Whatever happend to the android execution environment

**bornagainpenguin** · December 14th, 2011

SIGH...

Would have really rather have seen this instead of "Unity" because it would have really added to the application and games stack without messing with the functionality of my OS experience in the GUI.

Been playing with Android x86 lately and while it is still a bit rough, once enough bugs get worked out and hardware acceleration kicks in it will be enough to eat Ubuntu's lunch. I fear the choice to do Unity instead of this spells an unfortunate "focus shift" for Canonical...

--bornagainpenguin

PS: Also, add the Fanfiction Reader, Game Dev Story, and Beautiful Widgets to the list of Android apps I wish were available on Linux. The last because for some strange reason Ubuntu seems to think the closest town to me is over thirty miles away so the weather is always wrong.

--bornagainpenguin

**HDave** · December 21st, 2011

Originally Posted by Johnsie

Android could end up becoming an Ubuntu killer if the compatibility layer isn't introduced. It's better to work with Android than against it. We have alot to gain from Android if people would put their minds to it.

I couldn't agree more. I also hope we've all realized by now that the "why would you want to run a tiny cell phone app" argument is nonsense. If you have picked up an Android tablet (e.g. Nook, Galaxy Tab, etc.), or even a large screen smart phone like the HTC Thunderbolt you know what I mean.

Frankly, I find the quality and features of Android apps to be as good as, or in some cases, better than the web or desktop versions.

I can't believe that Canonical put all this effort into Unity, etc. to make Ubuntu work on a Tablet when Android is already there. IMO that effort should have been spent creating a synthesized Ubuntu/Android environment where we get the best of both worlds, but on a traditional large screen, multi-processor CPU, keyboard & mouse driven computer.

Let me put this another way, there are many great desktop apps that I cannot run on Android such as Adobe Creative Suite and Quickbooks, etc. so I need to have a desktop/laptop computer with a big screen and a keyboard. But since I can't run some of these apps on Ubuntu, I keep a Windows VM around. If I could run a Windows VM side by side with Android on my desktop computer, then what do I need Ubuntu for? Think about it.

If they don't get on with this work, 5 years from now people will wonder what happened to Ubuntu and the Linux desktop. Maybe they'll do a search and find this thread and go...."Oh, Ubuntu focused on winning the desktop war just in time for nobody to care".

**benmajor2005** · January 4th, 2012

Even though I've developed software for mainframes360/unix/linux boxes over the past 30 years, the option to mine Droid apps for useful dock-widgets/panel-applets sounds very appealing. Why would it have to be anything more glamorous, threatening or weird than that.
We already use applets from different desktops, and apps from different OS's, together on one machine (because people want or need to). What's the big deal? Most people would laugh at religious desktop zealots decrying Ubuntu users from violating the pureness of their desktops with an XFCE applet? What's wrong with more options and more exposure for android apps?
I doubt there is just a small market for people wanting/needing to display multiple apps side-by-side on a larger desktop screen. There are plenty of reasons that could be interesting/useful/fun. Or allow individual apps to be projected much larger for the vision-challenged or situations where for whatever reason, a person can't hold the device in their hands pr be close to it.
Some people prefer/need to work with multiple monitors on a singe desktop? What's so crazy & unmarkatable about using multiple apps on a larger screen with a computer that has more I/O, storage, and connectivity options.
Some people out in linux-land seem to think "Don't need no stink'n android apps on MY desktop. Got everything I ever need right here in my trusty repositories~! Heck, what I can't locate, config or pipe, I'll script or hack...humbug. murmur murmor murmor..." it's possible to do anything with Linux [chest thumping here] That is, so long as u are lucky enough to fit the technical\work\education\experience\lifestyle criteria. If u are, more #bash!sudo&&grep|script!!> to yah. But I'd rather not go hunting and hacking on a very useful mobile device to get what I need, then come back to my desktop and go hunting and hacking for what I need.
To each his own. Wise man once said "Don't Yuk! somebody's Yum!".
Why bother to enable Android apps to run on other platforms? Don't take my word for it. Just ask Google. ChromeOS and Android will merge, WebOS will find it's niches, iPhone apps won't be limited to iPhones, and iPad apps won't be limited to iPads. Apps will scale appropriately to the needs and realities of use-cases and platform attributes. So to, Chromedroid, OS or whatever the heck it will be called (maybe revert to just the brand name, "Google" once the platforms are integrated?)

OK, I'm done with the soapboax. Gonna go and get me a virtual ice cream sandwich...

**HDave** · January 4th, 2012

Amen to that brother.

**1clue** · January 4th, 2012

Did anyone mention Android software development and testing?

**bornagainpenguin** · February 15th, 2012

Originally Posted by benmajor2005

[*]Why bother to enable Android apps to run on other platforms? Don't take my word for it. Just ask Google. ChromeOS and Android will merge, WebOS will find it's niches, iPhone apps won't be limited to iPhones, and iPad apps won't be limited to iPads. Apps will scale appropriately to the needs and realities of use-cases and platform attributes. So to, Chromedroid, OS or whatever the heck it will be called (maybe revert to just the brand name, "Google" once the platforms are integrated?)

Not just that, but there's also the fact that BlueStacks is forging ahead and porting their Android Player runtime environment to Windows and MacOS, but not Linux--probably precisely because Canonical made such a big stink about releasing their own and BlueStacks doesn't want to compete. So we get nothing.

What makes it even more depressing is that if Canonical were to build something that could run Android apps natively and do so in such a way they integrated into the operating system they would have a much better implementation than could ever be possible on Windows or MacOS because they could build functionality right into the OS itself...

Instead we get the Unity and Hud focus shift.

--bornagainpenguin

**aaaantoine** · February 16th, 2012

Originally Posted by Queue29

Examples?

Maybe if the FOSS world would quit wasting time on projects like this, something worthwhile might be produced?

Netflix. If the web version is going to be bound to Silverlight, then users can fall back to the Android version.

Edit: Uh, sorry. I just realized how old this is.

**HansKisaragi** · February 16th, 2012

I love android but i don't want to run android apps on linux.-

**1clue** · February 16th, 2012

Actually I would. I am contemplating a Linux PC in my car, and an android emulator would give me access to lots of neat android mobile apps and still let me at an unrestricted, unmonitored Linux box.

**3rdalbum** · February 16th, 2012

We need an Android execution environment in Linux, otherwise there will be few/no tablet-optimised programs for Linux, even by the time Canonical partners with a tablet manufacturer.

Plus, having 20,000 Android games on the desktop would be a feather in our caps, even if they are really very shallow smartphone games. Not all of them would be shallow - I imagine Experia Play-optimised games would be able to work too, but mapped to the keyboard or other input devices.