kapolani;3757470 said:
My fault. Thought we were on the same page.
You're getting closer. But, the example you provided is similar.
The difference here is: with regards to a WinOS box it's a closed environment. The developers know the platform. They know the changes etc. They can write code that's backwards compatible.
But, the problem with the Android platform is when the vendors start adding their stuff to it. They have to make sure it plays nicely with all the different devices out there running the vendors additions. That's why some Droid apps look horrible on some phones while looking/working great on other phones.
So, the developer has the difficult task of figuring out what devices to support.
Correct. The user can upgrade only when a new build comes out.
The difference is: when Apple comes out with an update the end user can upgrade immediately. The user doesn't have to wait for their vendor to massage the code so that it works nicely with their environment. The builds are released to the developers early so that they can modify their code to work with the latest build.
That's why you see new Android devices coming out with old builds. The enduser is at the mercy of the vendor.
Ahright. I think you've got me clued in pretty good to the issue now. My next thought was how many versions of the Android were out there running around, and based on a 2 year life span of phones how would that be changing with regards to the fragmentation issue.
It seems like you're always going to have around 4 different versions because you've got people who don't ever upgrade and wait for a new phone to come out after they've damaged or lost their old one. They're running the oldest available version, so there might be 5 out there at one time when the newest build pops out in the latest and greatest phones to hit the market.
Now that there is a new version out, all the existing apps must be re-engineered to the latest version of the iOS to ensure capatibility issues don't arise and it must be done for each manufacturer of a phone that has tweaked the basic Androd iOS.
That about the gist of it?
Found this while searching for a "I see what you did there" picture about a half hour ago...
