Google open market philosophy
Posted on February 1, 2009, under Open-Source.
Google set up MarketPlace to provide the most accessible distribution network possible. Google’s philosophy is this: “[W]e feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available.” The open market philosophy is based on the idea of self correction, that users will promote the best items and police the bad ones without adding the kind of oversight layer required by Apple. Google explains that when “an application is deemed harmful or inappropriate, users can flag it, give it a low rating, leave a detailed comment, and of course, remove it from their device.
Once flagged by users, applications are reviewed and harmful or inappropriate applications are removed from the Market. Abusive developers can also be blocked from using the Android Market for repeated or egregious violations of our policies.” It’s a philosophy that is both appealing and fraught with possible problems. As BoingBoing predicted back in August, “[O]ne wonders if Google is setting themselves up for a logistical nightmare here: if developers can put through malicious code with no fail check, Google might spend more time pulling down apps than it would actually take to approve them individually and put them up.” Please note that Apple’s review process has been inconsistent in its application. Individual review and approval does not guarantee that malicious software would (or could) be caught before it hit the App Store shelves.
It seems unlikely that latest problems with some insufficient applications will change Google open market model more strict. So far, we’ve seen a rapid community response that validates the ability of the Marektplace to self correct. Future will show which model is better and how open source can be more open and still secure.