Google Kills Android Things, a Smart Home OS That Never Took Off (theverge.com) 40
Google plans to shut down Android Things, a stripped-down version of Android designed for smart home devices. The OS never really got off the ground, so this isn't all that much of a loss, but it is yet another entry in Google's expansive graveyard of shut-down projects. The Verge reports: The smart home project got its start in 2015 under the name Brillo, which was meant to provide the "underlying operating system for the internet of things." In 2016, Google revamped Brillo and relaunched the initiative as Android Things, which was likewise meant to run on products like connected speakers, security cameras, and routers. By relying on Android, the OS was supposed to be familiar to developers and easy to get started with. Then nothing happened. In 2018, some initial smart speakers and smart displays came out using the underlying OS. It seems no other companies were interested, because in February 2019, Google announced it was "refocusing" Android Things to cater specifically to smart speakers and smart displays.
Nearly two years later, and Android Things is now on track to be shut down. The Android Things Console, which lets developers push updates to their devices, will stop accepting new non-commercial projects starting January 5th, 2021. A year later, on January 5th, 2022, "the console will be turned down completely and all project data will be permanently deleted." That essentially means developers have a year to wind down any Android Things projects they already have set up.
Nearly two years later, and Android Things is now on track to be shut down. The Android Things Console, which lets developers push updates to their devices, will stop accepting new non-commercial projects starting January 5th, 2021. A year later, on January 5th, 2022, "the console will be turned down completely and all project data will be permanently deleted." That essentially means developers have a year to wind down any Android Things projects they already have set up.
title too long... (Score:3)
Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:5, Insightful)
It is now pretty clear that you are risking your livelihood if you invest time on work tied to any of Google's minor products.
Don't risk it, people.
Re:Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
And yes, Google always abandons the "1.x" versions of their hardware products, and everyone expects Google to do the same with Stadia. You can burn them once with Android 1.x (Android 2.x received much longer support), you can burn them twice with Google TV (aka Android TV 1.x), and maybe you can burn some loyal fans a third time with Android Wear 1.x, but after a while, everyone gets the damn message.
It's the same reason Android TV has so low market penetration, despite being an objectively good product. Nobody trusts Google to be around for the long run, and Google treating it as a second-class citizen (no dedicated YouTube Music app for example) doesn't help matters..
So, either you are a dev or a user, let someone else be the Google early adopter. And if everyone thinks that way, that's Google's problem, not yours.
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This, again. One can't help but assume one of the reasons Google Stadia has had such a "meh" reception by the public so far is because everyone assumes it's will be yet another Google product where the early adopters will be stabbed in the back.
At least with regards to developers, you don't have to assume [businessinsider.com]
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I don't think Stadia is long for this world. They are giving away the hardware for free now which suggests it's a last push to make it happen before giving up.
The gamepads aren't bad, sadly the wireless is proprietary so you can only use them wired on other hardware, but for free...
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This, again. One can't help but assume one of the reasons Google Stadia has had such a "meh" reception by the public so far is because everyone assumes it's will be yet another Google product where the early adopters will be stabbed in the back. Everyone expects Google to either cancel the product outright or to abandon the "1.x" versions of the hardware.
Indeed - and with the business model of "you have to buy the game on Stadia", you're screwed if you. If it instead integrated with GOG and Steam, so you wouldn't have to run the risk of not only the service going away, but also your games, it's something I might have been interested in. Losing a small amount in hardware I can no longer - no biggie. Losing a large game library? Showstopper.
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Re: Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:2)
Agreed. They are getting to be as bad as M$ with their windows phone. Lukewarm reception and only 200,000 units sold? Shut it down and let the loyalists adrift without any sort of support.
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That's a pretty short sighted comment. Your risk your livelihood working for any minor product. A product is only as good as a company's ability to make money from it or a volunteer's ability to actually remain interested.
But then everything in life is a risk. And being the first mover to adopt something minor carries the largest risk, and also potentially the largest reward.
The only rich people who aren't born rich are those who take risks.
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That's a pretty short sighted comment. Your risk your livelihood working for any minor product. A product is only as good as a company's ability to make money from it or a volunteer's ability to actually remain interested.
But then everything in life is a risk...
Well, that is technically, correct, but in practice, risks are different.
Valve is very unlikely to close up Steam in the foreseeable future. Even if they did, most developers could easily move their games to the Epic Store or just offer downloadable installers on their own websites. Microsoft is very unlikely to prevent Win32 applications from running on Windows, and even if they did, existing Windows 10 (and 7, and XP) ISOs are plentiful enough that it's entirely possible to run purchased games despite Mic
Re: Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:2)
If sony shut down the PSN, then games most definitely would stop working. The trend has been going that way for a while. Very few games are coming out single player and off grid. I doubt we will ever see another Fallout or Elder Scrolls installment now that they shifted to a purely MMO environment. Such an environment is highly dependent on the gatekeepers to maintain the status quo.
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Valve is very unlikely to close up Steam in the foreseeable future.
That is precisely my point. If you're using Steam you're in not way a "first mover". You're very much late to the party to join an established and financially stable platform.
You seem to be focused on companies, but in reality you're describing fundamental differences between products. Were Steam a Google product and Stadia a valve product the risk profiles would remain completely unchanged and everything you said still be very true.
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You seem to be focused on companies, but in reality you're describing fundamental differences between products. Were Steam a Google product and Stadia a valve product the risk profiles would remain completely unchanged and everything you said still be very true.
If Valve went all-in on a streaming platform, what they have that Google doesn't is the ability to say "We'll show you the games in your existing Steam library you can stream today, we're adding more as we go, and if we close down this service, any games you purchase will still be a part of your Steam library, playable on your computer, just as they are today".
Maybe I'd sign up, maybe I wouldn't...but Valve can say "you can always play any purchased games" and a whole lot of people would believe them becaus
Re: Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:2)
Everyone takes risks. Everything is a risk.
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Not me. I take no risks. 3 days ago I heard that people die in their sleep. I havent sleep 3 ago days and fine I'm.
Re:Don't risk using Google stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
I evaluated Android Things for a work project a few years ago. It was actually quite a decent effort, very easy to port Android apps and build OS images. But it was also totally reliant on Google, you couldn't even download source to build your own OS image, you had to do it via their web interface.
Since we needed at least 5 years of support that made it an instant fail. With the source code we could potentially have maintained it ourselves. So we didn't use it, and now they have noticed that nobody uses it... Well done guys.
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Nope. You just move on to another project. And probably at Google.
Hey, you aren't paying attention. Failing small gets you a bad rep. Failing bigly gets you a different rep, and beneficial in the long run.
In Soviet Google (Score:3)
Brillo gets scrubbed!
GOOD and this is why: (Score:2)
Android is a trap, a de-facto walled garden quite unlike Linux desktop distros. Android and ARM are a toxic combination lending itself to vendor lock.
Embrace, extend, and extinguish works.
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Android is open source. You can install an Android OS on a phone without any vendor lock or even Google software on it.
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There aren't any non-walled garden alternatives for app stores. That's kind of the point of them
android is open source (Score:2)
for example, running on a raspberry pi 4 (utilising some of the work from android things) I wish it was merged to mainline...
https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi4/ [konstakang.com]
ya (Score:2)
Yet Another Google product/service (that I had never heard of) gets the axe.
Came looking for a certain comment (Score:2)
And nothing of value was lost
Isn't 'smart home' for rich people only anyway? (Score:2)
Re: Isn't 'smart home' for rich people only anyway (Score:2)
One would think. But then again I had to have someone explain to me why poor people own big large ass TVs and how can they afford a $2500 TV if they are broke. I was told that that TV accounts for their ENTIRE entertainment. They dont go to plays, or musicals, take cruises, or vacation often. If they get 4 years out of that TV, then their entertainment budget is less than $700 per year, or $75 per month.
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For those of us not so well-to-do, a TV is a major purchase. I bought one when I was fresh out of high school. It lasted me nearly fifteen years and then I passed it on to my father in law when I bought my first flat screen. I'm still on that first flat screen over a decade later.
Granted, I'm not tossing $2500 on a single screen ever. I've always kept TVs under $500, even when I had all sorts of extra spending money.
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Im still running a Panasonic TC-P65VT25 plasma. I bought the display model from Best Buy when they clearanced it for $1700. Its heavy as hell but looks great. They dont do 3D tv's anymore. I've had my eye on an 85in QLED TV by Samsung but just havent been able to justify it. My daughter is a senior and just got acceptance letters from a handful of private universities. Even with their Merit grants, scholarships, and other money, it still leaves about $9k per year to cover. She is wanting to go pre-vet.
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They don't have a house full of them, but you'd be surprised how many people have an echo or philips hue bulb.
Are we sure about this? (Score:2)
Today is Thursday. I thought Google normally kill products on Tuesday.
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Your timestamp reads
It's Friday afternoon.
Woah... Tenet. I must have posted that from the future since it was Thursday my local time.
Re: Are we sure about this? (Score:2)
They had to announce early so they could give their employees the week of Christmas off :-)
Only real IoT OS is Libertas IoT OS (Score:1)
Re: Only real IoT OS is Libertas IoT OS (Score:1)
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This is not only good, but preferred (Score:2)
Google understands, they open up many projects, and hope they hit a winner occasionally. Believe me, this is preferable to Twitter's model of one insanely great thing, 'cause if you F up your insanely great thing, you're forgotten.
And honestly you're negligent if you don't leverage your first insanely great thing to build more insanely great things. The key is to fail fast, get through the mistakes, and pile onto the successes. I miss Google + terribly, but clearly I do not represent the overall market ver