There's been a lot of noise lately surrounding Android's openness thanks to news that Google would be delaying the release of the Honeycomb code and news that the company may be working to fight fragmentation by controlling changes that manufacturers make to the OS. Today Andy Rubin took to the Android Developers Blog to defend Android's openness and address the claims that changes made to Android by Google's partners must be approved by him. On the topic of Honeycomb, Rubin explained that Android is still "an open source platform" and that his team is still working to bring 3.0's features to phones. Once that's done, Google will be releasing the Honeycomb code.
As for the rumors that Google was tightening its control over Android, Rubin said that his company doesn't believe in a "one size fits all" solution and that manufacturers are free to tweak the OS, just like they always have been. The exec does note, however, that someone wants to "market a device as Android-compatible or include Google applications," there are some compatibility requirements that need to be met.
Although some might feel that Rubin didn't do enough to answer their questions or address claims like the one that they intentionally held back Bing-ified Verizon Android phones, it's still good to see him touch on some of the biggest Android-related news we've heard in some time. The full blog post, which you should read if you haven't yet, is available at the source link. What do you all think of Rubin's post? Did it manage to assuage any fears or answer any questions you may have had?
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