[15:46] <Nothing_Much> mhall119: I recall last year that you told me about phone carriers ( Verizon AT&T and whatnot ) don't really like dealing with developing and maintaining Android versions, is that true?
[15:47] <mhall119> Nothing_Much: I don't have any insider knowledge, but it seems common sense to me that this is a big expense for them to do
[15:47] <mhall119> Nothing_Much: the Ubuntu proposition, that they just add a layer of customization on top of an OS image we maintain, has been very popular with them from what I've heard
[15:50] <Nothing_Much> mhall119: So that's confirmation that the phone carriers would rather have an Ubuntu model rather than an Android model where instead of maintaining the entire OS, they just maintain the updated promotions on the phone and a specific look and feel to it.
[15:50] <mhall119> Nothing_Much: I would say so, yes
[15:50] <Nothing_Much> But wouldn't that mean phone manufacturers wouldn't have an excuse to not force people to upgrade phones every 2 years?
[15:51] <mhall119> I think the 2 years cycle is based more on contract plans with carriers than with software updates
[15:52] <Nothing_Much> Ah
[15:53] <Nothing_Much> I can only assume the reason why there's incredibly outdated Android versions on some low-end model phones is because of architecture differences that each carrier has to deal with?
[15:54] <mhall119> Nothing_Much: from my understanding most phones have very small margins, the low-end ones probably less that most, so *any* cost associated with them is going to make them less profitable. It's likely that OEMs don't provide new versions of Android for them simply because it costs them too much to do so
[15:54] <mhall119> if Canonical/Ubuntu is doing that for them, that's a win for them
[15:57] <Nothing_Much> Is it because you guys are mostly FOSS? :P
[16:10] <mhall119> is what because of that?
[16:49] <Nothing_Much> mhall119: OEMs don't provide new versions of Android because it costs them too much to do so, but you guys maintain Ubuntu, so it saves them money
[16:59] <mhall119> Nothing_Much: yes, though that's not so much because it's FOSS (AOSP is FOSS), and more to do with the fact that we allow customization with Scopes
[17:04] <Nothing_Much> mhall119: I really want to use scopes on the Ubuntu Phone, because when I use my desktop, I forget about the scopes in my desktop :(