• On TV.com: Sexy summer bodies photo gallery
July 15, 2008 1:07 PM PDT

Google's Android and the dream deferred

by Matt Asay

Developer Interest in Mobile Platforms

(Credit: Markmail and O'Reilly Research)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes may have been talking about the legal and social equality of the races in the United States when he penned "A Dream Deferred," but Google's would-be Android developers are suffering their own "dream deferred" with the the festering and stink of a delayed Android SDK.

Despite widespread and growing developer interest in Google's Android platform, as highlighted in recent studies done by O'Reilly Research, "Google's unresponsiveness and lack of transparency are beginning to make other mobile platforms look more appealing," suggests ars technica.

The iPhone is the obvious candidate for developer affection, but Mozilla's API improvements may make mobile Firefox (and applications written to run in it) a preferred platform, too.

No one is standing still, in other words. Except, apparently, Google.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Recent posts from The Open Road
Former Red Hat execs aim to open-source health care
Index Ventures gets its Michelangelo
IE market share plummeting! (Or is it?)
What soccer team would your company be?
Open-source licensing: Your mileage may vary
Open source to shape cloud computing, but not dominate it
Off-topic: Why can't I have this job?
Legalized drugs, now open source. Those crazy Dutch!
Add a Comment (Log in or register)
by phigata March 11, 2009 10:45 AM PDT
hater
Reply to this comment
advertisement

Look before leaping to short URLs

Fueled by Twitter's rise, services that scrunch Web addresses are taking off. They bring a host of problems, but some are working to fix them.

In Utah desert, it's bombs away

road trip At the massive Utah Test & Training Range, the Air Force runs 15,000 sorties a year to ensure that pilots and weapons are on the mark.
• Photos: Training and testing

About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

The Open Road topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right