I thought i’d post a few thoughts on Google’s recently announced Honeycomb source release delay, especially as a few people have asked what I think. 
First things first… in case you haven’t heard the news, Google are not releasing the Honeycomb source code (as shipped on the Motorola Xoom thus far and soon a score of other tablets) ‘for the foreseeable future’. The Businessweek article cites a likely delay of ‘several months’ as well as highlighting the fact that if they were to release the Honeycomb source Google would ‘have no idea if it would even work on phones, let alone provide an acceptable user experience’ (says Andy Rubin).
So who is this delay (for want of a better word) going to impact? Let’s start by talking about who it’s not going to impact. Although Honeycomb isn’t being pushed to AOSP (the Android Open Source Project, from where anybody who is so inclined can download the Android code), it is being shared by Google with their top-tier partners. Motorola (of course, who make the Xoom), HTC, Samsung, LG et al. all have access to Honeycomb and will be shipping devices in the near future. Their schedules are not affected by the AOSP announcement (in fact, one could argue that by not committing resource to open sourcing Honeycomb, Google free up bodies to focus on ensuring that said top tier partners have as much support as possible from Google in shipping their products in a timely fashion). Lack of Honeycomb source won’t impact 99% of consumers.
There are 2 groups that really lose out here and they are the enthusiasts (such as myself, the CyanogenMod team and the multitude of other individuals and groups that love to explore, tweak and build the code) and the various parties around the world that work on shipping Android devices without Google’s direct involvement (the ‘second tier’ of Android manufacturers).
For the enthusiasts (and indeed the CyanogenMod team in particular), the lack of access to Honeycomb in AOSP is a pretty significant blow. It means no deeply customised and enhanced ROM releases for Honeycomb devices, no (or much fewer) backports of Honeycomb to existing tablets (convenient huh?) and no Honeycomb enhancements to phones or phone ports of Honeycomb. I find Andy Rubin’s comment on how one of the reasons that Honeycomb isn’t ready for AOSP is the fact that it (probably) doesn’t run on phones a little strange. I think it’s pretty widely accepted that Honeycomb is likely to be a tablet-only branch that matures into Ice Cream further down the road with unified device support for phones and tablets. Nobody ever said that Froyo / Gingerbread would run on tablets, but it still shipped to AOSP… and was still deployed to both phones and tablets, albeit with a sub optimal user experience at times. Which leads me to…
…why the Honeycomb delay could be a good thing.
I’ve been saying for a long time that the profileration of cheap, crap Android devices (*cough* Next tablet *cough*) is harming the Android brand and, well, delaying Honeycomb’s release to AOSP conveniently goes a long way to preventing a ton of sub-par tablets emerging overnight and once again devaluing Android’s reputation.
Now, my suggested solution previously was to take a similar approach to Chrome / Chromium and reserve the Android brand for ‘licenced devices’ (requiring, for example, ‘non approved’ devices to use a name other than Android, perhaps ‘OpenDroid’?) but closing the Honeycomb source has the same effect in the short term… except it doesn’t prevent rogue OEMs shipping out sub-par tablets still running Froyo / Gingerbread. At least the ‘latest and greatest’ will be afforded some degree of protection…
So, the summary of my thoughts on the Honeycomb delay.
It might damage Google’s reputation a little in the short term, but on the whole – from Google’s perspective – it will certainly do more good than harm. Google’s partners will push Honeycomb and all of the devices with the Honeycomb OS on should have a high quality user experience. Android as a brand will flourish. Enthusiasts will be limited as to how many ‘old devices’ they can run Honeycomb on and OEMs will sell more hardware. Google will come good further down the line and return to timely AOSP releases and developers, who no doubt feel somewhat let down at this time, will ultimately be pacified. The very same developers that – if Google WERE to release the Honeycomb source in a ‘right old state’ (which is how they imply it is at the moment!) – would probably tear their hair out in despair.
It’ll all turn out OK, Google wouldn’t do anything evil would they…
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share!
P
PS Even if I can see the reasons behind it, I still think it sucks. 
