I stopped reading PCMag.com’s editorial stuff years ago becuase before I became a Linux geek I was a Mac Geek.  The constant Microsoft bias then and the continued anti-FLOSS bias now still remains.  In this article the author almost sounds like he is upset that he isn’t talking about the Microsoft offering since it seems to be missing completely.   What’s worse about this article is that for some reason Android isn’t considered FLOSS becuase it’s forcing people to use Java for Application Development.  The problem with that is that Sun Open Sourced Java Years ago.  If you look into the history of Java you will see that things like Cell Phones and your Refrigerator are exactly what it was meant to be used for originally.  It was only later that people started using it for Web Stuff like most people think of it today.

Even if you ignore that little point the proposed reason why Open Source will fail to take over the cell phone market is the exact reason why it will.  Open Source projects have the ability to go viral.  They can be expanded without and often in ways the original author intended.  The carriers are protecting their bottom lines without a doubt.  But what they have learned is that it’s easier to manage bandwidth with ridiculous fees than trying to control what apps run on the phone.  There is also the issue of my favorite Government Agency the FTC.  The Federal Trade Commission is pressuring even Apple and AT&T to do the open and in some cases right thing.  The bigger threat to what Apple and AT&T had going though was and is Android and the Droid line of phones being placed onto the Verizon Network.

If you haven’t noticed the once thought reasonable now turned extreme app approval process at Apple has been under fire.  Apple and AT&T have heard the grumblings and are moving out of the way and trying to become more transparent about the process.  No that there is any hard proff they are going to do it and not just lip service the goverment.  It may be to little to late.  As a Droid and IPod Touch owner I can tell you that a couple more releases of Android and the Droid lines of phones will place it ahead of Apple.  Roughly the same amount of time it took Apple to take over or create the App Phone Market.

The stability of the hardware is what is important.  That is what concerns the Carriers and consumers the most.  The Carriers see these bandwidth hogging phones as profit centers no matter what OS is running.  If you think they can’t find a way to preserve their cash flow you are crazy.