Google可能在ARM芯片组上对Android标准化

据Digitimes援引一家笔记本电脑厂商的匿名人士的话报导，Google可能正在与ARM Holdings plc (英国剑桥)谈判，讨论为一款基于ARM的芯片组对Android操作系统进行标准化。 尽管Android应该是Google与开放手持设备联盟(Open Handset Alliance)开发的一种开源操作系统，但有报导称，Google(美国加州)坚持要求对于Android开发采取一种纪律性更强的方式，有些人说类似于微软的方式，以避免非一致性。 据《商业周刊》报导，Google在与开发者签署的合同中坚持写入避免非一致性条款。那些想早日得到未来版本Android的公司，现在其计划必须获得谷歌的批准。目前有一种担忧，即如果开发者想要开发某种可能与谷歌功能竞争的应用，如搜索和地图，则Google可能不会批准或者拖延批准这些申请。 Google曾说过，没有计划推出3.0版Android，即Honeycomb，因为源代码尚未写好。但与此同时，摩托罗拉和宏基正在推出采用了3.0版Android的产品。这令人担忧其没有一视同仁和市场影响力过强。 《商业周刊》援引匿名消息人士的话称，受到这种更加严格的新做法影响的公司包括LG、三星、东芝和Facebook，而且不断有人向美国司法部投诉。据《商业周刊》，公司高管表示，在推出不同版本Android操作系统方面，Google一直给予其它芯片厂商抢先优势。 如果Google企图定义一种标准硬件平台，同时限制软件自由，那么可能损害英特尔。英特尔正在努力携其处理器进军移动设备市场。 由于ARM是占主导地位的智能手机架构，Android已经大量运行于ARM架构处理器。但是，由于该操作系统、中间件和应用堆叠应该是开源的、基于一种经过改造的Linux内核与Java语言，所以理论上应该适用于任何处理器，包括英特尔的Atom处理器。 本文授权编译自EETimes，版权所有，谢绝转载！

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参考原文：Report: Google may standardize Android on ARM,by Peter Clarke {pagination} Report: Google may standardize Android on ARM Peter Clarke Google Inc. may be entering talks with ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) about a standardization of Android operating system for an ARM-based chipset, according to a Digitimes report that references unnamed sources at notebook computer makers. Although Android is supposedly an open-source operating-system developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, there are reports that Google (Mountain View, Calif.) is insisting on a more disciplined – and some would say Microsoft-like – approach to the Android development in an attempt to resist fragmentation. According to a BusinessWeek report Google is insisting on non-fragmentation clauses in contracts with developers. Companies that want early access to forthcoming iterations of Android now have to get approval for plans from Google. And there is concern that where developers wish to develop applications that could compete with Google functions, such as search and mapping, that approval could be withheld or delayed. Google has said there are no plans to release version 3.0 of Android, known as Honeycomb, because the source code is not ready. But at the same time Motorola and Acer are releasing devices that use it. This is prompting concerns over favoritism and undue market influence. Companies affected by the new tighter regime include LG, Samsung, Toshiba and Facebook and there have been complaints to the U.S. Justice Department, BusinessWeek said citing an unnamed source. Similarly Google has been giving different chip makers a head start in bringing up different iterations of the Android OS the BusinessWeek article reported executives as saying. If Google attempts to define a standard hardware platform as well a limiting software freedoms, the move could hurt Intel which is attempting to move into mobile device space with its processors. Android already runs on ARM architecture processors in the vast majority of cases as ARM is the dominant smartphone architecture. However, as the operating system, middleware and applications stack is supposedly open-source and based on a modified Linux kernel and the Java language it is in theory applicable to any processor including the Atom processor of Intel Corp.