Android ROM Modder gets Cease and Desist from Google

I was actually considering an Android phone, the Instinct Q to be precise. I got a Palm Pre two weeks ago, which is also Linux-based, and now I feel that I made the right decision.<p>With Windows Mobile, I was always running custom ROMs and tweaking. The Pre doesn't have any custom ROMs per se, but that's because the whole thing is so simple that you can easily apply patches (about 90% the user-visible system is created with plain text files--HTML, Javascript, JSON, et cetera).<p>I work at a T-Mo call center, and there are a lot of reps here who say the myTouch is complete crap without custom ROMs. If Google really wants to build a loyal following--particularly in the tech community--this decision needs to be reversed and /never/ repeated.

Google's official response is here: <a href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/09/note-on-google-apps-for-android.html" rel="nofollow">http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/09/note-on-googl...</a><p>I still don't think they've adequately covered it. The key to me is in the penultimate paragraph, where they first say<p><pre><code> "With a high-quality open platform in hand, we then returned to our goal of making our services available on users' phones.", </code></pre> and then<p><pre><code> "We make some of these apps available to users of any Android-powered device via Android Market, and others are pre-installed on some phones through business deals." </code></pre> The key to me is that they're not making their services available on users' phones, they're making them available on distributors' phones (through "business deals"). As nuclear_eclipse points out this is basically their only bargaining point, but I really think they need to find another way around this.<p>Count me as another who was just about to buy an Android phone, and is now seriously reconsidering.

Like they say on LWN.net, this might just be an incentive to develop free alternatives to Google's apps. The problem is not Android itself, but the stuff they add on top of it; maps, gmail, etc...

The original article is more informative because it links to the response.<p>Original: <a href="http://androidandme.com/2009/09/hacks/cyanogenmod-in-trouble/" rel="nofollow">http://androidandme.com/2009/09/hacks/cyanogenmod-in-trouble...</a><p>Response: <a href="http://androidandme.com/2009/09/news/google-responds-to-cyanogenmod-controversy/" rel="nofollow">http://androidandme.com/2009/09/news/google-responds-to-cyan...</a>

Why not just release a binary patch to an official android firmware image (which the phone owner already has), and a patching program? Then he wouldn't have to distribute any google code.