• helenslunch@feddit.nl
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    1 month ago

    mostly Chinese products, launch with custom Android builds completely free of Google services. This is not a Google constraint

    That’s not correct. It’s part of Google’s ToS for using Android in your products. Chinese OEMs just DGAF.

    • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      https://source.android.com/license

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

      “At its core, the operating system is known as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)[5] and is free and open-source software (FOSS) primarily licensed under the Apache License. However, most devices run on the proprietary Android version developed by Google, which ships with additional proprietary closed-source software pre-installed,[6] most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS),[7] which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play, and the associated Google Play Services development platform. Firebase Cloud Messaging is used for push notifications. While AOSP is free, the “Android” name and logo are trademarks of Google, which imposes standards to restrict the use of Android branding by “uncertified” devices outside their ecosystem.[8][9]”

      Android itself DOES NOT require ANY concessions of ANY kind to Google.

      Android itself DOES NOT require ANY concessions of ANY kind to Google. Maybe “opening the app store” means making Google’s services available without requiring those concessions to Google, in which case, that both makes sense and is a great idea.