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An Open Letter To Dell
( from the active Open Source Community for Android/Dell Streak )
Hello Dell,
Let me start this letter by making it clear that we are not here to complain about your products or your services. In fact, if we didn't like your product – the community wouldn't have bothered to send this letter to you guys ( you can find most of us littered across freenode on IRC and on XDA, MoDaCo, Pocketables and CyanogenMod to name a few ).
Secondly, let me state that I am not a developer. I am just a basic user. That's right. This is not a letter from some guy who stays up late for the joy of hacking your devices. I haven't coded anything in years, and I don't think I could make a Hello World program in Java if my life depended on it. Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that this is a plea coming to you from an ordinary customer who spent around $600 on your device. There's a lot more ordinary customers and potential customers out there like me who you can win over or possibly convince towards their next purchase if you start doing the right thing. This isn't a letter from just those pesky developers on those nosy websites.
We love your products. In particular, we love the Dell Streak. At least the hardware component of it. The Streak is perfectly positioned between tablet and phone. The amount of success you've had in convincing consumers that this is so is debatable, but all of us definitely love the form factor and the hardware that you've blessed this device with. The SnapDragon 8250, the 5” screen and the rear speaker are all brilliant.
Unfortunately, the software that comes with the Streak doesn't do it justice. Just today Stephen Hyde brought this device to register around 2300 ( nice and stable ) on Quadrant Advanced when it's not even overclocked ( 3300 when it is ). But we're not trying to show you how to do things. We're not trying to steal your developers' jobs and we're not trying to steal your work. We're asking you to let us help you, that's all; when you released the Dell Streak, it was running what appeared to be an arcane love-child between Android 1.6 and Windows 95. It was slow and behind other machines of it's time. The sad part was that the Streak's hardware was and is a beast capable of so much more.
A lot of you at Dell whom we've had contact with will admit that our ROMs for the Streak are infinitely faster and better. Are we asking to be given jobs and a pay cheque? No. In fact, we are asking you to take our code and use it to make your code better. Go ahead, take it. What do we want in return? Nothing.
It would be nice however, if you gave us some of the code to look at. We're not quite sure whether this code is GPL, Apache or whatever. We're the people who help your customers not just troubleshoot their devices but also upgrade them to cutting edge Android releases. All we're asking is for you to release the code in the spirit of Open Source cooperation. The point being, we're asking for your code to make your devices better. Isn't that a win-win situation? We do the work to improve your code to make your product better ! In return we get a brilliant device that works to it's full potential.
What we want is libaudio, libmedia, libsurfaceflinger and libaudioflinger. These are all pretty simple things. It's not like we're asking you to divulge the formula for Coca-Cola ( kind of stupid since you're definitely not Coca-Cola ) nor are we asking for something dangerous. We just want to improve our audio and our input. What's the worst that could happen?
So here it is. If you're a developer at Dell, do the right thing. If you're middle-management at Dell then remember, HTC and Motorola both have a developer community that's a hundred, if not a thousand fold larger than yours because you don't embrace us. Have you taken a look at Cyanogenmod's listed of supported devices : half a dozen HTC and another half a dozen Motorola devices. Dell : None.
We love your device and we're hoping that Dell will do the right thing.
- Manas Shukla ( Somebody9 on XDA/MoDaCo, @dont_panic on Twitter )
on behalf of Stephen Hyde (@DMonsterProd), Ian Fardoe (@fardsmobile) and hundreds of other StreakDroid Users online and in the Android Open Source Community
Find our conversation on Twitter with the following hashtags : #streakdroid and #teamstreak
pandora0629
15 Posts
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January 17th, 2011 17:00
Dell...it is because of these people that I still own my Streak and didn't return it. I went from disillusionment and disappointment to proud owner showing my device off to everyone. You need them....release the code...please
drgopoos
2 Posts
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January 17th, 2011 17:00
Dell please release the files...
Support the developers
GargoyleCC
1 Message
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January 18th, 2011 02:00
You have to do it Dell, you know the future is to embrace Openness. Look at the benifits, rapid development cycles, unique features etc...
I know there are other cans of worms that get opened but the are infantisimal by comparison to the support, dedication and pooling of a community based following.
You know its the way forward.......
Peace out!
fards
4 Posts
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January 18th, 2011 06:00
Maybe worth pointing out that the reason we're struggling with the audio its because of the really neat use of a separate dsp (digital signal processor) in the streak, which neither the aosp or code aroura forum source code can deal with.
It's using some patches specific to the streak, which means that it's not possible to get a fully working aosp or cyanogen build working without falling back on using existing dell binary files.
(so what you may ask, which is fair enough. But with the source we can get the extra additions from cm working, such as the equalizer and can looking at fixing some of the bugs etc etc)
dell have met their obligations concerning the gpl on the kernel, which Is fantastic, and a after a couple of bug fixes to their code the kernel builds really well..
we're asking them now to show us some faith and help out with the bits we can't get working, because we can't work out what its happening with that one aspect of the device..
I would be happier if they got involved with aosp development, (as htc and others have) there is obviously a huge amount of talent in the company, their linux pedigree is superb, and the commitment to android is obvious.
By submitting their own patches to the google source we could all benefit.
somebody9
2 Posts
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January 18th, 2011 08:00
1. Patents and copyrights.
The source that we're requesting are not industry secrets that any competition can use to get a winning edge. It's as simple as audio and rotation support. To suggest that this is a trade secret is absurd.
2.Service Provider Subsidies, Liability
While money is made with preloaded applications, the majority of your subsidy is covered by the fact that you are tied into a contract term ( 1,2,3 or 4 years, whatever may be the case ). This subsidy-contract trade-off ensures your business and pays off your phone. It is also absurd to say that everyone who roots their phone is a loss of revenue. Extreme overclocking is done by those who know what they're doing.
In any case, Dell can choose to support it's community the way HTC and Motorola do - contribute to the AOSP base ( like HTC does so well ) or not. The ball is in their court.
RM Becker
1 Message
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January 18th, 2011 08:00
You're reading into what I stated and seemingly taking it personal.
For one... I never stated that "everyone who roots their phone is a loss of revenue". Perhaps you should read again.
So far as patents and the like.... I was stating an example and my own PERSONAL EXPERIENCE as a VAR, a consultant and someone who owns a company that is a reseller for over ten major manufacturers including Dell. It's a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that, in fact, angers me tremendously as I have had clients who required custom software and/or interfaces which has/potentially voided warranties.
To say that extreme overclocking is done by those who know what they're doing is a pipe dream. My fourteen year old son is not a dev or anything close to it, yet a few hours on XDA and he's overclocking like crazy and flashing roms all over the place.
I'm afraid you misinterpreted my message entirely as an opposition to Dell releasing full source. It was merely stating a few things for explanatory reasons as to the unfortunate resistance that Dell has shown to this point on releasing everything openly.
It's funny in a discussion of "openness", how quickly a veritably useless online forum finger pointing shoot down of other's opinions ensues.
I have been using Linux since RedHat 3 came out, when xwindows was manually started and crashed almost instantly. My experience in the open source community is extensive - yet my grip on reality and the way the business world works allows me a certain degree of acceptance.
And patience.
Cheers!~
spectre51
119 Posts
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January 18th, 2011 20:00
Great letter. I fully support this request. Please Dell, the streak is amazing but we want it to live up to it's potential.
KHammond
18 Posts
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January 20th, 2011 05:00
I dont want to be a stick in the mud here but, have a look how many replies to this and most other posts are from Dell, most posts do not get a single reply.
There is only one person from Dell on these forums at all, Amyb, what does this tell you about Dells commitment to the streak or to Android for that matter?
techrider62
23 Posts
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January 20th, 2011 13:00
They dont care can't you see that.
lionel_menchaca
30 Posts
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January 25th, 2011 15:00
I can't comment on that at this point. If anything changes, I will reply to this thread here and also to #dellstreak and #streakdroid followers on Twitter.
drgopoos
2 Posts
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January 25th, 2011 15:00
Who owns them.
We as developer community would like to put a request to them
lionel_menchaca
30 Posts
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January 25th, 2011 15:00
Regarding the open letter requesting access to specific files, members of our development team have said we cannot provide access. We do not own the files in question. As such, it's not our call to grant access to the community.
izzykareem
2 Posts
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January 25th, 2011 21:00
@Lionel
I suggest you find out soon. Here's why. I, like many others, bought the streak on the stated promise, wayyyyy back in the late summer that "Froyo was coming soon". We've all heard that ATT is holding it up. Guess what? We don't care. If a couple of guys in England/UK can create a better OS with more features and get it out the door with multiple revisions and now there's almost a fool-proof install mechanism before one of the largest computer hardware companies in the world, well then i think you may want to rethink your market strategy.
I know that you and others are all over twitter and updating people but come on.
I installed the custom roms from DJ_Steve. I actually like my phone a lot more than i did 2 weeks ago. I donated $25 to Mr. Steve. Do you see how that works Lionel?
lionel_menchaca
30 Posts
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January 27th, 2011 08:00
@izzykareem: No question I see how this works, and understand the frustration of the upgrade not coming for AT&T customers yet. I've used both as well (Streak 5 with Android 1.6 and with Android 2.2), no question in my mind that the Streak 5 experience is improved dramatically with 2.2.
thehinac
7 Posts
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January 30th, 2011 17:00
Yes I agree release the code. If your not going to update your code, then release it so we the customers can do it our selves. Thank you!!!