Google and Its Pals: Similar to the Handling of Countries?

June 24, 2010

Developers are not countries. No armies, police, or bureaucracy. I read “Google Risks OEM Wrath for Unified Android UI Plan” and locked on the word “risk”. There is little short term risk in changing rules on the fly that leave developers with rising blood pressure. Open source can “fork”; that is, shatter into many little pieces. The notion of “unified” is what one allegedly gets when buying a commercial software system. The idea is that there is “one throat to choke.” According to the write up,

the top priority for the next Android update, codenamed Gingerbread, is to homogenize the user experience and address criticisms of fragmentation. This could severely curtail the freedom of licensees to create their own user interface overlays – most famously, Motorola’s Motoblur and HTC’s Sense.

What happens if Google forces developers to row the canoe in a cadence called by Google? What happens if a rower wants to set his or her own pace? Apple has never been shy about making it clear that there is one way to play the Apple game. Google seems to be discovering the wisdom of Jobs on the fly.

Some countries find Google’s facile behavior worthy of some attention. Developers can only complain. The question is, “Will the benefits of getting invited to a Google shindig be worth the costs, uncertainty, and figure-it-out-as-we-go approach that emerges from a 10 year old company trying to act like a start up?”

The “rogue coder” Wi Fi cuteness and the Bing-bang-gone splash page are just two examples of controlled chaos being more chaotic and less controlled. Apple and Microsoft may have Google unwittingly helping each company in the mobile space. Just my opinion. I really liked the unilateral image, the slow loading time, and the direct imitation of Bing. The action defines Google 2010, right? Minimal risk with unification, right? Android is open, right? (Lots of “rights”, right?)

Stephen E Arnold, June 24, 2010

Freebie

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Google, Mobile, News, Open source

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.