Android was ranked as the most "closed" out of 8 major open source projects in a report by VisionMobile. At the same time, it's also arguably the most successful.
VisionMobile used a variety of criteria to put together the Open Governance Index. It looks at licensing, different governance critera, and the community to see what makes a platform more or less "open."
Open governance is a big part of open source software, specifically aspects like transparency, decision making, reuse, and community structure. These are what give users and modifiers equality with the developers, and allow projects to bloom and fork.
The report found that Android ranked only at 23%. Compare that to the Linux kernel (71%), Mozilla (65%), and even Symbian OS (58%). And yet, Android is still one of the most successful open source projects out there.
Android ranks as the most closed project, with an Open Governance Index of 23%, yet at the same time is one of the most successful projects in the history of open source. Is Android proof that open governance is not needed to warrant success in an open source project?
VisionMobile brings up a few interesting points to answer that question. Google's deep pockets allow for a brilliant engineering team, good publicity, and business partners. The fact that it's open source has very little to do with it.
More importantly, Google has made Android available at “less than zero” cost, since Google’s core business is not software or search, but driving eyeballs to ads. As is now well understood, Google’s strategy has been to subsidise Android such that it can deliver cheap handsets and low-cost wireless Internet access in order to drive more eyeballs to Google’s ad inventory.
So, in VisionMobile's point of view, Android's open source claim did not make it successful after all. As to what did, they went straight to the point:
More importantly, Android would not have risen were it not for the billions of dollars that OEMs and network operators poured into Android in order to compete with Apple’s iconic devices. As Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO, said in June, 2011, “Apple created the conditions necessary for Android."
VisionMedia also put together a large infographic to summarize the important points of the report.
[via VisionMobile Infographic, VisionMobile Report (pdf, email required)]
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