Honeycomb to remain open source

I have always felt that fragmentation was an overstated issue in our beloved Android platform. Furthermore it is my humble opinion that the fact that Android is “fragmented” is one of the good things about it offering users lots of choices in terms of handsets and the ability to get relatively inexpensive devices when compared to more proprietary offerings. That being said, I was very happy to see that Andy Rubin -VP of engineering and head of Android development- had some rather definitive things to say about the subject in the Android Developers blog. Rumors that reportedly came from Bloomberg have been buzzing for a while now concerning the apparent decision by Rubin and company not to release the Honeycomb OS source code. This was reportedly done to help them put a stop to the fragmentation that occurs as a natural consequence of the openness of the platform.

Andy Rubin speaks out

In his blog post Mr. Rubin stated: “We don’t believe in a “one size fits all” solution. The Android platform has already spurred the development of hundreds of different types of devices – many of which were not originally contemplated when the platform was first created.”

He goes on to say “Finally, we continue to be an open source platform and will continue releasing source code when it is ready. As I write this the Android team is still hard at work to bring all the new Honeycomb features to phones. As soon as this work is completed, we’ll publish the code. This temporary delay does not represent a change in strategy. We remain firmly committed to providing Android as an open source platform across many device types.”

Ice Cream Anyone?

So this should be enough to calm the alarm of the reports that Google had decided to close the door when it comes to Honeycomb. This is certainly good news to the people in the developer circles that I frequent, and it’s great news for all of us as end users too. The question remains…. When will we see these Honeycomb features come to our phones? I do love ice cream and it appears to be coming soon to a bowl near you.