Hi John,

Here is a slightly contrarian view for your article than the "venting" you mention..

Latest SDK: While I somewhat understand the feelings that some developers may have on being "left out", I really don't subscribe to the "uproar" being expressed. Think about it, all Google has done is given early access to the top 25 entries of a sponsored contest. Each of these top 25 applications are superb. I for one, really want to see them on the first commercial handset. I am therefore very glad that Google is providing those teams early access and additional support to fully develop their application. In some sense the Android team is extending its capabilities for the first commercial handset.

Talking of support, boy does the Android team have a tough job! Take a look at some of the emails on this list. They range from being "so and so feature does not work at all (mostly because I haven't even bothered to look at any documentation or any of the provided examples)" to "Can you help us understand the complex interactions between Component A and B". I myself am very pleased that some of my questions got satisfactorily answered on this mailing list. Imagine the flood of support issues that will come in with the new release of the SDK. This at a time that the team needs to focus on getting the commercial handset ready.

Future of the Development community: I attended the Google-IO conference in May and was at the fire-side chat hosted by the *core* android team. First, how many of us developers have had the opportunity to interact with a core team. But that said, I clearly remember Andy Rubin's viewpoint on the developer community. To paraphrase, "The world does not need another cell-phone operating system. What the world desperately needs is an *Open* cell- phone operating system with a thriving developer community behind it". This was a recurring theme throughout the conference. I think the developer community will be very well served.

The other point I would like to make is that there will always be some developers that get special treatment. This is especially true when applications get packaged and bundled along with the device (think Google-Maps on the iPhone). This will happen with OEMs, Carriers and others alike and all for good reason. You want to vet the bundled apps through a rigorous QA process. In fact, I would rephrase it and say "I, the consumer, want these bundled apps to be thoroughly QA'd".

I think the Android team just needs to focus on getting the first device out. The sense I get is that this is exactly what they are doing. Carrier testing and QA is no small task and is capable of consuming every resource you can put to it. The biggest benefit to us, the developer community, will be a hugely successful first commercial handset that compares well against some of the best devices out there. The success of that device will determine our future.

I think we all need to be a little patient and a little encouraging....

Thanks, DS.

On Jul 27, 2008, at 9:54 PM, John wrote: