The document discusses the openness of the Android platform. It begins with a brief history of Android and outlines its technical stack, including components built on open source projects like Linux, Bionic, and WebKit. It then defines what it means for Android to be open, including the use of open source licensing, open standards, and community leadership. In summary, the document explores the technical underpinnings and philosophic meaning of an open Android platform.

1. Open
Android
What
it
means
to
be
open
and
why
you
would
care
Marko
Gargenta
marakana.com

2. Slides,
Video,
etc.
http://mrkn.co/f/375

3. About
Marko
Gargenta
Developer of Android Bootcamp for Marakana.
Instructor for 1,000s of developers on Android at
Qualcomm, Cisco, Motorola, DoD and other great orgs.
Author of Learning Android published by O’Reilly.
Speaker at OSCON (3x), ACM, IEEE, SDC, AnDevCon.
Co-Founder of SFAndroid.org
Co-Chair of Android Open conference: AndroidOpen.com

4. Agenda
• Android
Then
&
Now
• Android
Stack
• The
Meaning
of
Open
• Open
Source
• Open
Standards
• Community
Leadership
• What
Does
This
Mean
to
You?
• Summary

5. ANDROID
THEN
&
NOW

6. History
and
Possible
Future
2005
Google
buys
Android,
Inc.
Work
on
Dalvik
starts
2007
Open
Handset
Alliance
announced
Early
SoRware
Development
Kit
2008-­‐2010
Android
becomes
the
dominant
mobile
plaWorm
2011
Games,
Tablets,
TVs
Future?
Beyond
phones

7. Vision
for
Android
Our goal is not just a single
device. Our vision is a mobile
platform that runs on many
many different devices.
– Eric Schmidt

8. ANDROID
STACK

9. The
Stack
Applications
Home Contacts Phone Browser Other
Application Framework
Activity Window Content View
Manager Manager Providers System
Package Telephony Resource Location Notiication
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager
Libraries
Surface Media
SQLite Android Runtime
Manager Framework
Core Libs
OpenGL FreeType WebKit
Dalvik
VM
SGL SSL libc
Display Camera Linux Kernel Flash Binder
Driver Driver Driver Driver
Keypad WiFi Audio Power
Driver Driver Driver Mgmt

10. Linux
Kernel
Android™ Stack
Android runs on top of Linux. Applications
Home Contacts Phone Browser Other
Linux provides:
Hardware abstraction layer
Memory management Application Framework
Process management Activity
Manager
Window
Manager
Content
Providers
View
System
Networking
Package Telephony Resource Location Notiication
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager
Key reasons for Linux:
Libraries
It’s secure Surface Media Android Runtime
SQLite
It’s portable Manager Framework
Core Libs
It’s open source OpenGL FreeType WebKit
Dalvik
VM
SGL SSL libc
Display Camera Linux Kernel Flash Binder
Driver Driver Driver Driver
Keypad WiFi Audio Power
Driver Driver Driver Mgmt

11. NaZve
Libraries
Pieces borrowed from other Applications
open source projects: Home Contacts Phone Browser Other
Bionic, a super fast and small Application Framework
license-friendly libc library optimized Activity Window Content View
Manager Manager Providers System
for Android
Package Telephony Resource Location Notiication
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager
HAL in userspace Libraries
Surface Media
SQLite Android Runtime
Manager Framework
WebKit library for fast HTML Core Libs
rendering OpenGL FreeType WebKit
Dalvik
VM
SGL SSL libc
Media codecs offer support for
major audio/video codecs Display Camera Linux Kernel Flash Binder
Driver Driver Driver Driver
Keypad WiFi Audio Power
SQLite database Driver Driver Driver Mgmt
Much more…

12. Dalvik
Dalvik VM is Android implementation of
Java VM
Dalvik is optimized for mobile devices:
• Battery consumption
• CPU capabilities
Key Dalvik differences:
• Register-based versus stack-based VM
• Dalvik runs .dex files
• More efficient and compact implementation
• Different set of Java libraries than JDK

13. ApplicaZon
Framework
The rich set of system services
wrapped in an intuitive Java API.
Location, web, telephony, WiFi,
Bluetooth, notifications, media,
camera, just to name a few.
Application Framework makes it
easy to develop for Android.

14. ApplicaZons
Many apps…
… as well as
markets.

15. Android
and
Java
Based on Apache Harmony Java and
Dalvik VM, Android’s Java is as open as it
gets. Although Oracle disagrees.

16. THE
MEANING
OF
OPEN

17. Open
Source
IniZaZve
• Free
redistribuZon
• Source
code
• Derived
works
• Integrity
of
author’s
source
code
• No
discriminaZon
against
person
or
groups
• No
discriminaZon
against
field
of
endeavor
• DistribuZon
of
license
• License
not
specific
to
product
• License
must
not
restrict
other
soRware
• License
must
be
technology
neutral

18. Andy
Rubin:
DefiniZon
of
Open

19. Meaning
of
Open,
Jonathan
Rosenberg
• Open
Technology
– Open
standards
– Open
source
• Open
InformaZon
– Valuable
to
users
– Transparent
about
informaZon
– Control:
user
is
in
control
• Open
systems
win
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/meaning-of-open.html

20. Open
Android,
according
to
Marko
Open means:!
⸰ Open Source!
⸰ Open Standards!
⸰ Community Leadership!

21. OPEN
SOURCE

22. Open
Source
Licenses
http://opensource.org/licenses/

23. Openness
of
The
Stack
Open, Apache 2
Open, Apache 2
Open, various licenses
Dalvik is open, Apache 2
Mostly proprietary or (L)GPL

24. What
about
Honeycomb?
No source for Honeycomb. But this seems to be an exception.
“Our approach remains unchanged: there are no lock-downs or
restrictions against customizing UIs. There are not, and never
have been, any efforts to standardize the platform on any single
chipset architecture.
…
As soon as this work is completed, we’ll publish the code. This
temporary delay does not represent a change in strategy. We
remain firmly committed to providing Android as an open source
platform across many device types.”
- Andy Rubin

25. Android
and
Linux
Android's kernel is separate fork of Linux
Linux community rejected Google's changes
Linux changes still point of contention

26. OPEN
STANDARDS

27. Android
and
Open
Standards
• Use
open
standards
where
possible
• Leave
slots
where
proprietary
is
beaer
• Create
new
standards
where
needed

28. Example:
Media
Support
Audio
AAC
LC/LTP,
HE-­‐AACv1
(AAC+),
HE-­‐
AACv2,
AMR-­‐NB,
AMR-­‐WB,
MP3,
MIDI,
RTTTL/RTX,
Ogg,
PCM/WAVE
Video
H.263,
H.264,
MPEG-­‐4,
VP8
Image
JPEG,
GIF,
PNG,
BMP
Missing many codecs and native support.
Expansion available via Khronos OpenMax IL

29. Example:
VPN
Support
Support for VPN built-in: PPTP,
L2TP, L2TP/IPSec PSK VPN,
L2TP/IPsec CRT VPN
But missing key enterprise
VPNs, such as Cisco and
Juniper.
Solution via Raccoon
“expansion slot”.

30. COMMUNITY
LEADERSHIP

31. Open
Handset
Alliance
From 34 to 80+ members
Includes OEMs, chip vendors,
operators, software companies.
Still learning to work together.

32. Private
Roadmap
Not a public roadmap.
Community input is observed,
but no promises are made.
This represents a problem for
OEMs planning future device
releases.

33. Bear
Hugging
Favorite OEM for each release.
For G1/Dev1, Nexus One: HTC
For Nexus S: Samsung
For Xoom: Motorola
Different terms for different OEMs?
“We’re more like Apple than
Microsoft” – Andy Rubin

34. CompaZbility
Test
Suite
Android Compatibility Test Suite:
Defines “Android Compatible”
Prevents incompatible releases
Provides self testing
Good for users. Good for developers.
For Google, a leverage over OEMs.
But also a crystal ball into Android’s roadmap.

35. Google’s
MoZvaZon
Google makes money in advertising and wants a level playing
field for the mobile market.
“Android money comes from mobile ads”
- Google
Additional revenue (or leverage) from Market, Maps, Phone,
Music, Backup, and other services.

36. Castles
and
Moats
“In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable ‘moats’”
- Warren Buffet

37. WHAT
DOES
THIS
MEAN
TO
YOU?

38. As
User
I can extensively customize the device.!
I can make it “all about me”.!
I can even change the flavor of Android.!

39. As
Developer
My app will run on any Android device,
regardless of manufacturer.!
I can see ins and outs of the platform source
code and learn from studying the default apps.!
My market is huge.!

40. As
Manufacturer
I may not get the
I get a fully featured latest code. Nor know
OS for free and can what’s coming out
innovate at a higher next. I may be
level. months behind
competitors. Ugh!

41. As
Carrier
Users love Android!! Who exactly is to
It’s an alternative to support it?!
iPhone.! Can’t lock down the
Got many OEMs device – and my
and devices to choose enterprise customers
from. what that!

42. As
Enterprise
Many productivity How do we lock it
apps.! down?!
Users have their own How do I create custom
phones already. ROM?!
Personals phones
inside the company??

43. Overall
• Open
Source:
★★★
• Most
of
code
is
open
sourced,
but
not
all
• OEMs
sZll
keep
drivers
and
extensions
private
• Open
Standards:
★★★★
• Whenever
license
permits,
open
standards
are
used
• Community
Leadership:
★★
• Lack
of
public
roadmap
• No
early
access
to
code
for
all

44. References
&
AaribuZons
• The
meaning
of
open
by
Jonathan
Rosenberg,
Senior
VP,
Product
Management,
Google
hap://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/meaning-­‐of-­‐open.html
• Android
May
Be
The
Greatest
Legal
DestrucZon
Of
Wealth
In
History
by
Bill
Gurley,
Benchmark
Capital
hap://www.cadabrapress.com/?p=3904
• Warren
Buffea
on
castles
and
moats
hap://37signals.com/svn/posts/333-­‐warren-­‐buffea-­‐on-­‐castles-­‐and-­‐moats
• The
Freight
Train
That
Is
Android
by
Bill
Gurley,
Benchmark
Capital
hap://abovethecrowd.com/2011/03/24/freight-­‐train-­‐that-­‐is-­‐android/
• Less
Than
Free
by
Bill
Gurley,
Benchmark
Capital
hap://bit.ly/pgyubk
• Is
Android
Open?
by
Scoa
Gilbertson,
Wired
hap://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/is-­‐android-­‐open/
• The
Open
Source
DefiniZon
hap://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
• How
"Open"
is
Android
Really?
hap://www.tequilabomb.com/shotglass/2010/05/07/how-­‐open-­‐is-­‐android-­‐really/
• Open
Source
Licenses
hap://digiZzor.com/2011/05/04/free-­‐soRware-­‐licenses/
• Android
(operaZng
system)
at
Wikipedia
hap://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operaZng_system)
• How
Google
controls
Android:
digging
deep
into
the
Skyhook
filings
hap://thisismynext.com/2011/05/12/google-­‐android-­‐skyhook-­‐lawsuit-­‐motorola-­‐samsung/

45. Summary
Big parts of Android stack are open, but
not everything is for a developer wanting
to release new version of Android OS an
an actual device.
Android is not a typical open source
project due to lack of community
leadership.
Slides/video/etc: Marko Gargenta, Marakana.com
http://mrkn.co/f/375 @MarkoGargenta
marko@marakana.com
+1-415-647-7000