Google is preparing to seize control of Android with its own proprietary closed-source version of the mobile operating system, an analyst claims.
Technology analyst Richard Windsor says that a highly confidential internal project is underway to rewrite the ART runtime, removing any lingering dependencies from the freely downloadable open source AOSP (Android Open Source Project) code base.
This is a long-standing theme for Windsor, who most recently raised it here.
If Windsor’s right, Google Android will soon be just another fully-fledged proprietary operating system like its rival iOS (as well as Windows Phone and BlackBerry). Google has long pretended to be a company that believes in free software, but the truth is, Google is a proprietary software company that exploits free software and the free software community.
Windsor’s prediction, if fulfilled, will be the latest evidence of that.