The Android operating system, which is based on a Linux kernel, and is developed, jointly by Google and the Open Handset Alliance (of which it is a part), has had a rather peculiar coming of age.

Although developed, say Google, with an open-source destiny in mind, it started out in its early stages (version 1.0) as a completely closed system, developed in-house by the Google-acquired Android Inc. "We decided we didn't need to build release 1.0 as open source...We engineered 1.0 as a best-in-class, fully staffed, engineered product. Having delivered that, we think it's time to start leveraging the benefits of what open source can bring,” said Rich Miner, who is the manager of Google's mobile platforms group.

Even afterwards, parts of the Android SDK were kept proprietary and closed-source, lending themselves to criticism of users who claimed Google was trying to control the platform thus.

In a maturing move, however, Google decided to release the complete Android mobile OS stack as open source. The catch here is another unorthodox move that Google pulled. Instead of using the “mainstream” open source license, the GNU General Public License (GPL) which was originally written by free software activist and pioneer Richard Stallman, but instead chose to go with the alternative Apache license to release their source code to the public.

The reason for this is that one of the basic tenets of the GPL is that developers who make additions or changes to code they got under the license, must give that code back to the community, that is publish their work under the GPL as well. Google did not want to force developers to do this, because they wanted developers to be able to make their own flavours of the Android OS proprietary, so that they could better compete on the market. Therefore, Android has been released under the Apache license, which is far less restrictive on these matters.

Google wants to see this move translate into more diverse and better applications being developed, as well as cheaper and faster smartphones, as they have now given developers the full tools to do so. "You can literally take that entire source code, put it on a piece of hardware, and you'd have a working phone," said Android Product Manager Erick Tseng. "You could not have done that before with just the SDK. Whether you're a carrier, an OEM or even just an application provider, you can partner up with a hardware manufacturer and make a phone."

Some of the new types of development that we could see are location-based travel tools that take advantage of the GPS and geolocation functions of the Android, as well support for hardware components like accelerometers. Other avenues include on-the-fly social networking integration, such as that which is planned for Motorola’s social networking smartphone, which also based on the Android.

The goal of Android right now is basically to disseminate it “all over the place” and see it spread to new areas and take new forms. In a video on the Android open source project site, developers are simply asking “What will you do with Android?”