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Yesterday, we were saddened to hear that longtime Android Open Source Project maintainer and beloved community participant Jean-Baptiste Quéru would be leaving his post at the Android team to take on other endeavors within Google.
The apparent reasoning is because of Google’s unwillingness to release factory images for the latest Nexus 7 due to a request from Qualcomm. The chipset vendor has proprietary binary code that they don’t want the public getting their grubby little hands on, and that has delayed the release of the factory images for who knows how long.
So what better way to show Qualcomm we’re standing behind JBQ’s beliefs and fighting for those factory images to be released than to sign an online petition? One has gone up on Change.org, and it needs help. It only sits at about 312 signatures as of the time of this writing, but we imagine this will balloon quite significantly in the days and weeks to come.
Here is the letter directed at the CEO of Qualcomm:
Please allow Google to release the factory images of Android devices using Qualcomm CPU’s and GPU’s to the Android Open Source Project. It is a large inconvenience to developers and programmers worldwide trying to improve the experience of Android, while the factory images are locked down, due to legal issues with a few proprietary GPU binaries.
Stamp your name to that if you’re down for the cause, and be sure to share it with all your friends to see if we can’t get Qualcomm to ease up on the legalities a bit. Developers need this stuff, and considering they’re the ones who make this platform tick it just isn’t right to take this stuff away from them. We’re not sure if any change of course would be enough to bring JBQ back, but there’s no reason we can’t still fight for his work. Go ahead and find the petition at Change.org.
dude with hair
I thought that they would agreed to this before using their hardware -_-
Online petitions: An absolute waste of time.
2 minutes out of your life is not a waste unless all you do is masturbate.
Your comment, even more of a waste :p
It worked for the Xbox One
We should really be petitioning Google to not use there chipsets any longer unless they allow them to be released. Google has more pull with them then we do. And Google already knew of this problem before using Qualcomm, so I blame Google for continuing to use them
Their*
;-)
Cheers for that.
Totally agree! This is the manufacturers problem for selecting Qualcomm.
And CM is bashing Samsung about Exynos binaries… I guess it’s only a matter of time until everyone starts to hold on to their code.
There seems to be a lot of Samsung bashing going on lately in regards to this. Yet despite that the Galaxy range of smart phones has had really good AOSP support.
just Andy replied i didn’t believe that anyone able to make $7854 per month on the internet. big44.com
..just Andy replied i didn’t believe that anyone able to make $7854 per month on the internet. big44.com..
JBQ says the petition is waste of time and may be counterproductive. I don’t think we have the full story on why he quit AOSP. This seems like a google management problem, not just Qualcomm being pricks.
When and where? Source please?
https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13hczupqmjswx0mi23yetxz5orscpf3g
Found it, don’t mine me. I was just surprised that I’d just finished checking my fav Android news sites and didn’t see any notice of this story.
Despite JBQ’s brief explanation I don’t understand why he considers it a waste of time. For me the minute it took to sign was much more constructive than watching kitten videos ( unless they’re instructional videos for owners in how not to let the furry little devils destroy native wildlife).
https://plus.google.com/u/0/112218872649456413744/posts/E3ty8rQKUsT
ROFL….and this petition will do what while 200 trillion devices are being bought? Seriously- you want to send a message hit their $$ and don’t buy it. Period.
That goes for any device that is locked down tight or that code isn’t being released for.
For every device that is, there’s a device that isn’t and has the code release.
I’m not gonna sit on my couch and whine with a bunch of other whiners- I’m taking action…and the action is not to purchase this until the code is released.
So, sorry whiners- no offense but….WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Exactly. If it doesn’t matter to you enough to affect your purchasing decision, it doesn’t matter to them AT ALL. That said, I think in the short term Google and Asus would be hurt more buy lost sales than Qualcomm, but in the long run it could affect the use of Qualcomm chips in other products, which is another story.
“So what better way to show Qualcomm we’re standing behind JBQ’s beliefs and fighting for those factory images to be released than to sign an online petition?”
I think we all know the answer to that.
I disagree. By your same reasoning, millions of Qualcomm devices are being sold, I highly doubt that you not buying one is going to make an impact to them, especially when you do not even tell them why you are not buying.
On the other hand if we can make enough noise for this story to get picked up by more mainstream news sites then Qualcomm might start taking notice to avoid bad press.
And your petition did what? Not a thing…you’re missing the essence of
the post. Let me break it down for you…I won’t be sitting back on the
couch just whining in some lame forum because I wouldn’t have bought one
until the code is released…
Sure my one won’t make a difference
but how will 200 trillion people whining about something while still
purchasing do anything either? Exactly.
So the point is, shut
the hell up and move the energy from your lips to your hands and feet
and do something productive- that’s what incites change NOT change.org-
at least for items such as this.
And of course, your “other hand” is
the same thing as signing a petition- if people know about it they’re
still doing nothing at all…and qualcomm is aware of that.
It’s the
long term effect that impacts because of the $$$….that is all it is
about in the first place. Business first, b!tches last. Your $200 is
nothing to them, but $200 x 200 million “non-purchases” is
something….and you’re welcome by the way.
Well, the factory images were posted just like we wanted, so there’s that…
I don’t know this, of course, but my hunch is that, if every user that cared about this issue bought a different device, the remaining 99.9% would provide adequate consolation to Qualcomm and any other affected OEMs!
Factory images cannot be optional. I’ve had OTA updates fail on me twice, once with my Transformer and once with my Nexus. I recovered by downloading and flashing myself. If those images weren’t available on the internet, I would have had to ship them both to service centers, since they aren’t carrier devices.
The best possible outcome from these types of debacles would be that Google gets serious about fabricating it’s own hardware (SoC’s designed 100% in house by Motorola).
Petitions and ‘boycotts’ are futile when there are tens of millions of consumers who buy Qualcomm-powered devices each year w/out a single thought as to the code they’re running.
I thought that the Motorola that makes SoC’s isn’t owned by Google. Google bought Motorola Mobility after Motorola split into two separate companies.
Motorola Mobility would handle SoC design for smartphones, were Google so inclined to get into that business. Motorola Solutions deals with data & telecom (networking) equipment for enterprise business and the government.
the best possible outcome is to have google (and others) only work with
other manufacturers that will allow for the release of the code – period.
If not, then at least make it clear on the front end of things that it won’t be released –
so that people do not live a pipe dream in assuming the code will be released
for their device when they buy it…People somehow get to thinking that
it’s an entitlement or will feel that “some dev will just figure it out”…that’s not to say that the devs aren’t capable…
Buy
a product for what it can do (and what you can do with it – i.e.
source)
NOW, rather than what you THINK it will do in the future and
there won’t be such a disconnect.
If the code isn’t release,
something
will end up being pieced together within the dev community but by that
time, the next thing will be out and everyone will be clamoring to buy
that…making this device less relevant…even still the consumers make
it worse for themselves by NOT taking action. Familiarity breeds
complacency- so as the brand keeps pumping these things out, and taking
small (or large) things away what does that produce? It’s far easier to
ask for forgiveness to the consumer than ask for permission of them.
…long term is always a better outcome, especially because of how quickly the hardware changes..
one
last side-note…why does everyone ASSUME that google didn’t intend for
this to occur in the first place? The giant is certainly not stupid.
If there was a 6 month lead-in, then I’m sure they were privy to certain information prior to that. …hey I’m just sayin…
So, let me get this straight. The Obama administration breaks precedence, overturns an ITC ruling, and thereby reduces the value of proprietary technical information. Qualcomm acts to protect its proprietary technical information, and everyone complains to Obama about Qualcomm. This does not make sense. People should be griping at Google for making a Nexus device using unreleasable images, not Qualcomm.
Anyone else tired of this petition BS ?? There seems to be a petition for everything except things that actually make sense having a petition for.
Quallcomm should not have to give up its ability to protect its proprietary properties because some dude that needs a haircut says so. Its their properties, their right. We dont need the code, most people wouldnt even know the code existed, and most wouldnt care. We need to have petitions for things more important than how many chicken nuggets we can get in one package at McDonalds. This is similar to that. In other words, useless and pointless.
Its not source code that would be posted anyway. The issue is the binary files already on the phone.
Still a code that most dont care about. Its akin to getting a petition to find out the ingredients of the secret sauce on a Big Mac.
Your analogy only shows your ignorance. To be fair, it seems that at least half of the Android-centric internet is ignorant to this issue also.
Who cares about binary files, why dont you tell me whats so important. Its not ignorance to not care about something which will prob never affect me or most Android users.
Its important because you need the factory image if you ever want to restore the device to factory stock after loading a custom rom.
All they need to do is include the binaries as a propietary package with it that cannot be accessed code wise by anyone no or work them under proper licensing terms?