2.1, several months late. Then they stopped development, since it was too old. With Cyanogenmod,
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What CM is good for is supporting phones that have been dropped by lazy manufacturers, like the Hero which was old hardware when it was released (which is just a G1 with no keyboard). AOSP and OSS in general has always been great for supporting old hardware and bringing new life to it. I'd persona
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Why don;t you tell us about how many engineers and test systems Microsoft needs for their "standard" platform.
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Your comment shows why programmers are forever doomed to be under appreciated,
Actually, it shows why software development shouldn't be called engineering (yet).
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what on earth gave you the idea that microsoft tests anything, or more specifically, that they do not consider the initial wave of bug reports and complaints to be their testing phase.
That's a good question. I wonder what they call the beta software releases at microsoft. Obviously not testing.
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Think about that for a minute. WinXP was an alpha, Vista was a beta, and Win7 is release candidate 1. When they get around to Win10, maybe they'll actually have a legitimate operating system. But, I wouldn't count on it . . .
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Re:Fragmented much? (Score:4, Informative)
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This is actually the best attempt at homogenization on the Android platform that I see out there.
This rom kind of works and feels the same on every device. Some minor tweeks here, some extra features due to better hardware there, but very similar overall. It also has the capability of resurrecting some very old phones with primitive hardware.
The reason for 32 developers, I bet, it's because most of them work for the phone(s) they own. If 7 or 8 of them had them all and worked full time on this there'd be no
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Okay, you're trolling but I'll bite.
If you followed my history of posting about Android here, you'd think I'd be taking your side.
I have a bone to pick with OEMs and Google who make CyanogenMod a necessity for some power users, not just a neat side project. It's not just hardware that's fragmented, it's software too. But ultimately my problem with Android is how Google lets OEMs treat Android users(yes, Apple is locked down; blahblahblah but Jony Ivy isn't tweeting about how 'open' iOS is then taking it b
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There are better explanations of the fragmentation down below, but one needs to remember, these 35 people are all volunteers. These are people who try to give their time when possible, but may not be giving as many hours that a full time developer would be doing for earning his/her main income.