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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

Stuff

My hope is that once Android reaches a large enough market share of the smartphone market Google will pull in the reigns and play hardball with the carriers, forcing them to use only an open, Google approved version, in the same way Microsoft and Apple do with their OS's.

Also I really, really wish SBC had never merged with AT&T. Once you get past 4 competitors in any market you start to have some real price competition and innovation. A 5th nation-wide competitor would work wonders for our industry. Heck, if MCI still existed and we had 6 competitors, the industry would look completely different than it does now.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

said by sonicmerlin:

My hope is that once Android reaches a large enough market share of the smartphone market Google will pull in the reigns and play hardball with the carriers, forcing them to use only an open, Google approved version, in the same way Microsoft and Apple do with their OS's.
I know your reaction is a totally honest one. I'm not going to bash you for it. You know, normally I agree with you, but isn't the point of Open Source to allow developers to take it and use it to make their own stuff (with attribution and source-sharing, of course)?

Yes, we should be mad at AT&T for AGAIN putting the "no" in technology, but Google shouldn't force AT&T to do anything except to follow the open-source license.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

3 recommendations

jseymour to sonicmerlin

Member

to sonicmerlin
said by sonicmerlin:

Also I really, really wish SBC had never merged with AT&T.
Let's be clear on something: SBC did not merge with AT&T. SBC bought AT&T lock, stock and barrel, and then changed their name to AT&T. The upshot being: The thing calling itself "AT&T" today is not, in reality, AT&T, but SBC re-branded.

And boy, does it ever show. I dealt with the real AT&T for, oh, about 20 years, before it was bought by SBC. It had its faults. It wasn't perfect. But it was a damn sight better than SBC in all respects, IMO.

AT&T, the real AT&T, is no more.

Jim
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to funchords

Premium Member

to funchords
Google made one mistake... they should in fact leave their stuff "open".. however, they should have placed SOME limitations on the software in order to be able to call it "droid"... by locking the software down from the end-user, in my opinion, breaks the very spirit in which google was intending... or, maybe google really doesn't care.

Who knows.. maybe google is letting all the carriers get a taste of their software, now, and see how they handle it. Maybe the next round of the software will have some marketed changes ... you know, get everyone happy with it and then pull it back some. Hard to say..

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

said by fiberguy2:

Google made one mistake... they should in fact leave their stuff "open".. however, they should have placed SOME limitations on the software in order to be able to call it "droid"... by locking the software down from the end-user, in my opinion, breaks the very spirit in which google was intending... or, maybe google really doesn't care.
I'm with you on this. Don't block me from "sudo" or "su" and if I hork it up, I'll take my consequences.
said by fiberguy2:

Who knows.. maybe google is letting all the carriers get a taste of their software, now, and see how they handle it. Maybe the next round of the software will have some marketed changes ... you know, get everyone happy with it and then pull it back some. Hard to say..
That's the whole risk about believing "Don't be evil." But like TCP, reputations follow the rule of AIMD. (Hey, this is DSLReports!)

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207 to jseymour

Premium Member

to jseymour
One could argue that your AT&T (AT&T Corp.) was not the real AT&T (AT&T Company), as SBC and AT&T Corp. were both part of the original AT&T before the big breakup.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to funchords

Premium Member

to funchords
said by funchords:

I'm with you on this. Don't block me from "sudo" or "su" and if I hork it up, I'll take my consequences.
So long as there are sufficient safeguards in place to prevent stupid users from doing stupid things. I'm not saying prevent root access, but I think the Windows Vista model of "are you really really really sure you want to do that" needs to be the default.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
said by jmn1207:

One could argue that your AT&T (AT&T Corp.) was not the real AT&T (AT&T Company), as SBC and AT&T Corp. were both part of the original AT&T before the big breakup.
One could argue that, but one would lose .

AT&T Corp. owned the local Bell Operating Companies, AT&T Long Lines (by whom I nearly became employed, back in the mid-70s), Western Electric and Bell Labs. The breakup to which you refer resulted in AT&T divesting itself of the Bell Operating Companies, which were lumped-together as seven (7) Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCS). AT&T retained Long Lines, WE and Bell Labs.

They subsequently added computers, cable and wireless, proved unable to execute on any of those, much less integrate them with their existing products and one another, lost their cash cow (LD) to competition, sold-off everything (some at terrific losses) except Long Lines (which included Internet/data backbone by this time), and Bell Labs, and were eventually acquired by SBC.

Jim

Mike_
join:2003-06-24
Philadelphia, PA

Mike_ to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
As was Verizon (GTE) before same breakup

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

said by Mike_:

As was Verizon (GTE) before same breakup
Well, kind of. Verizon was originally Bell Atlantic, and was known by that name. They acquired NYNEX. It wasn't until after they acquired GTE that they renamed themselves to Verizon. Bell Atlantic and NYNEX were originally Bell Operating companies. GTE was not. WorldCom/MCI was also acquired by Verizon, and that also was never part of AT&T. Nor was any part of their Wireless or data network.

Jim