Microsoft wants to invest in Cyanogen to help take Android away from Google

Shawn Knight

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Microsoft is said to be investing in rival mobile operating system Cyanogen in an apparent attempt to help pry Android out of the hands of Google.

People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Microsoft be a minority investor in a $70 million round of funding that would value the company in the high hundreds of thousands. One person said the financing round could grow as other investors eager to loosen Google’s grip on Android have also expressed interest.

Such an investment may seem odd considering Microsoft has its own mobile operating system in Windows Phone. What’s more, Microsoft also has a dog in the fight as it earns substantial royalties from Android devices. So, what gives?

microsoft invest rogue android startup cyanogen google android youtube windows phone apps mobile os play store cyanogen kirt mcmaster

For starters, Windows Phone has a small market share of about three percent. But what has upset manufacturers in recent years is the fact that the search giant is requiring handset makers to include Google apps on their devices and to set Google as the default search engine in exchange for access to YouTube, its search engine and the millions of apps in the Play Store.

As such, competing apps are having a hard time with distribution on Android devices. One relevant example is the fact that Microsoft’s Bing search engine is getting less exposure than it otherwise might.

Cyanogen is an alternative version of Android that doesn’t come bundled with such restrictions. Its CEO, Kirt McMaster, is steadfast in his pursuit of separating Android from Google. In an interview just last week, he went on the record by saying his company was going to take Android away from Google.

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It's like Google building a house and one of his guests wants Google out because of the house rules. Nice.
 
................Isn't Android open source? Can't anyone take it and use it how they want? If these phone carriers are tired of Google's rules, maybe they should hire their own programmers to make a version of Android to meet their needs. Not only would they get what they want, but it would cause Google to to ease back on the reins.

Microsoft is not going to take Android away from Google (since like I said, Google doesn't own it anyway). All it'll do is show Google that it needs to ease back a little. Even with this announcement, Google could already be realizing that they need to ease back. Time will tell.
 
They can't take android from Google but they could make an identical system based off the same kernels and release their own version but then I am sure they would end up in court with multiple patent infringements. The source code for android is developed by Google and is released open source to allow other devs to build on that. It is copyleft (not copyright) meaning anyone who releases it does still have to follow certain copyright laws and also cannot charge anyone for the os. Not 100% sure though but I am certain of Google wanted to they could make it so that Android is no longer open source but then I think they themselves would be in breach of Linux copyleft?

Also remember just because Microsoft and Cyan might produce an Android clone that doesn't mean all your current android software would work on the new platform. A lot will require the Google Mobile services (Play store is part of this) and this isn't open source and it a proprietary API.

It effectively means Google wont be threatened in any way shape or form, no copy can take Android away from Google unless they like any other business pay a considerable amount of money and buy it, all they can do is make a system similar to android and nothing more.
 
Waaaaaaaaaait a minute, Cyanogen grabs the original android code from google and just strips some things out of it.
How is it a different product from the original android?

Are they working on another project somewhere else that I'm not aware of?
 
Waaaaaaaaaait a minute, Cyanogen grabs the original android code from google and just strips some things out of it.
How is it a different product from the original android?

Are they working on another project somewhere else that I'm not aware of?
People never did a complete handle on what Android is (an Open Source OS anyone can use) and what Google Android is (Android with Google proprietary framework installed) everyone seems to think that the Google apps come automatically with Android when in fact you are only supposed to use them if you are part of the OHA and meet certain compatibility guidelines. You can fork Android all you want but the second you do you can no longer be part of the OHA and cannot use Google's framework or apps since they set the guidelines on what is needed for you to use them. Amazon has already done this since their Fire OS is a forked Android they work on which is why there are no Google apps on it and they have their own app store.
 
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