Not a great start… Android Source

Just under a month ago Google, HTC and T-Mobile unveiled the T-Mobile G1 to the world, the first phone to run Google’s new Open Source mobile operating system named Android. Tomorrow the G1 will be available at T-Mobile stores.

Today however is an almost as big occasion (mainly for geeks) because Google have released the full source code of the Android platform, 2.1GB of code. That 2.1GB includes the linux kernel, the application platform, the system library, graphics and speech-recognition libraries, a media codex and the base applications such as their browser, contacts manager and dialler.

So, why not a great start? Well we haven’t downloaded the 2.1GB and looked through it thoroughly yet (nor will we be doing so), but stated on the download page,

“The source is approximentely 2.1GB in size. You will need 6GB free to complete the build.”

Now if they can’t spell approximately correctly then what hope is there for the code? Seriously though, it boggles the mind how not a single person seems to be proof reading these things, you’d expect someone to notice and update it within a few minutes.

This is really the beginning for the platform, judging from the video, their objective is very clear; dominate the mobile phone market as quickly as possible. Competition over the next few years throughout the mobile phone industry should benefit users profoundly.