Android-x86 Is Still Working Towards Its 9.0 "Pie" Release

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Android-x86 Is Still Working Towards Its 9.0 "Pie" Release

Android 9.0 "Pie" is approaching two years of age and already succeeded by Android 10, but on the Android-x86 front the 9.0 release is finally getting closer...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Android-x86-9.0-RC2

[juno]

Do they lack manpower? I didn't know they were so far behind.

[birdie]

Do they lack manpower? I didn't know they were so far behind.

You bet they do like 99% of other open source projects. No one is particularly excited to do the hard work for free. Enthusiasm can only take you so far.

How much have you donated to Android-x86 so far? Zero? Then why are you surprised?

[wizard69]

You bet they do like 99% of other open source projects. No one is particularly excited to do the hard work for free. Enthusiasm can only take you so far.

How much have you donated to Android-x86 so far? Zero? Then why are you surprised?

Well part of the manpower problem comes from the multitude of distros out there. In a sense this Android is just another Linux distro with a different GUI (yes a simplification). Now consider the talent spread across tens of distros (hundreds?) and it is no surprise that people are spread thin.

as for donations; frankly software development is not high on peoples list when it comes to ways to protect freedom, help the needy or improve society. It is great that some have the time or money to throw at open source but that isn’t the majority of users. It is no surprise that many open source developer these days work for corporations that in some way support open source. Putting food in a new belly does that to people.

[Ipkh]

Don't be absurd. Intel, the only company that cared, dropped out of the market. So there's really no incentive there. Android fir better or worse target phones and there aren't any modern Intel phones out there. And it hardly makes much sense over a linux distribution for PC and laptops. I'm surprised there is still an effort left.

[aht0]

It's perfect for otherwise underpowered netbooks. Since it's Android, not much difference whether you have 8, 9 or 10.

[ruthan]

It make perfect sense this is only feasible way for non Windows OS for masses, people are already friendly with it from their phones.. This OS is more user friendly than all Linux distros, it just works in nice stable gui. Give it good app in window mode, taskbar, multiple monitor support, decent video drivers and make Steam games running and bye, bye other desktop for normal people distros..

[birdie]

Well part of the manpower problem comes from the multitude of distros out there. In a sense this Android is just another Linux distro with a different GUI (yes a simplification). Now consider the talent spread across tens of distros (hundreds?) and it is no surprise that people are spread thin.

as for donations; frankly software development is not high on peoples list when it comes to ways to protect freedom, help the needy or improve society. It is great that some have the time or money to throw at open source but that isn’t the majority of users. It is no surprise that many open source developer these days work for corporations that in some way support open source. Putting food in a new belly does that to people.

There's an insane amount of work required to modify/configure Android just for a single HW configuration, i.e. smartphone, and that can be seen by how fast OEMs stop supporting Android smartphones.

Android x86 instead must support a ton of x86 systems out there, including virtual like VirtualBox and VMWare.

[jo-erlend]

There's an insane amount of work required to modify/configure Android just for a single HW configuration, i.e. smartphone, and that can be seen by how fast OEMs stop supporting Android smartphones.

They sell hardware. What do they have to gain by supporting the software once the device is sold? A lot of people would prefer to buy cheap devices than expensive ones, but the people selling the devices, what interest is that of theirs?

[birdie]

They sell hardware. What do they have to gain by supporting the software once the device is sold? A lot of people would prefer to buy cheap devices than expensive ones, but the people selling the devices, what interest is that of theirs?

Ask OEMs. This is a discussion of Android-x86 ;-)