Smart pointers instead of GC?

[Nick Sabalausky]

On 2/3/2014 10:30 PM, Manu wrote:
> On 4 February 2014 12:59, Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org
>> wrote:
>>
>> Kinda difficult to explain the market success of Android.

Not really. With PalmOS long dead (RIP) and MS famously just flailing 
around on anything battery-powered, Android has been the only realistic 
option for those who want a handheld computer, but don't want to sell 
all their freedoms to Apple. Plus it's Google.

>
> 2. It's free for product vendors.

No.

I mean, on the surface yea it appears free, but realistically it's on 
the decline: Device manufacturers (partly under pressure from asswhores 
like Verizon, no doubt) have been moving towards a system where normal, 
affordable, contract-subsidized devices (not that I'm a fan of the 
contracts) are locked-down as much as possible [1], even using eFuses 
now, and thereby rendered impractical for average developers (since you 
can't freely test on multiple OS versions).

But, GOLLY GEE!! FOR *ONLY SEVERAL HUNDREDS* OF PURELY OUT-OF-POCKET 
DOLLARS, these douchebag corporations like Google or Samsung will 
happily sell you a "developer" phone that restricts FEWER of your 
freedoms! Isn't that great? And best of all, Google gets to pretend 
being an Android developer is still free! Get it? Because the extra $$$ 
developers pay is for the psuedo-optional *wink wink nudge nudge* 
"developer phone" instead of a "developer account" like mean-ol'-Apple.

[1] Not only the usual locked bootloaders, but see also Knox-secured 
bootloader. And no, I'm not being tin-foil-hat here, I've actually been 
bit by that and had a device bricked because of that forced-update 
Knox-secured bullshit, just because I needed to switch between 4.3 and 
4.1.2 which Samsung decided I shouldn't be allowed to do (Knox eFuse). 
Luckily it was still under warranty and pretty much all salespeople and 
support reps are about as intelligent as your average house pet, so I 
was able to get a replacement...at least after they finally got tired of 
screwing up the replacement orders (hmmm, a DOA device...a wrong device 
from a completely different manufacturer...).