social computing

When I began using the phrase ’social computing’ in the mid 90s, I had in mind the tsunami of changes which, obviously, the Web would bring to personal
computing and of course to the people using personal computers.

Like most of us, by the late 90s I understood that the same forces that were driving us to be always on meant that we would want to be “on” wherever we were. Hence, devices other than personal computers were important.

But I don’t think I understood exactly how powerful a driving factor mobile phones would become.

“Today, there are 1.5 billion television sets in use around the world. 1 billion people are on the Internet. But nearly 3 billion people have a mobile phone.”

That’s from the website of the Open Handset Alliance, which along with Google has just announced Android. Here’s what Google’s Andy Rubin has to say on the company’s official blog:

“Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile… to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.”

The Android FAQ provided by the Alliance is particularly interesting:

“How will the open source effort be managed?
There will be a publicly accessible repository, similar to how the Linux kernel is managed. Each platform module is assigned an owner who validates contributions, and new module additions are governed by the original contributor.”

The reference to Linux is an indication of the scope of the intentions for Android. I’m extremely excited by the possibilities.

Note that “an early look at the Android SDK” will be available on November 12. I’m sure there will be lots of downloads that day! Andy Rubin notes that “some of our partners are targeting the second half of 2008 to ship phones based on the Android platform.”

I’ll be lined up to get myself one!