Back in December, Andy Rubin, who helped create Google's Android platform was asked about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 at All Things-D. In turn he gave a response that came off a bit...well...glib and it made the 'rounds of the interwebs fairly quickly. Specifically, Rubin said this about WP7:
You just have this package of stuff that was invented before the Internet. When the architects built that product [Windows CE and Windows Mobile], they didn't have the Internet in mind.
So the implication being that since WinCE has code from 20 years ago ergo Windows Phone 7 must not be as good as Android. We're not sure what one has to do with the other as s Joe Belfiore pointed out Android --> Linux --> Unix, so there may be some old code there too.
But while Windows Phone may have some underlying "old" code in its kernel at least, as far as we know, Microsoft hasn't stolen any of it. In a well known lawsuit, Oracle is suing Google over their use of Java in Android, claiming patent infringement. Today, FOSSpatents blog has found evidence of 43 source files directly copied from Oracle's Java code. Or as Engadget put it: "Google copied Oracle's Java code, pasted in a new license, and shipped it."
It will be interesting to see how the courts rule on this case and hey, perhaps some of this actually falls under the GPLv2. Either way, we'll take old code over the legally-disputed, potentially patent-copying type any day. Own it Google.
Update: Our pals at Android Central point us to a ZDNet story this afternoon that changes things a bit. Apparently the code that was "copied" and pointed out in the FOSSpatents blog actually isn't part of Android. That doesn't change the fact that there's still a lawsuit going on between Oracle and Google or that we're pleased with our old code.
Update 2: Engadget has rebuttal against the "it doesn't count" viewpoint, pointing out that legally speaking it may not matter. May be worth a read.
