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I don’t get the love for the “open” nature of Android. There is a core Android OS that is open and available for download. It may be useful for Linux hackers and hobbyists. Beyond that, the implementations on most devices are proprietary — Android plus proprietary drivers, applications (even apps that are part of the standard expected Android experience), user interfaces, etc. Try to mod a firmware and post it, get threatened by the phone maker and Google to take it down.

The "love" is that - as an app developer - I can do a LOT more with the Android platform with my choice of language and my choice of functionality. I can examine the internals of the OS and make sure it behaves as I want, or even optimize for different revs of the kernel.

Apple demands I must use Objective C, and that I don't step on their toes in terms of functionality. I am not free to compete with them, and customers cannot see alternatives that may or may not be better (and the market cannot decide). And I do not know what happens to the kernel between versions, so I do not know what APIs were adversely affected.

Question here. If Android is so good at multi-language, why can’t I switch seamlessly between English and German on mine?

Don't know. Mine does Mandarin and English great, and I know that Froyo supports multi-language keyboards VERY well. And you can download a German keyboard quite easily. Just like you have to do on an iPhone.

The "love" is that - as an app developer

I'm talking about users. There effectively is very little freedom.

And I do not know what happens to the kernel between versions, so I do not know what APIs were adversely affected.

I remember WAY back in the Atari days people programming against non-standard APIs (or, rather, not sticking to the documented "entry points" as we called them then), taking advantage of things in the OS. Then there was an OS revision and everybody who did that had their programs break. Users had to basically load the old OS version from disk to use the programs. Not a good idea. It's the OS vendor's responsibilty to publish what happens with APIs and the developers' responsibility to stick with the APIs.

and I know that Froyo supports multi-language keyboards VERY well

On my phone that was introduced here less than a year ago, I will never see carrier-supported Froyo.

And you can download a German keyboard quite easily. Just like you have to do on an iPhone.

The iPhone gives the umlauts in the way that Android recently copied for Froyo. Otherwise, the iPhone has the German keyboard built-in. But thanks for the link. I'll check it out.