Nobody denied that this might happen, but:
Right now FP only has to maintain one OS (plus a derivative with slight [but important] changes). If they now created a new Open OS based on Nougat then they’d have to maintain two OSes, so almost twice the workforce needed.
An easier option for FP would be to (semi-)officially support Lineage OS by providing all the needed firmware updates, blobs and whatnot as well as the code for FP apps like checkup and the proximity sensor tool to the (community) developers of Lineage OS or - like I suggested above - to base FP Open OS on Lineage OS.
There is no company behind Lineage OS that can be acquired by G%§$e in a hostile takeover and even if something like that happened then the FLOSS-enthusiastic developers of Lineage OS would fork it and continue development under a new name.
Also theoretically the same could happen with FP Open. Both FP Open and Lineage OS are unfortunately released under the permissive (as opposed to copyleft/viral) Apache license, which means that neither project is guaranteed to stay FLOSS forever.
AFAIK that’s what happened to Dashclock Widget. The app is no longer actively developed but now there are closed-source forks on the Play Store.
Propietary blobs are hardware-depended. They will be always there. In google os, in FairphoneOpen and in Cyanogen mod (Lineageos) until the chip-producer Qualcomm will opensource them.
All other parts are open source.
LineageOS is much better than FairphoneOpen. Its developed by a big community around the world and its based on Android 7.1 and it has many new features, which FairphoneOpen lacks.
Perhaps, but I don’t see Fairphone Open OS getting based on LineageOS or ditched in favour of LineageOS anytime soon.
LineageOS still has its problems on the Fairphone 2, although the progress and the perspective of it are really exciting.
Fairphone as a company have a lot to do right now already. Switching support from the Fairphone Open OS they have established processes and a known need of resources for right now to a new OS altogether might not find many friends there … And if the community gets LineageOS to work 100% on the Fairphone 2 like it seems they will be doing, then what’s even the point for Fairphone to do anything about LineageOS? When LineageOS finally fully works, Fairphone could work with the community on integrating it as a choice in the Updater App or stuff like that, but that is nothing to allocate resources to right now.
Agree… Supporting an own Operating System is much easier than supporting an open source project…
But: The Last LineageOS which i test now on FP2 feels much, much, much better than Fairphone Open.
So i see no reason for users to install FairphoneOpen when they want an Google-free and OpenSource Experience. LineageOs is newer, fresher, has much mor feature oob and i wouldn’t say it has more bugs than FairphoneOpen
Agree. Dual-SIM works. FM Radio is nice to have (maybe it will be fixed)
Encryption might be important for some people - i hope it will be also fixed in the next versions.
I never used encryption because its very difficult (sometimes impossible) to access data on encrypted device. Not only for a bad guy, who has stolen my FP2. Also for me it can be problem, when the system refuse to boot. I prefer to have a possibility to recover data fast, in case something is wrong with the Handset.
.4. No Proximity Sensor Recalibration tool & Checkup Tools
.5. For now: No support for Xposed
.6. For now: No official support from FP nor from Lineage OS - if you run into a problem you can only hope for help from a forum.
…
There are probably more, but I’d argue there are just as many or more to switch to Lineage OS already.
I agree with you. I’m looking from another perspective on it.
Well Xposed doesn’t run on Android newer than 6.xx Its Xposed Problem, Not LineageOS one.
As a SailfishOS PowerUser i count only on me and on community if i have any problem.
But an Enduser need Support for Software. Also open Software. Its quite unusuall, that a company give support on AOSP Build.
Usually, u can install it, but when you install it - you get no support. I don’t know, how it lokks like with Sony.
As a Developer Program User you can download and Install AOSP Builds for the Xperia Devices, but i think, they are out of official support.
So the FP2 End-users who are Fairphone Open oriented have luck, that FairphoneOpen is an officially suported OS. I think this is something good and unusuall.
Encryption needs to work, it’s not an option for me to use an unencrypted phone. Also TWRP needs to support decryption of /data and then you are fine and have no problem when backing up your phone.
Also the tethering is not working on lineage… Which might be fundamental for many people…
Maybe if the FairPhone could help the developers, this stuff would fixed more easily and faster…
Well yes and no, because my question was: if fairphone will support it officially as well? For people with a technical background it is seriously cool to be able to use lineageos now but what about the other people, who are scared to crush their phone during the switch?
The most important fact is that fairphone could extend the usability/security of the software for years and is not any longer limited to any bulshit deadlines from Google.
At Fairphone we are very impressed by the work of the community and we believe that their work is a huge contribution to the longevity of the Fairphone 2. Successful alternative OS’s for the FP2 will enable users to keep the phone longer and prevent ewaste.
That said, there are currently no plans to support LineageOS officially. The team has their hands full supporting the existing two OS’s and has no resources to support another one. Let alone the required pressure it would put on the legal, product, communications, marketing and support team if Fairphone start supporting a third OS…
Sorry, didn’t wanted to ask if FP wants to continue the development of LOS for FP2.
I just wanted to know if a plan exist to offer a nice and easy installation(/-guide) for everybody with interest in LOS. I mean sure thing, if you did install it once, it might seem easy at the end, but I remember well the first time flashing LOS on my FP2. I thought quite a while about the risks and got feared by the fact of possibly bricking my everyday phone, until I actually did it.
And couldn’t you even advertise this additional OS-option? Sure as a community project, but still many people like the idea of LOS, which extends the longevity of phones, and just buy supported phones.
One more thing. What happened to the official FP-apps/widgets? Are they already completely open source and on F-Droid? Because with these apps, people can theme their official community LOS like the official FPOS/FPOOS.
… And if the community gets LineageOS to work 100% on the Fairphone 2 like it seems they will be doing, then what’s even the point for Fairphone to do anything about LineageOS? When LineageOS finally fully works, Fairphone could work with the community on integrating it as a choice in the Updater App or stuff like that, but that is nothing to allocate resources to right now.