this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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311
Google cuts hundreds of jobs in Android division. (htxt.co.za)
submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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  • Google is set to cut hundreds of new jobs in its device and platforms divisions soon.
  • The company has continued to cut its Google Pixel teams, doing so earlier this year as well.
  • Rival Microsoft is considering a new round of layoffs next month, per reports.
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Why would they need more staff if they plan on developing it in a closed source manner now?

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Android has always been developed in a closed-source manner by Google engineers, the recent changes only reduces the visibility of ongoing changes and the ability for developers outside of OEMs to contribute to Android (such contributions were already rare).

This is explained further in this article:

While some OS components, such as Android’s Bluetooth stack, are developed publicly in the AOSP branch, most components, including the core Android OS framework, are developed privately within Google’s internal branch. Google confirmed to Android Authority that it will soon shift all Android OS development to its internal branch, a change intended to streamline its development process.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the recent changes only reduces the visibility of ongoing changes and the ability for developers outside of OEMs to contribute to Android (such contributions were already rare).

Why is this so underplayed as if it's nearly meaningless though, is my question? A huge part of open source code is transparency, and this decision is a big blow to exactly that.

Only posting the code when it's finished increases the risk that it will not be correctly scrutinized in the way its been until now, not to mention the precedent this sets. Death of the OS in AOSP by a thousand shallow cuts is what I see here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

No one really scrutinized it while it was in development anyways. For example graphene os always looked at and made changes to the aosp releases.

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