I have decided to explain something about Android, partly because it classifies its versions with names of food, and partly because I like Android.
I guess you all know that Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, but do you know the difference, for example, between Android and iPhone iOS? If you don't I will try to explain it to you in an easy way.
The iPhone operating system is iOS (derived from Mac OS) and it is a closed-source software, that is, the main written piece of programming, also known as the source code, is held by the developer, and only they can make any changes or study it. It limits the availability of the source code, and the end-user is not actually purchasing software, but purchasing the right to use the software.
On the other hand, Android's operating system (a fork of the Linux Kernel) is a free and open-source software, that is, the source code is available to the end-user. Users can run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. They have the four essential freedoms:
The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1).
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3).
Those are some of the reasons why I like Android. It is a system which is always improving, and one can see that through its different versions, each of them developed under a code name based on a dessert item, (based on different versions of Linux kernel) released in alphabetic order, and each one including several new features.
Google stuff want to make us green with envy with those sweet dessert names, and only the fact of thinking of Android versions whet our appetite!
The sweet versions of Android are the following:
Cupcake: to sweeten the first version born in 2009, it received the name of a delicious dessert, who doesn't like cupcakes? I would have got this version of Android simply because of the name! But I bet it deserved to be called like that! The reason they chose that name is supposed to be only a kind of joke, to make it funnier. But if you are curious I will tell you that cupcake is only a piece of cake, the size of an individual portion, (that is why it is called "cup" and "cake"), and some time later, using a different tin it would become a muffin.
Donut: This second version born 5 months later included several improvements, like "text to speech", which allowed any Android application to "speak" a string of text, or the organization in categories of Android Market apps. It also fixed reboot errors in the OS and improved some photo and video features. But just because of the name, Android fans would have updated this version called like the most popular breakfast in US. Again, if you want to know something else about donuts (or “doughnuts”, the more traditional spelling), it is said that they were introduced into North America by Dutch settlers, when they founded New Amsterdam (the actual New York) in the XVI century. It was changing through time and finally it got its hole as the way it is known now.
Eclair: it came out at the end of 2009, and included some new improvements, like in the browser or in the virtual keyboard and in Google Maps and the calendar. It has also a delicious dessert name of French origin, and it is speculated to be first made by Antonin Carême, the famous French chef. They are usually made with choux pastry, filled with cream and glazed with chocolate.
Here you have a video of the delivery of a huge eclair outside the Google Campus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nwENZ388XY&feature=related
Froyo: It meant a great advance in the operating system at the end of 2010. It improved speed and browser support among other things. Its name is an acronym, that is, it is made combining the initial letters or parts of a series of words, in this case, the first syllable of "frozen" and the first syllable of "yogurt", becoming a pronounceable name. It is a frozen dessert containing yogurt, and was introduced in New England in the 1970s, called "Danny" debuted from Dannon, (the actual "Danone") It tasted like raspberry and it was healthier than ice cream, and lower in fat, but it began to be made with more sugar due to consumers complains about its tart taste.
Gingerbread: This version was also a good one, including improvements on copy and paste functions, facial recognizement and interconnection with social networks. Gingerbread is much known due to the popular fairy tale about a cookie's escape from pursuers and who is eaten by a fox. Being also one of the most popular Christmas desserts in US, the gingerbread man has been used as the item for this version.
Honeycomb: In 2011 we had a portion of honeycomb, with important changes and more different to previous versions, user's interface refinements and more striking animations appeared, created specially for tablets. This dessert consists of honey-flavored corn cereal bits in a honeycomb shape. What can be sweeter than a honeycomb dessert? Knowing the fact that honey is made by bees using nectar from flowers, it must taste delicious!
Ice Cream Sandwich: A mixture of Honeycomb tablet, Froyo and Gingerbread smartphone software to make a delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. This is the last version of Android, which is, of course, an improved version, with a completely different UI, brigther colours, a more futurist aspect and many other improvements on the interface, adapted for both tablets and smartphones, becoming a link between the two. This last version deserved the name of a nice dessert, like it is the case of this frozen confection composed of a layer of ice cream, usually vanilla, "sandwiched" between two chocolate cookies, usually rectangular in shape, which can catch anyone's eye.
I can't wait to see the next version and know its name. It will start with "J", what dessert are you thinking about?
P.S.: Here I also leave you a video about Linux, a very interesting one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrCsq2yPjfU
By Clara Jiménez García
Funny!! I didn't have any idea of this!! but, which is the relationship between those foods and the Android version they represent? Are the names of sweets just a way to attract preople?? I like your post! Congrats! ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand any of the characteristics/differences between these systems lol, im so bad at this type of technology. Very nice article anyways =D xx
ReplyDeleteIt can be difficult if you haven't heard anything before, but the great difference is that Apple has its own operating system and no one can know how it is made, so you can do only what they allow you to do, for example:
ReplyDeleteImagine that you have a mobile phone (iphone) with a camera, but its operating system (that is,the software, what makes the phone work, called iOS) says that you aren't allowed to use it, what can you do? nothing! You can complain to the company or suggest something to them but nothing else.
On the contrary, Android's operating system is open, and everyone can know how it is made and modify it if they want to improve it, so imagine the same case:
You have a mobile phone with a camera, with Android operating system. You want to use the camera, and Android says that you can't. What can you do? You can modify the code and make possible to use the camera, and furthermore, you can share that new version that you made with everyone to make possible for them to use also the camera, so that is why it could be said that "Free software takes into account the ethic and philosophical aspects of freedom, making a special emphasis on software moral aspects" as I have written before. So if we share all we know we can advance much more in everything. Don't you think so?
María José, there is not relationship between those foods and the version they represent, they are only arbitrary names. You might be right, they could be called those names to attract people, as Google typically does with many things. They are so imaginative!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you tried to write "do a barrel roll" in Google? Do it! :)
Tecnology never tasted better
ReplyDelete