Indagiye Sibomana 1

Fiacre Indagiye Sibomana

Ms. Deby Dagher
UWRT 1102-028
7 April 2015
The history, purpose, significance and impact of Android
The world Android has many different significance depending on the person and the
experience that they have had with it. Some know Android as being a robot in movies or other
TV shows. The android that I am very interested in, as the article Compute this Google Chrome
OS and Google Android OS says: Google Android [http://www.android.com] is an open source
operating system and API developed for mobile devices, essentially smart cellphones, but it can
run on other kinds of computing devices this just means that Android is an operating system that
is flexible enough to be used on many other computer devices and appliances.
Android was officially released to the public on Oct 21, 2008 as the article Compute this:
Google Chrome OS and Google Android OS. Says: Google released the Android system as an
open source project on Oct. 21, 2008, through its Open Handset Alliance, a group of 47
technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile
and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience.() This is
explains the objective of Google and other mobile companies while creating android.
As mentioned, Google intended Android to be an open source project. I did not know
exactly what that meant, I found out that open source means that Google releases the operating
system and allows everyone else to customize it and make it suitable to their mobile devices or
any other appliances. But of course openness just like freedom, different people have their own
different interpretations of how open exactly open can be.

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The question of exactly how open android is, has always been a very big debate among
users and developers of Android. Some people believe that Android is too open for users to
customize it however that they want. Some developers believe that it should be more open. For
example Cyanogenmod is a company that customizes android to create its own version of
Android that is more customizable than the one that Google creates. Cyanogenmod says that
Google sets Android free, but still keeps it relaying on Googles applications. Google has its own
applications that are integrated in Android. Google play store is the application store that
contains applications and is run by Google. Without an application store, the phone is almost
useless because it needs applications to make almost all of its functions.
The article Google phone rising: The Android and the politics of open source discusses
the issues behind the openness of Android mostly focusing on the relationship between Google
and other companies. The article says: I argue that in key respects it remains tied to the project
of media corporations enclosing and controlling mobile and online platforms. This is nowhere
more evident than in Googles embroilment in intellectual property struggles over smartphone
patents. (.)This article explains that android is just a way that Google is using to have and
control users information, at the same time making money with other media corporations.
The article is a peer reviewed article and it makes some goods points about Google trying
to make money, but there is more to Googles plan than making money. Most of Googles
services are free and open to the public, the easiest example is Googles search engine. Everyone
uses Google search engine if Google were to charge for using it, Google would make more
money than its other projects.

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Works Cited
Compute This: Google Chrome OS and Google Android OS." Searcher 18.4 (2010): 30. Web. 11
Feb. 2015.
Goggin, Gerard. "Google Phone Rising: The Android and The Politics Of Open
Source." Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies 26.5 (2012): 741752. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
"Android Forum for Mobile Phones, Tablets, Watches & Android App
Development." Xdadevelopers RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Android Developer Story: GinLemon." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Feb. 2015
"Android 5.0, Lollipop." Android. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.