Android News
Rubin: Google believes developers should have choice of what tools they use, happy to support AIR
April 21, 2010 | by Chris Smith
Android News, Google Android
Well this isn’t surprising. Andy Rubin, Google’s number one Android fanboy (even more so than Andrew) said on Adobe’s Featured Blog that Google is happy to partner with Adobe to create a strong platform for AIR on Android. Rubin puts it best:
Google believes that developers should have their choice of tools and technologies to create applications. By supporting Adobe AIR on Android we hope that millions of creative designers and developers will be able to express themselves more freely when they create applications for Android devices. More broadly, AIR will foster rapid and continuous innovation across the mobile ecosystem.
Of course, everyone will think that Adobe and Google are taking another stab at Apple when reading this post. But just because a company believes that developers should choose the language and tools they use (you know, the people that write the application) does not necessarily mean that it is an attack on Apple’s closed iPhone ecosystem. It is more of a statement that a platform should support the developers who create applications on it for users to truly have the best experience. The more tools that are fully supported on a single platform, the more developers you will have developing on that single platform.
OK. You got me. It really is an attack on Apple; just another calling-out of their draconian, Disney World type atmosphere that will continue to be closed down with the recent pulling of support for other programming languages. Yet another point that I will be happy to stay with my DROID and the Android platform.
Source [Adobe Featured Blogs] Photo [Gizmodo]
Greeaat. Now Adobe is going to bring its buggy, nasty mess to Android?. You can yap all you want about developer choice, but sometimes there are good reasons to keep the trash out. Just wait until we see hordes of poorly programmed AIR applications crashing, freezing, hogging memory, and confusing end-users about which applications version will run on which AIR version which will run on which Android version. My prediction: it's going to be a clusterf***. I for one will always cast my vote for native code on mobile devices, or HTML5 within the sandbox of the browser.
Well, in some respects, the current Android app world has many of the problems that you speculate will appear with a future AIR/Flash implementation, yet it's growing at an amazing pace. Why? Because now there's a critical mass of user to user communication (via comments, blogs, websites, etc.) to fairly easily sort out the quality of the apps, while sidestepping the marketing hype and it's really working. So yes, of course there will be horrible AIR/Flash apps on Android but what matters to me is that there will also be great ones and that's what I don't won't taken away. The market is now already very good at sorting out the good apps from bad and it getting better at it all the time. What we don't need is a single company making upfront decisions that don't even give the users a chance to find those great apps. What's so revealing about Apple's current policies about iPhone OS development and the iTunes store, is that they are NOT prioritizing their users needs. If they were, Apple would work with Adobe to get a good Flash/AIR implementation *now*. Apple is already needs to approve every app that goes up in their App Store, so why wouldn't that work for AIR/Flash apps? Then if/when better standards such as HTML 5 are widely implemented, they could move their products and customers over to it in a way that was respectful and practical. And there the looming issue of Steve Job's paranoid ego. Hey, here's kind of lost it like this before: when the Mac was being developed, it was Jobs who insisted that the Mac remain a closed system, ignoring the fact that a large part of the tremendous and extended success of the Apple II had been due to the enormously expanded capabilities that third parties has developed for it's open and extensible architecture. That decision to seal the Mac, held it's progress back at a crucial time and it slid so far behind the rest of the industry that Apple almost didn't recover. OK, so they booted him out and Sulley and the other suits came in and made things even worse. But Jobs took a long break, saved the movie animation industry, got his head screwed on right and then swooped back in to save Apple with the iPod and iPhone. So now, the wheel has turned again and I say Job's has lost his perspective again and might even be losing some more core faculties, like say, his ability to think straight. So, time for another break from Apple for Jobs. And I know just the industry that he's pining to save this time around. Let's turn Job's loose on Detroit, let's say, Chrysler! Think about it, Jobs designs a car (one button, natch), amid epic levels of secrecy and the media hype is so severe that it's causing skin rashes. Then of course, there's the mother of all product launches and finally, there are lines around the block at car dealerships for the first time ever. Chrysler is gonzo slap happy because their new Job's jesus car is the first totally closed automobile in history. EVERYTHING has to come directly from Chrysler: fuel, parts, keys, air fresheners! Everything is Totally sealed and don't even ask about the battery (Chrysler will replace em for $5000 though, so no worries). Every last drop of the aftermarket, non-factory money is marching right to their coffers. What's that you say? Hackers will find a way to jail break and root 'em and take back control of the cars that they bought and now own? Not this time. Steve's finally got that covered. If one molecule of the new factory sealed bio-organic auto DNA is disrupted, then the next time you drive start it, the doors lock, the only button stops responding and you hear a voice reading the EULA and it repeats the section that you violated 4 times. Then the same voice calmly informs you that it has already transmitted the evidence to a judge, who has just ruled that you are guilty of violating the newly amended DMCA AUTO act. Sentencing is automatic. It slips into auto drive and the voice says that you will be arriving at the EULA jail in 17.3 min to begin serving your 6 year sentence. Hmm, you'll be out just about the time Job's will be due to come back to save Apple!
LOL, Puzzler. I guess you're not an Apple fan, eh? As I see it, you are both right and wrong. Apple does create closed systems, but that doesn't matter much because they also create things that consumers love. We can insult consumers' taste until we're blue in the face, but it's a waste of time. Apple makes stuff people want. Period. Part of that popularity is built on stable, solid performance that is largely the RESULT of a closed system, where Apple can control every aspect of the device. Apple products have a "buck stops here" mentality that you don't find on PCs or even on the Android platform. Sometimes, no one really knows who is responsible for fixing something that is broken. For example, the Nexus One, is it Google? HTC? T-Mobile? Whom do you call? With Apple, consumers know that it's just a quick hop to the Apple store and all is taken care of. In a world where we have less time and more money, it makes sense to market products this way. People want instant gratification and Apple products provide that. So, instead of making fun of something that obviously works incredibly well, I suggest a bit of humility. Yes, Apple can be a dickish company, but consumers are forgiving as long as they are happy. I want Android to emulate the best parts of Apple's success while preserving those aspects that make it unique and open. We certainly can't lecture people into buying Android devices.