Linux -> Android: Where did the Devs Sell Out?

[KlaymenDK]

I wish you two would both just stop talking. You can agree with eachother all you want but you're still ******ed and you're still making shit up.

Okay ... I just want to say

-> to all of you: keep a civil tone <-
​

regardless of whether you agree with something or not. Read the forum guidelines if you require specifics. There, that's off my chest.

Android IS A LINUX DISTRIBUTION. It's not "kinda linux", it's not, "like linux". It's ****ing linux. If you don't understand linux, please don't even assume you know enough to talk about it.

Well, it's not "a distro" in the same sense as *buntu or Red Hat, that's for sure. But why is this such a big issue? It's true that the OS runs a Linux kernel and that you can "go native" with the NDK, but apart from that, what the developers see is an abstracted platform. If I were writing, say, Firefox plugins I would not care about what OS your Firefox is running on, same as I would not care if the Android platform would be ported to run on AS/400. It's just a platform.

Mind you, this has nothing to do with how the developers license or release their products.

I was interested by this discussion. I am just starting to develop apps for Android. Can anyone give some examples of what kind of money is it possible to make from basic apps? Also does anyone have any info / links on how to add ad-banners to apps?

Maybe you want to start a separate thread for this in the Developers subforum. Anyway, offhand I don't have any links to published figures for Android app sales or advertising revenue, but I'm sure you can find some with creative googling.

Oh, and by "ad-banners" I suppose you mean AdMob?

 

[dbpaddler]

thinking that android is free is a farce. It wasn't developed by people out of the goodness of their hearts in their spare time. It was developers emplyed by google. Google pays them to develop and work on android. In turn they want to profit on that. The fact that you can root your phone and do whatever you want with the OS is just a bonus.

And sure back in the day it might have been fun to develop software and tweak this or that in a distro. These are not those times. People's spare time is valuable and when you have to respond to users, improve the program, constantly update and support it; it takes time. And if you're investing that sort of time and effort into it, you deserved to be compensated for it, plain and simple. And I'm sure it's all the negative people in this thread that are the worst offenders. They probably complain the most to the developers and are quick to trash something they feel isn't up to snuff. And that developer who's supposedly writing the program out of the goodness of his heart and foe the love of programming in open source is supposed to deal with all the BS for free?. I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more Android users out there then there are PC linux users. No way in hell I'd want to deal with headache users like Zeabrid and not see something for my effort. And if you don't like it, learn to write and create your own programs. If you want to rely on others to do the work for you, then suck it up for the few dollars people are charging. You aren't owed a damn thing just because the terms Linux and Open Source are part of the equation. You can always go to winmob and BB where those 'free' expectations aren't there and pay twice as much if not more for programs and deal with the lack of customization those OS's offer as well as the more limited range of apps. The thought of this thread is just a joke, especially in this economy.

 

[Zeabrid]

thinking that android is free is a farce. It wasn't developed by people out of the goodness of their hearts in their spare time. It was developers emplyed by google. Google pays them to develop and work on android. In turn they want to profit on that. The fact that you can root your phone and do whatever you want with the OS is just a bonus.

And sure back in the day it might have been fun to develop software and tweak this or that in a distro. These are not those times. People's spare time is valuable and when you have to respond to users, improve the program, constantly update and support it; it takes time. And if you're investing that sort of time and effort into it, you deserved to be compensated for it, plain and simple. And I'm sure it's all the negative people in this thread that are the worst offenders. They probably complain the most to the developers and are quick to trash something they feel isn't up to snuff. And that developer who's supposedly writing the program out of the goodness of his heart and foe the love of programming in open source is supposed to deal with all the BS for free?. I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more Android users out there then there are PC linux users. No way in hell I'd want to deal with headache users like Zeabrid and not see something for my effort. And if you don't like it, learn to write and create your own programs. If you want to rely on others to do the work for you, then suck it up for the few dollars people are charging. You aren't owed a damn thing just because the terms Linux and Open Source are part of the equation. You can always go to winmob and BB where those 'free' expectations aren't there and pay twice as much if not more for programs and deal with the lack of customization those OS's offer as well as the more limited range of apps. The thought of this thread is just a joke, especially in this economy.

Wow, you really haven't stopped spewing out shit, have you?

Android started as a Google employee personal project [aka: something they wanted to do, for fun]. Each employee is required to use X amount of hours of their time to work on their own personal project.

 

[vido.ardes]

If you can't keep it clean, please don't post. This is a friendly discussion, not a slanging match.

 

[Zeabrid]

If you can't keep it clean, please don't post. This is a friendly discussion, not a slanging match.

I'm glad this forum supports letting someone who is spewing bullshit and misinformation continue to post while giving an infraction to someone who is actually trying to correct them on a constant basis.

**** you too. This is the kind of behavior that causes people to brick devices with stupid advice even though someone is trying to explain why it's stupid.

 

[bottlecap]

Let's see...

Option 1) Spend time working on freeware for an OS with the smallest market-share with no benefit to yourself.

Option 2) Spend time working on $2 apps for Android, which was created by one of the largest companies in the world, and actually make a small profit.

HOW DO I DECIDE?!

Totally. When I have an app I <3 I will email the dev and say "how can I kick you some coffee money." It's only fair, as an aspiring developer I would be honored if someone found my apps useful, and even happier if they were to kick me coffee money.

 

[Slug]

I'm glad this forum supports letting someone who is spewing bullshit and misinformation continue to post while giving an infraction to someone who is actually trying to correct them on a constant basis.

All that was asked was that you do so civilly please, instead of using invective and profanity. We're not prudes, but the Rules & Guidelines clearly state where the line is to be drawn.

**** you too.

And that, sir, steps way over it. Enjoy your vacation in Banlandia.

 

[merrill77]

So, my question is what's happened to the Open Source Ethos?

I'd been keen to hear what people think.

IMO, good software is worth paying for. If it brings me joy or saves me time, then I'm happy to pay for it. Everyone needs to eat :>

disclaimer: I write software for a living.

 

[Abaddon_au]

IMO, good software is worth paying for. If it brings me joy or saves me time, then I'm happy to pay for it. Everyone needs to eat :>

disclaimer: I write software for a living.

Absolutely; I'm not disputing that good software is worth paying for. I've donated for Linux apps, bought Android Apps and ran a full suite of paid software on my Pocket PC. What I'm curious about is why people write free stuff for desktop Linux but that adware is so prevalent for android.

Summary:
* Android is not Linux
* Global financial Crisis
* The tools for using the market are there, why not use them
* Distribution costs via Google Checkout are high so need to cover costs
* Linux apps shouldn't be free - if they're useful pay for them
* Quite a few content-free flames.

Option 1) Spend time working on freeware for an OS with the smallest market-share with no benefit to yourself.

Option 2) Spend time working on $2 apps for Android, which was created by one of the largest companies in the world, and actually make a small profit.

I agree with the posters who say there are benefits; making a program that what you want to use but also good for other users is a bit of altruism - and what's wrong with that. If everyone followed the self-interest path, I doubt that linux would have developed to the point where an Open-source Mobile operating system ever would have been conceived.