<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 10:55 PM, John Morris <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jmorris@beau.org" target="_blank">jmorris@beau.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">On Mon, 2013-07-08 at 16:38 +0100, Tim Draper wrote:<br>
<br>
> just my 2c - why not have 2 apps out there; a non-maintained version<br>
> of the current app state, and the new one for 4.x and updates.<br>
> would keep that 10% happy.<br>
<br>
</div>Doubt it would be practical, it would quickly become unusable by anyone<br>
who wasn't also running an ancient Myth backend.<br>
<br>
But there is one consideration I'd hope doesn't get overlooked. On a PC<br>
running a normal Linux distro it isn't too terrible to tell people if<br>
they want to run a newer Myth they will need to upgrade the distro to<br>
get newer a QT or whatever. Because other than a few people who get<br>
caught on odd hardware issues or something upgrading the distro is a<br>
minor effort.<br>
<br>
Android is very different. If you aren't running a Nexus branded device<br>
you may not ever have the option to run anything other than whatever<br>
version of Android shipped on your device. It might run Linux in the<br>
middle but it ain't an open platform like the PC. If the hardware below<br>
isn't outright locked it is poorly documented and unstandardized and the<br>
Android stack above is "Free Software" in name only for most actual<br>
installations. And it is a fairly big difference between asking a user<br>
to spend an afternoon upgrading the OS on a machine and demanding they<br>
buy a new one.<br>
<br>
On the other hand Android was a fairly dodgy platform in the first early<br>
versions, especially the zaniness of the 2.x for phones and 3.x for<br>
tablets era before the trees merged in 4.x and the number of devices<br>
interesting for running Myth frontends on probably didn't really take<br>
off until the 4.x tablet level of hardware. Combined with the Android<br>
port being newish enough to probably not have a massive installed base<br>
and cutting losses now vs carrying around support for ancient versions<br>
into the distant future makes a lot of sense.<br>
<br>
But going forward I know I'd feel pretty bad if I had to choose between<br>
tossing otherwise working tablet hardware or keeping the PCs on an old<br>
Myth because that is a no-win scenario. Even worse, some people buy<br>
phones on a rent to own scheme through their carrier and can't upgrade<br>
without paying a penalty.<br>
<br>
TL;DR version: Android is challenging some long held assumptions.<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div>John,</div><div><br></div><div>With the pending release of Key Lime Pie, Google is trying to significantly eliminate the void between having versions of the OS support certain hardware going forward. So Key Lime Pie will allow much older hardware to run a current version of Android. I am hoping that this means much older hardware will be able to support the features I have available to me as developer on this older hardware. We should know more in a few months time.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Dan</div><div><br></div>-- <br><a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/dmfrey" target="_blank">My Google Profile</a><br>
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