<story><title>Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/03/statcounter-android-windows/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JBReefer</author><text>On one hand, this is a truly incredible accomplishment for Google, and in so little time! On the other, it&amp;#x27;s sort of amazing this hadn&amp;#x27;t happened already - so, so many people in the developing world are entirely reliant on mobile, and mostly use low-end Android phones.&lt;p&gt;I use a Moto G4 and the experience is shockingly good for a device that costs less than a bar tab. It&amp;#x27;s no wonder that low-end Android&amp;#x27;s are winning, based on my experience with it. It&amp;#x27;s not the same caliber of phone as a new iPhone or a Pixel, but the difference is not worth $800.&lt;p&gt;And all of this is mostly open source, runs on Linux using Java, and can be developed on for free. This seems like a good timeline! (even if the API isn&amp;#x27;t that great)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>psy-q</author><text>Don&amp;#x27;t forget that the proprietary Google Play Services are required by more and more apps and that Google is doing everything it can to push these services to the largest number of devices by weaving some sort of web of interdependency.</text></comment>
<story><title>Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/03/statcounter-android-windows/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JBReefer</author><text>On one hand, this is a truly incredible accomplishment for Google, and in so little time! On the other, it&amp;#x27;s sort of amazing this hadn&amp;#x27;t happened already - so, so many people in the developing world are entirely reliant on mobile, and mostly use low-end Android phones.&lt;p&gt;I use a Moto G4 and the experience is shockingly good for a device that costs less than a bar tab. It&amp;#x27;s no wonder that low-end Android&amp;#x27;s are winning, based on my experience with it. It&amp;#x27;s not the same caliber of phone as a new iPhone or a Pixel, but the difference is not worth $800.&lt;p&gt;And all of this is mostly open source, runs on Linux using Java, and can be developed on for free. This seems like a good timeline! (even if the API isn&amp;#x27;t that great)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>digi_owl</author><text>AOSP may be open, but on its own it is a skeleton of a OS.&lt;p&gt;Most of the magic in Android today is housed in Play Services, one of two things Google can push an update for (the other being the Play store app) without any dialog or concent from the device user.</text></comment>