from Hacker News

Facts about Android

by jaywalker on 12/29/10, 12:26 PM with 22 comments

  • by mda on 12/29/10, 1:31 PM

    He is playing with words.

    "Fact 1: Android runs Linux. But it’s not “the Linux.”" No, It IS "the Linux". A lot of distributions do not use vanilla Linux kernel. You are free to change whatever part you want. It does not change the fact that it is still Linux.

    "Android was not developed by Google!" Does he think current android platform is developed by only the original members of the Android inc? It has been 5 years.

  • by runjake on 12/29/10, 4:11 PM

    Summary:

    1. Android is a Linux derivative with non-mainline changes, suck as "wake locks".

    2. Android uses a non-Java ME (the official Java for mobile devices) Java environment. It's closer to Java SE.

    3. And it doesn't use the JVM, it uses Dalvik.

    4. Android was not initially developed by Google. It was acquired by them. The company was composed of former Danger staff who worked on the Sidekick and such. [I'd argue this point, as Android is a completely different best than the builds that were coming out around acquisition time. The only thing that's practically the same is that both used the Linux kernel).

    5. SQLite is pervasive in Android.

  • by Tichy on 12/29/10, 1:52 PM

    Oh come on. First, these are not new at all. Second, they are not interesting facts, they are irrelevant facts.

  • by statictype on 12/29/10, 2:34 PM

    It’s widely believed that Oracle has shot itself in the foot by filing this lawsuit.

    Is it really widely believed? And how did Oracle shoot itself in the foot with this lawsuit?

  • by bonaldi on 12/29/10, 2:42 PM

    I can smell the nerd from the first comment, which uses characters to distinguish differing pronounciations of "th". Is that a peccadillo of his own, or is it a thing?

  • by jaywalker on 12/29/10, 1:31 PM

    Do you think any of the "facts" mentioned on the page are drawbacks for Android? Let's recap: forked Linux, competing with Java ME within Java eco-system and having a non-JVM virtual machine to run the programs.