For this week’s Guest Post Friday at Musings, we welcome back Martha Sperry for another great tech related guest post. Martha (@advocatesstudio on Twitter) is an attorney with extensive experience in the insurance industry. Martha also maintains a research and writing practice, AdvantageAdvocates with emphasis on research and written product for professionals and web consulting. Her blog on law, research, writing and technology Advocate’s Studio. Martha also has let Musings invade the Studio today, so please check it out!
Android, the mobile OS, has been around for some time. But it still seems like the newcomer to all but the most tech savvy out there. Truthfully, though, Android’s time appears to have come, and this is as true for lawyers as it is for techies and civilians. In an effort to help us all “get with the times”, this post is all about “why Android?” and “What can you do with Android?” as a lawyer.
First a tiny bit of history. Android is Linux based, starting out as its own software company in 2003, but was financially backed and then bought by Google in 2005. Android was unveiled to the public in 2007. It has always been billed as an open handset OS, compared to Apple iOS’ very closed ecosystem. This means that Android is open source and is freely available to anyone to use and modify to their liking. Hence, the often criticized fracturing of the Android platform – different manufacturers, developers and basement tweakers have their own version and flavor of the OS, with better or worse results.