Root Googles stance on rooting phones

[wilson502]

I was just curious to know if anyone knew what googles stance is on people rooting their phones? We know apple is very much against people jailbreaking their iphones, but how does google feel about people "rooting" their android power phones?

 

[nstallion]

I don't think Google cares - in fact I'm sure they love to see all the different things developers come up with. Android is open source so you can do whatever you want with it. Any limitations placed on the operating system are by the manufacturer and wireless carrier.

Rooting makes the phone more vulnerable to problems and the carrier has less control over what you can do so they lock it down a bit to prevent having to give excessive amounts of customer support.

 

[jwm2]

Google actually embraces rooting. The nexus one was unlocked from the factory and in fact only requires a simple command line to be run for root access. Theres even a google warning screen that proceeding and loading unauthorized stuff may cause harm and void your warrantee, but thats common sense in reality. In other words google likes it and wants to be the anti-apple in the smartphone world. Which imo is very refreshing.

 

[paimon.soror]

Right I dont think Google cares much since it is an open platform. I think the people that care more are the carriers who get sponsorships to load certain software on phones, or lock down certain aspects of the phone so that they can charge for it (i.e. tether)

 

[coolbone]

Google actually embraces rooting. The nexus one was unlocked from the factory and in fact only requires a simple command line to be run for root access. Theres even a google warning screen that proceeding and loading unauthorized stuff may cause harm and void your warrantee, but thats common sense in reality. In other words google likes it and wants to be the anti-apple in the smartphone world. Which imo is very refreshing.

This is one of the main reasons I wished the Nexus One was available for Verizon. I just wanted a very open phone that wasn't locked down by the manufacturer and carrier as you say. HTC and Verizon have made it very hard to keep this platform open. Understandably HTC has its own SenseUI that it doesn't want being ripped off. That's one of the reasons I don't like SenseUI, it's not my choice. It came with the phone, but I'd like to be able to download whatever experience I like.

 

[HustlinDaily]

I don't think phone manufacturers embrace it as rooting requires finding a security loophole. But none of the Android manufacturers, so far, have proven to be like Apple who has, in the past, created updates which brick hacked phones.


Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk

 

[jasonb1985]

i think if they cared then there wouldn't be root only apps on the market. there has got to be well over 100 root only apps on the market including wifi tethering apps and such.

 

[paimon.soror]

I don't think phone manufacturers embrace it as rooting requires finding a security loophole. But none of the Android manufacturers, so far, have proven to be like Apple who has, in the past, created updates which brick hacked phones.


Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk

True, difference is that the Android market hasn't really matured fully, so they cant risk being rash about people rooting phones like Apple. I think that if they started patching up root exploits then you would see the market decline a little since many of us came over to android for the "freedom"

 

[answerman]

I would imagine that if anyone would be concerned, it would be Verizon. Google technically doesn't have anything to do with the phone (they just provide the OS to HTC and Verizon, and since it's open source (under the Apache license) they aren't charging for it. HTC just builds the phone to Verizon's specs, and I suspect that Verizon would be the company who would stand to lose the most since rooting may remove their ability to charge for certain types of access and applications.

It's interesting that Google chose the Apache licensing over the GPL... the main difference is that under GPL (the most common open source licensing) any changes and/or improvements are required to be submitted back to the original developers so that all users can benefit. Under the Apache licensing scheme, those changes can be considered proprietary to the developers creating them. So, it's not "quite" as open as most open source software.

Why Google chose the Apache Software License over GPLv2 for Android

 

[jwm2]

The only one who cares about rooting is the carrier (ie: verizon) and there is a very good reason why they care. If you had a problem with your phone you might call verizon and if they don't have the exact same hardware configuration that you do they aren't able to help. Which is why there are warnings so people don't go calling them and complaining.

In reality verizon probably doesn't really care, just so long as you don't go complaining to them.

HTC doesn't care because they just make the hardware and senseui wrapper. In fact htc would probably rather ship the phone without senseui but thats one of the things that set them apart from their competition so the better they make it, the better it makes them look. But they really don't care one way or another, they are in business to make and sell hardware, thats it. Of course adding the wrapper (senseui) seems to allow them to sell more units, so they do it.

Google doesn't care about rooting because they are in it to move apps. And if some of those apps require you to have root access and you (as in the customer) understands this then they don't stand to lose anything. It also makes them appear to be more open and the opposite of apple inc. Google is in it to make a platform that creates an extra stream of revenue and if in the process it puts a damper on their biggest competitor then thats even better.

In the end each company just wants you to be happy and keep coming back for more. And if they need to put locks and security in place to ensure the best overall experience for most of their users then so be it. You also may notice that security holes manage to leak from the sources from time to time. I'm guessing these aren't really leaks but planned releases to help boost sales and interest in their products.

So in the end root if you want to or don't root if you don't need it. It makes no difference and noone is going to get mad at you either way.

 

[varaonaid]

This is one of the main reasons I wished the Nexus One was available for Verizon. I just wanted a very open phone that wasn't locked down by the manufacturer and carrier as you say. HTC and Verizon have made it very hard to keep this platform open. Understandably HTC has its own SenseUI that it doesn't want being ripped off. That's one of the reasons I don't like SenseUI, it's not my choice. It came with the phone, but I'd like to be able to download whatever experience I like.

I agree fully!

I also agree that Google doesn't care because, in reality, it doesn't affect them in the least if you root it or not. They don't provide the support for either the OS or the hardware and they give away the OS. Plus as was said before, they are able to do this as the polar opposite of Apple - not just for the sake of being opposite but because open source really is a good thing. Most people who use the Android OS will use Google's services but they're not locked into it.

That's one thing I LOVE about Android...it's all about CHOICE! You get phone choices, carrier choices, UI choices, app choices, even device choices ie tablets, phones, with other options on the horizon. I think that's why Android is steadily growing in market share. They have everything from phones that appeal to teens to phones that appeal to professionals and everyone in between.

 

[confluence]

Yea, I don't think that Google cares about people rooting their phones. But they will have a problem with someone developing roms that include software like gmail.

Several months ago, they contacted the cyanogen mod team regarding their inclusion of gmail in their custom roms. If I recall correctly, they asked them to they were not allowed to alter gmail. Cyanogen played ball and google still allowed them to create custom Android roms. From my understanding Google was really friendly about this and the cease and desist request still did not prevent people from being able to use gmail with a custom cyanogen mods. They simply had to install gmail separately and after they installed the custom rom.

I haven't read anything like this happening to other rom makers and it seems to no longer be an issue with Google. But again, this was months ago and Google's attitude may have changed since then.

I guess the moral of the story is that Google's too cool for school.

 

[jwm2]

Well the thing is google could run into legal troubles if they allow their apps to be installed with the rom. Kinda like how MS got sued for having their browsers and email clients packaged with the os. I'm guessing its sorta the same thing with the gmail client. Google doesn't want to be dragged into court over something a rogue 3rd party developer developed and circulated. They are just making sure to dot their i's and cross their t's is all.

 

[Kinglink]

Considering it's google's app and they don't want it to be included with an unauthorized rom, that seems very fair. I really like Google in that respect. I like how my G1 is runing Cyanogenmod 5 and will be getting cm6 when it comes out and actually be running Froyo.

I can't see many groups being anti rom, because they already got your X dollars. Manufactures have you buying a phone, who cares how you use it, as long as you don't expect tech support.

The manufacture gets money, google should get the code or at least ideas, the phone company still gets to sell you a contract. As long as you aren't actively jailbreaking the phone, it should be ok by everyone. (if you jailbreak, then the phone company probably would start to fight it).

The only type of person who would try to fight this is the type of dirty company who would try to lock the version of the os so they can sell you a new phone next week with new bells and whistles only in the new OS... and apple..