To compete with "Google Android", I would need to fork the android source, market and brand this new "EnsorcelOS", develop my own backend services for updates and registration, negotiate with Bing or some other search and services company, develop my own app store, ...
Saying that Android is Open Source doesn't actually make competitors to "Google Android" viable or numerous.
> Saying that Android is Open Source doesn't actually make competitors to "Google Android" viable or numerous
Tell that to Chinese Android manufacturers.
Apart that your comment has nothing to do with Android being open source or not. it is irrelevant if a fork is competitive or not, AOSP is still open source
So if you include a builtin search box on Android, AOSP wouldn't be considered open source unless Google gave away the source go Google Search itself, and the transitive dependency of all of that, including all of the secret data center stuff? After all, you need to be able to build and deploy it, otherwise it doesn't count.
ITs open source in the same way OSX and iOS are open source (although more open, i will admit) the core is open, but a very large proportion of the key services are closed and difficult to replace.
Yes, you can get the XNU kernel and many of the frameworks (including the Objective-C 2.0 runtime) from http://opensource.apple.com. Feel free to fork it and let us know how you get on.
