Why 'open source' isn't always 'open'

Our pal Robert Werlinger from sister site PreCentral.net has been at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference this week in Portland, Ore., and sat in on the "Your Smartphone May Not Be as Open as You Think" session. And, obviously, that's been a topic of discussion in these parts, what with the whole Droid X eFuse conspiracy, and the usual general Android hacking.

And we get an interesting look at why things often are the way they are. Why despite Android's open nature, some code needs to remain secret. Why when you strip out the proprietary code, you're left without a lot of what you'd consider to be basic functionality. Anyhoo, it's a great read, so head on over and check it out. [PreCentral]

Phil Nickinson