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Open is not the same as "open, if you run it on special developer hardware". The Android platform cannot really be said to be open if none of the consumer products based on it are open.


The Nexus One is a consumer product. You do not have to be a developer to buy it nor is it special developer hardware.

Those other devices are still closed because people still buy them. Vote with your wallets and you will have freedom.


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The easiest way to find one depending on your location might be ebay.

There are a lot of new & unused N1s on ebay.de and ebay.com


So then by that logic Linux itself isn't open, because manufacturers run it on locked set-top boxes.

With a bit of work you can probably get Android to run on commodity hardware.


Those manufacturers are not touting their locked set-top boxes as being an open platform...


I am with you here. The manufacturers should not be allowed to call their phones open if they lock the bootloader so you cannot install unsigned images.

But Android as a platform is still open. The same way that Linux is still open.


Are they? Does HTC, Samsung, etc. actually claim that their phones are "open"? It's Google calling Android open.




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