Inconsequential? 'cos I don't go into long raptures?
The language it is written in is what's inconsequential...(BTW, I don't get the percentages you get - I see mostly C-code)
...the fact that it can only be compiled on Linux (or Mac) is what matters...
In as far as "applications are not tied to Linux in any way" - I intimated before apps and the base OS is not related.
I agree that the language is inconsequential per se... However, the point is that the part that makes it "android" is the part you so quickly dismissed.. the Middleware. That just so happens to be written in Java, and is hardware and platform independent.
Uhh.. what? Your logic escapes me... How does building on MacOS make it a Linux OS exactly?
What makes my phone an Android phone is not that it runs Linux, it's that it runs Android applications (including the ones that come with the phone, like the dialer, contacts, etc..). That's all that matters.
I so expected you to jump on that... The dev. environment is secondary, yes.
Anyway moving away from the nerdy stuff...Ask AC: Is Android Linux? | Android Central
I don't know who that guy is, but the article doesn't give me any warm and fuzzies that he actually knows what he's talking about.
He, like you, seem to be confusing the implementation with the specification. Yes, the current versions of Android do run ON a Linux kernel. The key word there is "ON". What makes it Android is the middleware, and that middleware can be retargeted to run on anything.
So just because it happens to ship on a Linux kernel today doesn't mean it will tomorrow, or in 10 years. They could even write their own kernel completely from scratch (although I only see that happening if there are more GPL religious wars). None of us would be the wiser, as all our apps would continue to run the same, because the Middleware would be the same... ie, that which defines what Android is.
Mystere
Doesn't software have to specifically be made to run on the Android? Any software can be made to run on any operating system if it is developed for that. So wouldn't all operating system have middleware?
Perhaps a better way to put this is that All existing Android releases have, so far, also been Linux distributions.... With Android running on the Linux version shipped with the device. Android is, in effect, using Linux as it's Host OS, just like VMWare uses Linux or Windows as a Host OS. However, in this case, instead of VMWare, it's the Dalvik JVM.
So, the point is which software we're talking about. If you retarget Android to use a different kernel, then only android changes. The applications that run on Android do not.
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