[Editorial] Would Android Survive Without Developers

Google bought Android way back in 2005, and the OS has been on a rise since then. On September 23rd 2008 Android was first originally released into the public on the HTC Dream, and this OS looked to revolutionize the mobile phone world. Since then many OEMs who jumped on board. like Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, and more. First of all Android would be nowhere without the help of all these OEMs who believed enough in Android to put it on their devices. While the OEMs are important to, in my mind the most important part of Android is what happens after the release.

Android is an open source OS meaning the source code, to the software is all placed online, and anyone can download it. Anyone can open it up and look inside and start to tinker with it. In my mind open source started a domino effect. As a kid we all stacked those rectangle white blocks in a line a pushed the first one to make the others fall behind it. It sparked a reaction, and when done successfully you got a feeling of joy. Android in a sense is the same way. Once Android got it’s first root exploit, and first rom, this started a reaction. The reaction was huge and it is the reason we still have Android around today.

I guarantee a majority of our readers, have rooted a device, flashed a custom rom or kernel, and have put a mod on their device to increase performance. Flashing is something the gives us a good feeling knowing we have the control over our phone. We have control over the software that runs on our device and how it runs. The desire to flash and mess with ones device, created a community. Which leads me to my next point.

The Android community is one that is strong. It is because of the community I’m allowed to write this article and it will be viewed by all of you. The community, is like a little family of fellow geeks, who help each other out to improve their devices. The community is strong and it grows everyday. More and more users join Android everyday and more and more users realize the full potential of what you can do with your device. The community is a huge reason Android is around still, and it is the basis that Android thrives on.

Back to the developers, they took the source of an OS, and added their own customizations and because of them Android is a better platform overall. The name Android is almost synonymous with CyanogenMod. CyanogenMod is huge in the Android world. It has been installed by 1,679,656 people, and there’s something very interesting about this number. The CyanogenMod team is responsible for 798,520 of those installs. Now if you do the math there are still 881,136 installs not by the official team. So, who is responsible? Kang’s are responsible they take the great work of CyanogenMod, and they port it to their device to help spread the CyanogenMod love. It is great to see all these developers build off one another, and benefit from each others work.

XDA, a huge name in the Android world, has 4,333,605 registered users. That’s 4 million people looking to improve their device, and give them a better overall experience to use. That number is astounding in my mind. The work of developers have attracted 4 million people to get together on one website. There are people who make a living off of this by generous people giving donations for their work. Developers don’t develop for the money though they do it because they want to help the community. This brings me to my final point.

Android without developers might as well not be around. Some of you may disagree but this is just my personal opinion and here are 3 reasons.

  1. Android was built to be open source so developers are taking the reigns, and doing what Google wanted and improving devices all over and giving Android a better name.
  2. Developers built a community, a huge one at that, the community is strong and we keep Android going.
  3. Android has it’s flaws not all releases have been perfect, all of them have had bugs, and problems but the developers worked them out. Developers take the bugs and get rid of them and make our devices run smoother. The developers attract more and more people to Android.

That is why Android needs the developers, and why Android has made it as far as it has. There is still a lot more to come from Android it is nowhere near dying and I feel like this is only the beginning. The future has no limits if Android continues in the direction it is going now.

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