[HTC EVO 3D] SoraX64:
So much anger from one little post.. Ha.

If you read my post, you will see that I said "Typically, kernels mean NOTHING". Chad basically confirms this in his post right at the beginning: "with most kernels...yes, all you get is OC". He then went on to give examples of how GOOD kernel devs add things to their kernels to make them better. Chad is an example of a good dev. He will work hard to put all of those things in that help people.

But I hate to have to say this: you can only change so much about something without making it mostly your own. Chad is an example of someone who puts tons of work into his kernels, which makes the kernel a special one.

Note that I did not say "All kernels are useless, you shouldn't bother with custom kernels." Why didn't I say that? Because I don't believe it. There are special kernels out there.

But take a look at this. It isn't completely applicable to the argument at hand, but it is a cohesive study put on by an XDA member using various Nexus S kernels. As you will see, there are not tons of differences in performance scores, besides a few exceptions.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AntDDKv-lS6IdFZ6VDRQV0cxRXFVT2dKYm94bWJyQ0E#gid=0

Please, do not jump on me because you mistook what I said as a personal attack against developers like Chad that make quality kernels. OP was blaming a lack of kernel source as a cause of "sucky" development. Development isn't at a standstill at all. That was what my post was responding to. If you actually put the time in to understand the words there instead of getting angry because it looked like an attack, you'll see what I meant. The list of improvements that kernel source that Chad posted is fine and dandy and all, but those are things that are added to the development process that most users don't realize are present, nor do they clamor for such features to be added to kernels. The good developers know what those different things do, and since they want to release a quality kernel, they add those things to their work.

Not having those things isn't hindering development. I don't like to say this, but to the typical end user those additions don't mean anything if their phone doesn't run faster. Those features can be added in and people will just say "awesome kernel, so smooth and my battery can last longer now!" without ever really knowing what it is that's causing that (it also doesn't help that a lot of developers don't have detailed changelogs, and instead say things like "Optimized some stuff so that battery is better").

In summation, I'm not attacking kernel devs or saying that their work is useless. I'm saying that the brunt of the work put into kernels that are released doesn't exactly advance development a terrible amount. They offer extra features on top of already developed ones, like better performance, battery life, sound, and etc., as Chad said. But to say that development sucks because the newest base doesn't have kernel source available for it, when a very small amount of people are interested in Sense 3.0 on top of GB anymore, is just folly and I felt the need to say something about it. I'm sorry for the people that I rubbed the wrong way, and I didn't mean anything bad towards any developers.

And also, on a second look to my first post, I should have added that kernels typically don't mean much to the overall DEVELOPMENT process. Except in cases where a kernel is necessary to fix things, a lot of the development in porting and such doesn't rely heavily on a feature filled kernel.