In a very good Android related conversation on G+, Lead Android Software Engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru softens the points from an annoyed fellow Android developer. Basically there is a little unhappiness about a program that will allow other developers to make their own version of Android. That’s not the issue though, the issue is that the base version of Android used is not from Google and raw but from Cyanogenmod. What’s the difference?

Well Cyanogenmod is a team of non-paid android developers who make their own customized version of Android. A lot of work is put into this and some feel it’s basically cheating to have an application build upon a version of Android that has already ironed out the kinks. I do agree with that but here is what Jean-Baptiste had to say, let us know if you agree:

Jean-Baptiste Queru  -  I think there are two schools of thought:

-One is that doing anything really interesting with the Android source tree will require skills serious enough that the effort to set up a machine appropriately is negligible.

-The other is that lowering the barriers to entry maximizes the chance that someone will do something interesting with the Android source tree.

I lean very strongly on the second side. The more I see people get into programming, into computer science, into software engineering, the more I hope that those people will be able to help me do my job as software engineer, either by taking some of my tasks off my plate, or by building tools that will make my life easier.