Published at LXer:

Cyanogen's CEO says the coming Cyanogen Android distribution will include MIcrosoft's Cortana built into the base OS platform.

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You couldn't make this stuff up. "Google is bad!", "Long live Microsoft!".
That is both hilarious and sad.

One morning, soon, you will all wake up to find that FREE software is dead, replaced by corporatized, pay per use, DRM'd "open source", using YOUR code... and sadly, most will manage to accept that as a good thing...

Android still counts as Linux though, right?

I am not sure I understand the question...?

I am sorry, I was being rude about the fact that when people ask about running Linux on a phone they are told "Android is Linux". In the face of something like this those of us in the "... well, kind of ..." camp seem a little less Stallmanesque in our issues.
Yes, I know Linux is the kernel etc. but is Cortana-on-Linux a good thing to anybody who wants to run Linux?

I agree with your post.

Ah! Sorry I missed the point of your post.

Yes, most people will gladly accept their lock-down in the slave quarters, just as long as there is a convenient way to pretend that it is really just a different brand of Freedom.

The FREE software fight was lost when we accepted the ideologically neutered term "open source" to avoid the ideologically imortant foundation principles of FREEDOM. Now, nobody knows, and nobody cares...

Stallman understood it.

CyanogenMod isn't normal Android, it's a third-party project that provides replacement ROMs for Android devices. No device is sold with it installed, an owner has to go out of his way to install it. I've run it, and it's ok, but I've given up on it, even before all this happened. But the kiddies love it, even though they really have no idea how any computer works, and they just run around the interwebz searching for a cookbook recipe that will let them root their phone and put an AWESOME ROM on it that looks really rad. Cyanogen is making lots of money off them, and it's not something I care about.

i think the oppo 1+ came with cm pre-installed.
cyanogenmod has a few features (most notably the ability to change specific permissions from apps downloaded from the google play store).

I think the folks at Wileyfox and OnePlusOne may disagree.
However, my point was that people choose Cyanogenmod to get away from Google's spying -- only to now find that Microsoft will be doing the spying instead.

i still have faith in them. hopefully the new features are disable-able ?

If you're really worried about spying, you may as well just stop using the internet, and stick to snail mail via the postal service. If you must go online, and most people must these days, use encryption for your email, and VPN for web browsing. I agree that having Microsoft involved in Android kernels is disappointing to say the least, but it's not surprising. Like I said, I gave up on Cyanogen ROMs before this even happened. They're just not worth the trouble, IME. But these days I'm not as worried about straight Android as I am about the changes made by the carriers. AT&T changes Android to its own custom OS, and fully cooperates with the NSA. This is probably a big reason people want different ROMs, and having Microsoft involved limits the choices. I'm not sure where I'm going to end up, but so far I'm just using the stock ROM. I think the Nexus line is probably the safest going forward, since Google provides timely updates and makes it easy to flash different ROMs. But if you're really paranoid, your choices are very limited.

I read two things of importance here: Android users can choose between Google or Microsoft's services with the same device, which seems like a dramatically better situation than being stuck with Google alone and; The API now supports both services, which further opens the doors for other solutions.

Why is this disappointing? MS is one of the largest software companies in the world and they've been contributing to the Linux kernel for a while now. I'm having a hard time comprehending why that's not a good outcome.

Everyone in the US has to cooperate with the NSA. The government here holds a monopoly on force and it can compel anyone to divulge information. You can skirt around it a little by keeping any service which might collect information about you at arms distance, but that also means you get to live like a hermit.

You do not have the capacity to comprehend it, because your subset of knowledge, values and experience preclude it.

As I mentioned above, almost no one knows the difference it makes any more, and no one cares.

That is due to application of technology without ideology. Open source without the principles of FREEDOM. Ones and zeroes without understanding or any human purpose... look at all the pretty lights...

This knowledge, and caring, are of very high value, but come at a correspondingly high cost, which you allude to but have not considered.

Those hermits share something of great value that is just not available to you in your current state.

Perhaps because this is a company which has a history of trying to destroy the caner that is Linux by trying to extort money from corporate users.
Yes, company strategies do change and, yes, Microsoft have been helping with the Kernel (though my impression was that it was mainly drivers to run in Windows containers?) but that doesn't stop them going back to the same position with even more ammunition to try to destroy Linux.