Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking: Theory, Responsibility and Engagement

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In December 2011, Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the start of Android Mainlining Project, which aims to put some Android drivers, patches and features back into the Linux kernel, starting in Linux 3. An opt-in system is used instead, in which users are prompted to grant or deny individual permissions to an app when they are needed for the first time. As stated by Bloomberg: "As smartphones get more capable, complex and hackable, having the latest software work closely with the hardware is increasingly important". Describing the statistics, Farhad Manjoo wrote in The New York Times that "About one of every two computers sold today is running Android. Community releases often come pre- rooted and contain modifications not provided by the original vendor, such as the ability to overclock or over/undervolt the device's processor.

However, not every developer agreed that piracy rates were an issue; for example, in July 2012 the developers of the game Wind-up Knight said that piracy levels of their game were only 12%, and most of the piracy came from China, where people cannot purchase apps from Google Play. Microsoft has also tied its own Android software to patent licenses, requiring the bundling of Microsoft Office Mobile and Skype applications on Android devices to subsidize the licensing fees, while at the same time helping to promote its software lines. Ars Technica wrote that "Although Android is built on top of the Linux kernel, the platform has very little in common with the conventional desktop Linux stack". On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Android "Q" would officially be branded as Android 10, ending the historic practice of naming major versions after desserts. Following the trace-based JIT principle, in addition to interpreting the majority of application code, Dalvik performs the compilation and native execution of select frequently executed code segments ("traces") each time an application is launched.Except for devices within the Google Nexus and Pixel brands, updates have often arrived months after the release of the new version, or not at all.

Android is the most used operating system on phones in virtually all countries, with some countries, such as India, having over 96% market share.Android is a mobile operating system (32-bit and 64-bit) based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to running on smartphones and tablets, several vendors run Android natively on regular PC hardware with a keyboard and mouse.