“We at the Linux Foundation are never going to knock Android, because it’s Linux – we support Linux, that’s our mission,” says Warner. “It’s just in this instance, Tizen puts a little twist on it.
“It’s built to be specialised by whoever wants to go and build a project. Samsung is developing their Tizen products by taking the code from the Tizen project and building their interface on top of it and adding enhancements.”
Of course, manufacturers are able to make alterations to Android, and the operating system is free for operators, but it is a myth that it is open source. The version of Android that Google shares with its handset partners and the version maintained by the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) are two separate platforms.