Is there any open-source antivirus for Android?

With the rumored Android Silver program, would Google, in effect, be moving Android from an open source model to a closed source model?

• Given that Google is devoting less and less resources to the progression of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), and that they are increasingly moving to stifle and "choke out" competing Android forks by any means necessary, do we potentially face a future in which Android becomes Open Source in name only, via the Android Silver program? References: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/android-silver-hopes-to-whip-oems-and-carriers-into-shape/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/

• Answer:

  To be honest, that's already happened. Almost. See, Android started as open source because Google was desperate to seize some of the mobile market share away from Apple. Because if some day Apple decided to use, say, Bing search instead of Google, Google immediately loses a big chunk of users. So, Google bough Android, developed it and made it open source, thus giving other manufacturers an easy option as well as securing it's own market share in the mobile segment. With time, of course, Android has become the world's most used smartphone OS. Now the danger comes not from iOS, but from possible Android forks. And Google doesn't want that. But it can't put the genie back in the bottle, so to say. And so Google is using all the tricks it can to make forking Android all but impossible. Open To Closed SourceA lot of what we think of as an integral part of Android is actually proprietary Google apps - things like Google Maps, GMail, YouTube, Play Store, Google Now, Hangouts, Search etc. With each new version, Google moves more and more functionality to these closed apps. In order to use these apps in their Android phones, manufacturers have to sign contracts with Google - which essentially gives them a lot of control over the Android distribution in question. Acer was bit by this requirement when it tried to build devices that ran Alibaba's Aliyun OS in China. Aliyun is an Android fork, and when Google got wind of it, Acer was http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/google-blocked-acers-rival-phone-to-prevent-android-fragmentation/ or lose its access to Google apps. So, in effect, if you want to use these apps - and you do, because who is going to buy android with Play store or Youtube or Google Maps - then you can't fork Android. You have to stick to Google's guidelines. Do It Yourself - But Can You?Or, you can develop your own maps, app store etc. But that's not an easy task for any company. You also have to either convince developers to port their apps to your Android fork (no easy task), or do it yourself. So far, only one company has managed to fork Android - Amazon, with its Fire line of tablets (and now phones). But the success of Kindle Fire comes not from Android, but Amazon's huge content library - of books, music, movies, shows etc. Other manufacturers don't have this advantage. And finally, it might not even be possible to port apps in cases that use Google's APIs. Suppose you make a restaurant finder. You use Google's maps API because it's free and easy to work with. But now you are stuck to using Google's version of Android, because that's the only one that will have this API. Open Only In NameSo, to summarise, to fork Android - you have to develop all the core apps yourself, somehow manage to get all the data for maps etc., populate your own app store with apps. And after all this effort, you're still not getting anywhere until you can give customers a reason to switch. And why would they? Google is an integral part of most people's internet lives. People like and trust Google. There's no price advantage, since all of Google's services are already free. Android SilverAndroid Silver is essentially a push to curb one of Android's biggest issues - fragmentation. The latest version of Android is 4.4, and yet v 2.3 (Gingerbread) persists on over 15% devices. Not to mention other versions of the OS. This is basically a pain in the ass for Android developers, since they have to worry about backwards compatibility and can't use all the fancy new features Google puts into the newer versions. Android Silver will basically be a set of guidelines and specifications, and phones that meet them will be fast tracked for updates - like the Nexus line of phones. Basically, a purer Android experience. But does it make forking Android harder? IMO, not really. If you are using Android, then this merely constrains your hardware in return for a stamp of approval from Google. If you aren't, then you don't care. And if you are looking to fork it - Silver doesn't really increase or decrease the amount of effort it would take to do so. Because it's not a change to Android itself - you know, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). So, yes, Google is indeed trying to make Android more like a closed source platform, but Android Silver doesn't seem to be part of that effort.