[Xperia Z1 General] drsoran2:
About the whole 4.4. update, the new microsd card restrictions and the way Google is going forward and why they are doing this:

It's simple (as the Joker from TDK would say):

First create a new competitor to the established closed source, dumb downed, restricted iPhone and lure all the other people who don't have a smart phone yet into it because it's the underdog and the new cool kid.

To make this possible, play nice and friendly, be open source and throw in some nice features which the competition doesn't have, e.g. fully usable Bluetooth, Copy & Paste, sd storage,...

This will surely attract power users, geeks, people who want more control over their phone and know what they are doing and/or who just can't stand the overhyped, overpriced and underdelivering Apple way and also lots of normal people because Android is both cheaper and offers plenty of varities in terms of size, power, storage, waterproofing, etc.

Once the majority of people are using Android for one or the other reason and you have become the dominant player in the world, slowly move away from your once friendly and underdog image of freedom by restricting access in small steps.

It started with outsourcing parts of the OS from the AOSP and continues with the SD card restrictions and other things.

At the same time, dumb down the OS to attract even more people who are not familiar with smartphones and would otherwise find it to cumbersome to deal with it. It also helps to aquire even more profit and stay the dominat player.

What the future will bring: The complete elimination of SD card access and other nice things we are used to. A restricted, dumbed downed OS - Apple style is the result.

Why would Google do this?

Because they can!

They have by far the most prominent smartphone OS with the largest userbase at hand. That's why.

And this was possible because they seemed nice in the beginning.

Sure, some users will switch (mainly power users with root and such and Google won't complain because some use adblockers and firewalls to block access of apps to the ad network and deprive Google of their income, they'll be glad to have them gone) but the majority will stay because there are hardly any alternatives.

And Google knows this. iPhone? The only option but even more closed already.

Windows Phone? It's too small to ever gain traction and too late into the market. It'll only be an alternative if it would be somehow possible to run Android apps on it.

Let's face it. The OS with the most users has also the most apps.

And you can't change that. No one is going to switch somewhere else with 95% of their apps not available for it. It just doesn't make sense.

Blackberry and HP with WebOS could tell you a thing or two about it...

You also can't launch a set of new devices with a different OS and with 500 000 apps out of thin air available from the start.

But this would be neccessary in order to convince enough users to switch and make money.

Otherwise: The project is doomed.

Finally: To those saying that the new SD card restrictions are not as bad as it seems because system apps can still write on the card as they please and every app can still freely read the entire card and the new security reasons and cleaner file management is so nice are imho short sighted.

What if Google decides to also deny write access to system apps in the next Android release?!

Still nice and cool?!

Or deny both write and read access to every app for the entire SD card in the next release or the other after it?!

Suddenly not so cool anymore because this would make SD cards completly useless with a bang.

I'm sure Sandisk and Android OEMs like Samsung and Sony who still manufacture phones with SD card slots as well as people who deliberatly buy these (like me) would be pissed but there isn't much they could do.

Everybody is at Google's will.

If they want to kill it, they will do it.

And that's their plan, no doubt.

In two years from now, SD cards will have been eliminated by Google and devices will still only feature tiny storages of 16-32GB so everybody is forced to move to the Cloud. More profit for Google.

And no one can change these restrictions. Sure, there is root and unlocking bootloaders but most people won't do it and can't do it. Not your average user. They'll shrug their shoulders and that's what Google is hoping for.

At the same time, more and more phone's bootloaders can't be unlocked and Google is at the same time working to make root as hard as possible. No coincidence if you ask me...

Now, my little essay maybe a little on the conspiracy side, but since Snowden every one should know what really is going on behind the scenes.

Ironically, while Google eliminates SD cards, Windows Phone has introduced them in recent times and even allows moving apps to SD cards!!

A feature which was also present since the beginning of Android and was removed in 4.1 two years ago...

If I would need to switch in the future, it'll be to Windows Phone or Sailfish OS because they latter has complete Android app emulation.