The Downfalls of "Open Source"

I'll make no bones about it, while I work with Android devices to test Website Designs, I  really do not like the platform over all.

Sure there are the "benefits" that many tout as reasons to be pro-Android, these usually being things like

Android is Cheaper to own
Android can be customized to my liking
Android does not lock me into a "Walled Garden" Ecosystem
Android can run any App that a user wants
Android has More hardware choices

For many users, these and other reasons, might be very practical reasons as to why to go with the Android platform,  and the only one I can fully see as a good thing honestly is that Android can be customized to a user's liking.  A Valid argument as when a device is customized to the user it becomes more an extension of that user and as such will likely bring up more productivity


Notice I said above that I personally can only fully agree with one of the 5 points in favour of Android, and there is a reason for that.  As I said before I actually keep an Android Tablet in my work arsenal of devices in order to test Website designs as they are being worked on, or more specifically I did until that fateful day last week when the worst possible thing that could happen happened

THE ANDROID TABLET BRICKED!

You read that right, the Cheaper to own, no walled garden, run any app a user wants tablet bricked, and the worst part of it bricking....More Hardware Choices.

Now you are likely asking yourself why More Hardware Choices, in this case, is a bad thing, and the answer is actually quite simple.

Because of the Open Source nature of Android, or I should say the Open Source nature of PURE ANDROID, it does work on more hardware, but that comes at a price.  You see, No two models of Android devices are truly the same. With every model, screen size, processor, speakers, Resistive or Capitative touch touch screens every company finds their own solutions, writes their own drivers, and have even taken to securely locking down the boot loader through encryption in order to prevent Rooting.  This practice is the very reason why trouble shooting an Android Device becomes problematic when something does go wrong.

I also happen to own iOS devices and even a Blackberry Playbook to test designs on, in the near future a Windows Tablet will be being added to the Arsenal  to make sure that bases are covered on the mobile side of that platform as well.

Where does owning these devices factor into the downfalls of the "open source" world of Android? Again, the answer is quite simple.  if an iOS device acts up a user can plug it into iTunes and restore it.  Much the same can be said for the Playbook, through the use of Blackberry Desktop, and the Windows Tablet does have a recovery partition that can be coded onto a USB drive for just such an emergency.

Now take a look at Android. a reported 60 % of the tablets on the market do not even support the Google Play Store.  Firmware is being encoded to prevent the user being able to load custom ROMs, in the process making recovery from a catastrophic failure all the more difficult to process when something does go wrong, and the more down time you have due to hardware failure, the more you risk meeting deadlines and the loss of customers.

What I have been faced with is simply a WiFi Tablet, I'm just glad I don't have an Android Phone, or things could be a lot worse