Amazon To Launch First Vega OS-powered TV Streaming Device This Year (lowpass.cc) 20
Amazon plans to release its first TV streaming device powered by Vega OS later this year while courting major publishers to bring their apps to the platform, according to Lowpass, which cites sources familiar with the company's plans and multiple leaks.
Vega, a Linux-based operating system, may eventually replace Amazon's Android-based Fire OS across its device ecosystem. The company has already implemented Vega in three products: the Echo Show 5 and Echo Hub smart displays, as well as the Echo Spot smart clock/speaker. The tech giant has moved more cautiously in transitioning its TV hardware to Vega, having previously delayed a Vega-powered streaming stick originally slated for release in late 2024.
Vega, a Linux-based operating system, may eventually replace Amazon's Android-based Fire OS across its device ecosystem. The company has already implemented Vega in three products: the Echo Show 5 and Echo Hub smart displays, as well as the Echo Spot smart clock/speaker. The tech giant has moved more cautiously in transitioning its TV hardware to Vega, having previously delayed a Vega-powered streaming stick originally slated for release in late 2024.
Looks like the end is near. (Score:2)
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https://f-droid.org/en/package... [f-droid.org]
There you go, F-Droid apps inside a linux container.
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Android is Linux-based.
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Android is Linux. Linux with a weird, topheavy Java skin.
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Android is Linux. Linux with a weird, topheavy Java skin.
It's not Java any more and hasn't been for ages. Most of the non-Linux parts of the OS itself were never written in Java. You have always been able to include native code through the NDK. Nothing about it is particularly heavy, which you can tell because it runs fine on limited mobile devices with painfully slow storage.
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It's not Java any more
Rubbish. The source code is Java. Doesn't use Sun's interpreter. Still Java. Feh.
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Nothing is more Linux-based than Linux is.
Looks like the end is nowhere near. (Score:2)
I'm really missing the point of Android compatibility on a TV. What you really want is the most solid embedded platform possible and that Java monstrosity is not it.
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The missing peace is it's easier to suck all your data out of an Andriod based OS than a pure Linux OS.
If you strip out the Java and app based code there isn't much left to steal all your analytics to sell to the highest bidder.
It might as well be a dumb TV (GASP!) at that point.
Re: Looks like the end is nowhere near. (Score:3)
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Considering that half the worlds infrastructure is running on Java, you are either:
1) an idiot
2) completely uninformed
3) a stupid hateboi
for what ever reason.
Pick your choice.
Android Apps are coded in Java/Kotlin or if you are avanguard (haha for a 15 year old technology), in Dart - a Java/JavaScript like language.
Oh ... /. is running on PERL, so you have a counter example ... your bank runs Java, your Airline does, so does anyone else you are involved with.
Stupid hatebois.
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What you really want is the most solid embedded platform possible....
What people want is software, and they don't care how it's written. A new platform (any new platform) will not have the software that is on Android, and so will not appeal to users accustomed to being able to get everything on Android. People don't run operating systems. They run programs.
It's why Linux has such a hard time again Windows. People don't run Windows because they think it's some wonderful operating system. They run Windows because that is where all the software is.
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Java is now and always was sloooooow. Slow to start, slow to run. Not what you want in an embedded device.
Re: Looks like the end is near. (Score:2)
Amazon already made it a pain in the ass for an end user to install Google services on their Kindle and Fire devices, so I guess that I shouldn't be too stunned by this.
Re: Looks like the end is near. (Score:2)
I'm done. (Score:4, Interesting)
Streaming has turned into cable, no thanks. After cutting the cord 30 years ago I decided to try streaming when it first came out. It was good, until it was not. Greed once again ruined it. Also, the quality of program offerings nowadays is just abysmal as well. No amount of streaming re-invention is going to bring me back. Hit the yard sales this summer. There are fantastic deals to be found when looking for DVD movies and television series ... dirt cheap. Rip them to your NAS, set up an HTPC with Kodi, and enjoy television YOUR way, ad free, and without fear of your personal data being whored out.
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Only saving grace would be... (Score:2)
If this OS and the applications are lighter and less bloated, therefore, can be rolled out to older devices to breathe new life into them.
Also, if the OS and Apps are lighter, the SoC becomes less expensive, lowering the price of the TV, or, if the TV is subsidized, Amazon looses less money on each TV upfront.
Roku was very sought after by cheap smart tv manufacturers precisely because of this.
Making it harder on themselves (Score:2)
As someone who maintained apps on both Android and Fire OS, Fire OS was always a more tepid version of Android, it felt like they were struggling to keep up with Google, there just wasn't enough business incentive to invest in it. So it seems absurd to me that they would course-correct that by going all-in on a fork of Linux itself, with none of the abstractions and conveniences and third-party apps that Android brings. At least with Android they were getting what amounts to millions of dollars of free-as-i