[Moto Maxx Android Development] ChazzMatt:
The company that wanted to put 'a bullet through Google's head' is dead

Cyanogen versus Google: Biting the Android that feeds

Microsoft did give them $70 million... but it wasn't enough. And since their intentions were clear I'm GLAD that part of CM failed. Not the ROMs we see here in XDA, but the corporate entity that was trying to fork Android.

The wanted to fork Android like Amazon did, but with Microsoft's help:

January 2015: Microsoft to invest in Cyanogen a company that wants to take Android away from Google

They (cyanogen) were biting the hand that fed them. There would be no Android for smartphones except for Google in the first place.

Yeah, Amazon has forked Android for their tablets and smartphone (the phone was

spectacular flameout

, ironically named "Fire"). But

1) Nobody likes it. First thing knowledgable people do is root and install REAL Android on Fire tablets. :rolleyes: I don't even look at Amazon Fire devices, they are not worth crap to me.

2) Amazon's core profitable business is not making an OS -- their main business is e-commerce and their "Android" devices are designed to sell you more Amazon stuff. If their Android OS efforts died tomorrow, Amazon.com would still be successful. Whereas if Cyanogen's OS efforts fail, what was their backup plan? :eek:

Cyanogen got arrogant and thought they could do better than Google and make money at it, while publicly trash talking/disrespecting Google. If they could do better than Google, that's WHY Android is an open source OS! Make changes and if they are good, devs will accept them. IF your ROM is great, people will use it.

But seems their arrogance got the best of them. Reminds me of an AOSP ROM group about 3 years ago who melted down for about the same reason? Their name was as well known as CM. They were on DOZENS of devices and were popular because they were a fast, lightweight ROM with lots of user options. For devices they didn't officially support, there were even lots of "unofficial" ROMs based on their code, much like CM.

Yes, a couple of their default settings were quirky... but were easily changed. However, as they introduced unique (questionable) features, they forgot Android was about "user choice", and actually started taking away configuration options. It's one thing to make certain unusual options/features "default" -- it's another when suddenly you start locking those options into concrete, so users have no way to ignore the hubris.

When users complained, the ROM group's attitude was "my way or the highway". Instead of restoring ability for users to make changes to revert back to mainstream choices and not use their silly features, they hardened their attitude. (I think only Apple can get away with stuff like that.) One of their ROM's main devs even followed me into another forum (not about the ROM) to argue with me.

Users started posting HACKS to restore user choice and the ROM group took great delight in changing/removing code so the hacks no longer worked. It became a battle between THEM and their own users! :rolleyes:

Well, the ultimate choice is to NOT use that ROM. Suddenly a lot of the "unofficial" ROMs started restoring user choice, and those "unofficial" ROMs even popped up for devices officially supported by that group. So, users drifted to THOSE ROM devs who respected them.

And that ROM group's attitude demonstrated towards users apparently was symbolic of dissension also within the group. They disappeared from the face to the Earth, but now have recently resurrected with new devs to try again -- hopefully learning the lesson that led to their downfall.