Isn't that just our version of fusion? Despite constant developments (and a surprisingly large behind the scenes usage), it's been the tech of $time-delay into the future for at least 5 * $time-delay into the past?
Plenty of real fusion in the world too. But even with the open source elements in Android and iOS, the gap between the promise and J. Average's experience (or even from the point of view of how many of us get paid to develop OSS rather than just use it) is that it might as well be Mr. Fusion from BTTF.
Fusion will have already changed the world if it's very expensive and hard to build, and one can't build a fusion reactor in their backyard. This analogy is starting to stretch a little.
Open-source desktop apps for my grandma are not widespread, but still, open-source runs the world because that's what all the software engineers use to build their closed-source applications.
In the "no one fires you for buying IBM" quote, nobody was talking about Android applications, but business software. These days, no one fires you for buying Linux.
