Android's Open Core, Closed Governance
Android is open source — except for the parts that matter. This episode digs into the gap between what AOSP promises and what developers actually experience when Google shifts the platform underneath them. From scoped storage to the sideloading verification backlash that rattled F-Droid, we trace how the core gets built, who gets consulted (spoiler: mostly large teams), and why a two-person app studio can lose everything in 48 hours. We also look at the OEM layer — Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi — and the background-process kill lists that make "Android" mean something different on every phone. Is…
The skinny
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