I mean, this is terrible garbage, but if Google is going to fully ruin Android then at least the news being out might push resources towards mobile Linux faster.
I'm actually using an old iphone. I look at it like an appliance to connect with mainstream institutions (including local people like other school parents), and take pictures. I have other appliances of varying complexity up to and including my car that run systems I know nothing about as well. I'm not happy about that either, but these are the compromises that happen in the real world.
The closed system isn't appealing to me, but the mass market appeal of the device is. A stunning majority of my direct acquaintances use it. It can streamline interactions sometimes.
And you know, I don't trust them of course, but at least Apple has actually said out loud in high profile presentations that privacy is a fundamental human right, and they always point out when they can keep personal things on-device. And they fight orders to unlock phones. Plus they make their money on hardware sales and services for the most part.
Google, on the other hand, exists pretty much solely to vacuum up data and keep us online and cloud-connected. They typically get major points for interoperability from me, but then I ask how often is it just a cynical embrace/extend/extinguish strategy?
Any big mainstream phone now is just a locked down disposable product of a megacorp. It's also a data scraping tendril of said megacorp loaded with sensors and a fast data connection. And now as a bonus for those of us in the US - it's probably a convenient backdoor warrantless wiretap that the oligarchs can just accidentally forward the government the passwords to.
My COMPUTER runs Linux. I can't wait until I can have a real linux computer in the form factor of a high quality phone.