|
Something that is also worth bearing in mind is that Linux (and by extension Android) is much more difficult to set up and run on ARM powered devices (which the vast majority of tablets are) due to the number of different SoCs than with the relatively stable x86 flavours, due to the lack of standardisation. It's only recently that there has been any movement on getting better ARM support in the Linux Kernel. This means there's a whole host of propriety drivers written by the manufacturers that only support the flavour of SoC they are using in a particular device. Which doesn't help with the openess of any Linux or Android ditribution on Tablet.
It's as much the SoC manufacturers fault for not releasing documentation to allow the FOSS community to develop drivers for their hardware, as it is Google for making Android appear very "closed".
If a Linux (or Android) distribution becomes easier to recompile for different ARM based SoCs I think we'd find Android would become more open. Unfortunately, currently as far as I'm aware, the amount of effort required to set up a distribution is vast, as the platform changes with each new piece of hardware.
Just my ruminations!
|