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Comment Re: The solution is obvious (Score 1) 579

You do not have to pay for android source code. It is open source. You can download and compile it right now I'd you wish. That's what Amazon did with fire os and what cyanogenmod did.

If you want to use Googles apps on a phone you sell, then yes there is an agreement to get access to googles apps on your companies phones.

Android is not open source. Android is not free.
The publicly available open source code is NOT the same as what is developed by Google (and collaboratively by OEMs) and released to market running on high end devices. This (and Google's apps) is what consumers want, and it's what they (and OEMs) pay actual money for.
The two are not comparable. AOSP is NOT Android.

Comment Re:The solution is obvious (Score 1) 579

Download the Android source from the official site for free: https://source.android.com/sou...

Android includes proprietary drivers and other code that you don't get to access unless you're a big OEM giving Google money, branding agreements, etc. Android also includes other code that does make it into the public release, but delayed for many months (often over a year).

The repository you linked isn't Android. It's an old version of stripped-down Android that no one can use to create a competitive high end device. Google does this because of what Amazon did with the Kindle line, and because of what they fear Samsung could do. (Hint: Fork Android, have your own store, and cut Google out of the picture.)

This is why Google made their apps separate (and not free) for OEMs. People want Google's apps, but they don't care about Android Caramel Apple when they're already on Lemon Meringue. By tying those apps to a CASH MONEY license or a branding / no fork / first born's soul agreement, Google always gets a piece.

This is also why Google doesn't want to patch old devices. Doing so just means people have less incentive to run the latest version of Android, which is the version Google can guarantee it gets paid for. Carriers have similar motivation - testing/pushing out the updates is costly, and NOT doing so encourages people to buy a new device and extend their contract.

Comment Re:The solution is obvious (Score 2, Interesting) 579

Except that google isn't charging for their new software.

Yes they fucking are. Android is not free. Android is not open source. AOSP is not Android.
If you are an OEM and you want the latest version of Android you pay money and agree to bundle Google's apps and store (which cost more money) into a "flagship" phone that will launch within a certain time frame and is expected to sell some minimum number of units and will be heavily advertised as running Android X.Y Whatever Candy.

Comment Re:The solution is obvious (Score 2, Interesting) 579

The updates are NOT free. Android is NOT free.
You have to PAY to get access to Android source code. You pay more if you want the newer versions. You have to agree to shit like bundling Google's apps and store (which now also cost money separate from Android itself) or guaranteeing a "flagship" phone launch with expected sales of X within a certain time frame if you want access to the latest builds.

Even if Android was actually free, there are plenty of costs associated with pushing out an update. You've got to make sure the new version runs on the old devices (it won't). Then you've got to do QA. Then you've got to push the update out to the carriers. Then the carriers have to do their own validating. Then the carriers have to push it out.

Then people have to accept the update.

Google is the pot calling the granite counter top of Microsoft black.

Comment Re:Good news (Score 1) 422

Brawn, Prowl, Ratchet and Ironhide were all killed in the first five minutes with barely a fight, and for no other reason than to make way for the new toys.

They were killed because Megatron assaulted their shuttle and shot them the fuck up.
They were at war. People (and transformers) die in wars.
The movie established right from the beginning that it wasn't just a Saturday morning cartoon and that it was going to have consequences. This is a good thing.

Comment Re:Kaspersky IS (Score 1) 467

Kaspersky IS has signature whitelisting. If the executable isn't in the whitelist it doesn't run, period. You can configure it to completely prevent the execution of non-whitelisted exes.

You can do this for free with Group Policy shit.
I believe you can even whitelist executables based on publisher certificate, so when a new version of whatever rolls out you don't have to update the whitelist.

Comment Re: for windows read below (Score 5, Informative) 467

Microsoft Security Essentials is Windows Defender is System Center Endpoint Protection.
Definition updates come out every few hours.
They all catch the vast majority of shit.

EMET (also free and from MS) will prevent many of the 0-day vulnerabilities that MSE/WD/SCEP could miss until the next definition update rolls out.

Comment Re:Good news (Score 1) 422

Wrong. The deaths were impactful and gave weight to the story. It wasn't your typical Saturday morning good guys win bad guys lose tripe. There were consequences. The battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron was paced perfectly. You're a fucking moron if you think having the main protagonist and main antagonist, who also happen to be the two most popular characters, fucking die is anti-climactic.

I bet you're the type of dipshit who prefers the fast cut, shakey cam, 20 minute shitfest where protagonist A fights antagonist B for a bit, then we switch to supporting character C doing some bullshit with the computers in a race against time, then we switch to female protagonist X fighting female antagonist Y for a bit, then we switch back to the main fight between A and C, all of which are resolved nearly simultaneously with the good guys winning and the bad guys losing, typically with the good guys refusing to kill the bad guys once defeated, but the bad guys going for a last ditch dirty move when the good guys turn their backs, only for the good guys to respond with a lethal finishing move.

Comment Re:Good news (Score 5, Insightful) 422

The first Transformers movie sucked badly. Really badly.

The Transformers: The Movie is fucking awesome. It has a great story, an amazing soundtrack, and the most amazing voice cast of any movie ever:

Peter Cullen
Frank Welker
Judd Nelson
Kasey Kasem
Eric Idle
Scatman Crothers
Lionel Stander
Leonard Nimoy
Robert Stack
Orson Welles

And you get to top that list off with a song by Weird Al Yankovic.

Comment Re:Mutations (Score 1) 130

If they escape, they won't have time. If they don't escape, there won't be any pressure on them to do so.

When they escape, they'll have plenty of time as they'll be escaping along with chunkettes of their growth medium, containing the synthetic amino acids they need. As the bacteria grows the concentration of synthetic amino acids will decrease relative to population, creating the pressure to adapt to not need it. Further, no pressure is necessary for an effective change to come about - all specialization is random, and it sticks around if it is not detrimental.

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