“I think I’m having a Gene Amdahl moment” Andy Rubin opened his Android openness piece with, referring to the ex-IBM engineer’s notorious “fear, uncertainty and doubt” quote that has matured into a catch-all term shorthand for using disinformation to build doubt around your competitors. To be fair there’s plenty of confusion to go around: claims attributed to OHA partners that Google was prioritizing only those who would kow-tow to its UI demands, attempting to block devices that switched out its own search for that of Microsoft’s Bing, and limiting code access to a cabal of favorites.
Serious allegations when you’ve built your platform on the promise of open access and flexibility. As we pointed out last week, there are several good reasons why Google would benefit from clamping down – at least a little – in the name of anti-fragmentation, but Rubin is keen to validate Android’s free-spirited ethos. Nonetheless, there are holes where we’d like to see facts.

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