On a side note, PCWorld claimed Android was doomed.  Galen Gruman has a hypothesis that basically states that manufacturers can choose what features to implement and whether to allow an upgrade to the next OS.

Wow.  Personally, I think manufacturer choice was a good thing.  I also think that while consumers may want to run the latest OS, that we recognize that many of our devices are underpowered for some tasks.  Plus, it should count as an advantage, not a detriment that there is even possible an upgrade path.

When we look at the actual world, Linux is fractured – but its still very successful and often tailored to the desired device.  Ruby on Rails (the language and framework) has strange compatibility problems between versions, but its still on fire in the the development community.  Both are open source.  Android is open source.

In sum, I think Galen is reading tea leaves in an alarmist fashion (ie I don’t think the facts he sees add up to the death of Android – but the contrary).  Microsoft has been predicting the death of Linux for years.  Despite their best efforts, it hasn’t happened.  I think Android is here to stay as well.

–Ben

Source:  PCWorld

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