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Why does Google skip version numbers?
- Thread starter k9rosie
- Start date
ScorpDX
Android Expert
tattedman
Android Enthusiast
that is a good question.. but why does google do anything.......
They maybe thinking like most of (some of) us developers that when we make major changes to product we think it deserves another version number......
I can see why honeycomb is 3.0 as it is for a completely different device..... I highly doubt there will ever be a cellphone running this.... but also I have seen post where honeycomb is being released as 2.4.....
They maybe thinking like most of (some of) us developers that when we make major changes to product we think it deserves another version number......
I can see why honeycomb is 3.0 as it is for a completely different device..... I highly doubt there will ever be a cellphone running this.... but also I have seen post where honeycomb is being released as 2.4.....
Vanquished
Android Expert
2.4 is going to be "Ice Cream Sandwich" and is supposedly a combination of Gingerbread and Honeycomb. One of the main new features is that it is optimized for the dual-core processors, among enhancing and fixing some other things. There are a few details here:
Google Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich Mobile OS Features, Specs & Overview
I do find it odd that the tablet version of the os is 3.0 though. I would think they would have come up with a different name for it, because it will be confusing when it gets to the point when the two "OS's" have to cross over each other.
Anderson
Member
This. It means the two are constantly going to be leaping over each other. Eventually phones will outgrow 2.x and move to 4.0 which will make 3.x tablets look inferior when they won't be. Should've been Android Tablet OS 1.0 or something to clearly differentiate the two.
tattedman
Android Enthusiast
Well I know its 3.0 but search google Honycomb 2.4 you will find lots of articles like this http://www.negrielectronics.com/blog/news-updates/latest-news/motorola-tablet-will-be-android-honeycomb-2-4-as-google-holding-android-3-0-for-something-special/
I dont think Google can make up there mind.... ps I know its an older article
Same reasons all developers do. One reason is that not all versions make it to release.
novox77
Leeeroy Jennnkinnns!
First and foremost, the version number is intended to track the code for the developers. It's not the most friendly way to present software to consumers, which is why the versions are assigned names. Marketing a version has been its own challenge. Microsoft tried to get away from version numbers (like Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, etc) and started to use the year of release (Windows 95, Office 2000, etc). Then that got old. They tried "Vista." That flopped, along with the OS. Now they're back to a number, but it's rounded/truncated, like Adobe products (CS2, CS3, etc).
I don't think Google ever planned for Android to get such high visibility, so they haven't thought about really marketing the versions. These days, their internal code name is serving as the public name, and because of the confusing version numbering, the names are starting to gain more traction than the numbers, which IMO is a good thing.
Who wouldn't want an OS named Ice Cream?
I don't think Google ever planned for Android to get such high visibility, so they haven't thought about really marketing the versions. These days, their internal code name is serving as the public name, and because of the confusing version numbering, the names are starting to gain more traction than the numbers, which IMO is a good thing.
Who wouldn't want an OS named Ice Cream?
And to add to the confusion: Windows Vista was version 6.0, while Windows 7 is version 6.1
Not necessarily. If you look at the Software Versioning article linked to above, it is wholly possible (And most likely), that phones will start shipping with Android 3.5, or the branches will be merged back together at 4.0.
Vanquished
Android Expert
The fact that that article, along with every other article that comes up as "Honeycomb 2.4" is posted no later than January before the actual announcement of it being 3.0 should tell you something (95%+ made in December). 2.4 IS NOT and NEVER will be Honeycomb. I only read a couple of the articles that came up, but all of them were speculation, like the one you posted above, about whether or not the next version of Android after Gingerbread (2.3), which is honeycomb, would be 2.4 or 3.0. The only reason this sepculation ever occured was because there was a leak that the new Android version would be 3.0. At the time of every one of those articles people did not know that it would be tablet specific.
2.4 may even still be considered Gingerbread as well, as a lot of articles point to that. If that is the case, it is very possible that Icre Cream is the merger of the two already, since it incorperates everything Honeycomb does (possibley because Google realized they made a mistake releasing a tablet only OS, since phones will have identical hardware).
Here is a little excerpt from another article about the Ice Cream OS:
"The upcoming Android OS will be an amalgam of both Honeycomb and Gingerbread OS version. It’s a merge of feature salary previously on Tablets (victimization Honeycomb OS) and smartphones (exploitation Gingerbread OS).
Recently we’ve seen item about those Honeycomb feature which will eventually grow to be nowadays in futurity Ice Cream handset.
Dave Burke, Google’s Android Engineering Director said that the contextual “thing saloon” found on the cap of the surface of Honeycomb’s abacus will besides be employed on phone."
http://www.balyer.com/android-ice-cream-release-date-and-features-updates/