There’s the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is open-source and contains most components of Android. Google has allegedly forced manufacturers to install their proprietary components, though (Play Store, Chrome, YouTube, Play Services etc.), so what you commonly know as “Android” is not fully open-source.
And yeah, it was to drive adoption. The tech community (excluding Richard Stallman, of course) still believed open-source was the solution to everything back then. Nowadays, I will name Android as my primary example of why open-source alone is worth nothing.
There’s the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is open-source and contains most components of Android. Google has allegedly forced manufacturers to install their proprietary components, though (Play Store, Chrome, YouTube, Play Services etc.), so what you commonly know as “Android” is not fully open-source.
And yeah, it was to drive adoption. The tech community (excluding Richard Stallman, of course) still believed open-source was the solution to everything back then. Nowadays, I will name Android as my primary example of why open-source alone is worth nothing.