Google requires promises not to split Android

Following the release on November 6th of Google of the first piece of information about the company's plans to change the way mobile applications are created and distributed, industry analysts formed a long list of questions about the Android platform and the Open Handset Alliance .
IDG News Service spoke to Rich Miner, a key member of the Android engineering team and co-founder of Android, acquired by Google in 2005, and asked him some of these questions.
During a short telephone interview, he stated that all members of the alliance came to an agreement to protect Android from technical fragmentation and explained why Google decided to launch its own mobile Linux project with several existing ones.

IDGNS: The goals of other mobile Linux projects are similar to those of Android. Will Android not compete with them and impede their progress?
Miner: When we looked at other mobile Linux projects, we realized that often, although they are based on using Linux, they are not completely open platforms. Or they are completely open, but lack most of the possibilities that Android will have. They often do not contain video codecs, Midi synthesizer, speech recognition systems, that is, they are not a full-featured mobile kit. The goal of the Android project was to create all the components for the release of the phone: a basic set of modules for the production of a competitive smartphone or a phone with broad functionality.
IDGNS: The description you gave to the Android browser sounds impressive. Will it really work with a mobile browser to fully match the experience of working with a browser on a PC?
Miner: Yes. The browser will be based on open source technology Webkit . This is the same browser that Apple ships with the iPhone and is the same used in Nokia Series 60 phones. So this is a full-featured PC browser based on the same Webkit core that Apple uses for Safari, but is highly optimized for mobile devices. Yes, it will be an excellent experience communicating with the Web using mobile devices.
IDGNS: Speaking of the iPhone, do you have any idea why Apple is not among the partners of the Open Handset Alliance? Have there been any talks between Google and Apple about this?
Miner: You have to ask Apple about Apple.
IDGNS: Some people worry if the freedom of a wide Android modification would backfire if developers start building proprietary extensions and redo the system or demand it, so starting with developers from the very beginning, you will have to redo the applications for each phone.
Miner: Good question, but each member of the alliance agreed to the conditions for ensuring anti-fragmentation. In general, everyone agreed neither to split the project, nor to do things that would lead to the emergence of different versions of the platform.
IDGNS: Is the Open Handset Alliance built with the conditions for empowering Google to restrict authority and ability to impose anything, or is the structure of the alliance more similar to each member’s system of trust and bona fide commitments?
Miner: The most important thing is that everyone agrees with the general idea, because everyone understands that one of the big goals of this alliance is to build a live community of third-party developers. And everyone agrees that if they do something that questions the integrity of the platform, it will primarily hit third-party applications. This explains why no one is going to harm.
IDGNS: When you talk about the operating system, as a component of Android, is it about one or more operating systems?
Miner: We treat the project as a platform, because it is much more than just an operating system. The basis of the platform is Linux. This is really a complete set of components. We worked very hard all the way from the hardware through all levels of software: Linux OS, device drivers, the whole set of middleware, everything, including applications. This is an extremely highly mobile set based on Linux.
IDGNS: Google said it will provide a wide range of flexibility in the use and adaptation of Android and its components to developers, phone manufacturers, and cellular operators. Will the user be able to change the operating system to another Linux-based?
Miner: Everything works on Linux, so devices will be released with support for a specific Linux modification, and as long as Linux is based on the device drivers we developed, everything will be fine. This is not a set of applications running on top of Linux or Symbian or another operating system. The platform itself is based on Linux.
IDGNS: And when Linux is distributed, will Android be called?
Miner: When selling devices, their stuffing will be called Android, this is a system based on Linux with a whole bunch of other components for, for example, tasks such as optimized graphics for mobile phones, optimized databases, speech recognition system, video codecs. A complete set of software that makes the device optimized in the Linux environment produced by us.

This text is a translation of an interview with Google Google Non-fragmentation Pledge for Android. Published on November 7, 2007, by Juan Carlos Perez (IDG News Service).
When reprinting the translation, please refer to the original and real text, habrahabr.ru/blog/android/29653.html .
The author of the translation will be grateful for comments, comments, corrections of possible inaccuracies and participation in the adjustment of the translation of the interview.