[Alejandro Nova]

I really can't imagine Google permitting Blackberry to have such an advantageous over itself (as the seller of stock Nexus devices) and the more popular OEMs. I would love it if you were right but my business sense is calling BS.

If you really think the business of Google is selling Nexus phones... that's wrong on every count. The business of Google is to sell ads. The search engine, Android, everything is directed to track users' preferences, users' locations and sell the most effective ads to everyone. If Google becomes a monopoly of advertising, well, advertising is something every business needs to do, and so the amounts of money to be made are beyond any stretch of imagination.

Nexus phones are demo phones and development phones. They are phones intended to showcase Android as it should be, and little more than that.

A second business for Google is trying to become a centerpiece of the enterprise, and they are failing there. Apple is eating them alive, and no enterprise will buy Google services because they are perceived as less secure. BlackBerry can do quite a lot here.

Wide vision, from Chile.

[Alejandro Nova]

Just wow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/blackberry/...ng_qnx_kernel/

Wide vision, from Chile.

[AnimalPak200]

Just wow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/blackberry/...ng_qnx_kernel/

Wide vision, from Chile.

Lol... be honest now... did you write that yourself Alejandro?

Posted via CB10

[Alejandro Nova]

No!

Wide vision, from Chile.

[AdamThatsIt]

No!

Wide vision, from Chile.

What's your opinion? Do you think they gleaned and just repeated your theory, or that it's possibly truthful?

Serious question

[niagarawalls]

I have been wondering if perhaps the Venice is some sort of flagship phone of sorts. Whatever the case, I suspect/hope it's a game changer

Posted via CB10

[Alejandro Nova]

What's your opinion? Do you think they gleaned and just repeated your theory, or that it's possibly truthful?

Serious question

The guy seems to have enough knowledge of Unix to a) use a terminal, and b) know what cat /proc/version does. It displays the entire kernel name, and if it says QNX, then it's QNX, not Linux.

If this is bull****, it's meticulously and carefully crafted bull****, and I have explained in fact along this thread how and why this post can actually be true. I just didn't expect to be right, since in post 1 I said: no facts, only speculation. I swear I have no insider information, there are no BlackBerry offices in Chile, I know nobody who works for BlackBerry. I maintain: this is speculation. The only thing that has changed is that, somehow, all leaks are pointing to my direction.

Wide vision, from Chile.

[Benjamin Black]

I swear it wasn't me either. That's some validation though!

Posted via BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition

[TI_Master]

The reddit thing has precedence.

I am reminded of FreeBSD's ability to run Linux software by intercepting system calls and routing library calls through specially compiled libraries.

I remember running Brightmail ages ago on a FreeBSD system because under FreeBSD it ran stable, but on Linux it required frequent reboots due to memory leakage.

I also recall a "Linux" distro (might have been debian) that had a FreeBSD kernel variant.

BB's experience with droid may well have led to basically building android with QNX at the heart.

Properly done, you could have full app compatibility, especially if you had Google's blessing.

We just have to wait and see, but it's fun to speculate.

Posted via CB10

[Alejandro Nova]

Oh, surprise, FreeBSD derives from the Mach microkernel, which is, guess what, a microkernel.

FreeBSD has a Linux compatibility layer, translating Linux kernel calls to FreeBSD ones. I was in fact waiting for someone familiar with that concept, because it seems BlackBerry has done something like that, at least, with the BlackBerry 10 Android runtime.

This theory goes beyond: or a) the Android userland has been ported to QNX, or b) what I told you in OP: ART and Android have been ported to QNX userland. I'm still betting on b), because that enables an Android launcher to launch directly BB10 apps without a hypervisor.

Wide vision, from Chile.

[Mecca EL]

Time for speculation, time for entirely baseless speculation. This is completely devoid of facts, but it's another interesting thesis, since the Hypervisor theory was all but discarded.

As you know, no mobile manufacturer who wants to run Android, not even the mighty Samsung, has a kernel. Citing only operating systems with Android runtimes:
- Tizen is Linux + Linux userland (glibc + Wayland + PulseAudio) + Enlightenment Foundation Libraries + Tizen apps + Android compatibility libraries.
- Sailfish is Linux + Linux userland (glibc + Wayland + PulseAudio) + Qt 5 + Sailfish apps + Android runtime.

As I said: no one has a kernel. No one, except BlackBerry.

It's really disturbing to see the lengths that CB members are going to, to deny the inevitable. It's like listening to a skinny person, with body Dismorphism, complain about how fat they are... Or reading an iMore thread.

Anyway, my grandma has an old saying. No, not the "...have nothing nice to say... " saying. The "you're so smart... " saying. I'll just up a few screen shots instead...

First pic... Yep, my OnePlus One has a kernel. A custom one at that. Helps me control lots of cool things like my battery.... Or, or my processors. I have 4 by the way. I didn't even have to mod my SELinux either.

The second pic is one of my favorites. I can add users to my phone. Let's say my children want to play with my phone. Instead of them stumbling upon twerk pics or calling 911, I can switch without reboot, to a new user, where they can only access what I place in there. Zero access to sensitive data.

Security these days is a misnomer. If you're connected to the Net, you're not secure. BB10 without BES is as insecure as any other device out there. But that's besides the fact, that in order for any mobile device to become vulnerable, someone STILL has to have physical access to the device. So, recharging at a coffee shop, access. Agreeing to use hotel Wi-Fi.... You might as well strip nekkid at check in, and leave your door key in the reader after you swipe it.

Oh wait... Someone say "stagefright", or any other newly branded attack that my 6 year old can post, and everyone blindly accepts? Stagefright is the name of the media library files, in an operating system. It's not the name of a bug. What the media should have said was "the stagefright lib files have a potential vulnerability". But then it wouldn't sound exciting. Then, you wouldn't download the "trusted" stagefright scanner... Which you installed... Which is the real bug.

On second thought, iMore has more giveaways. Sheesh....

[twelvezero8]

Ok my question. Can this be upgraded for bb10 phones. Are let's say the classic, and passport powerful enough to run this supposed android BlackBerry edition where blackberry can just send us an update?

Posted via CB10

[Mecca EL]

Ok my question. Can this be upgraded for bb10 phones. Are let's say the classic, and passport powerful enough to run this supposed android BlackBerry edition where blackberry can just send us an update?

Posted via CB10

It's not impossible, what you're asking.

But I think your question should be "will Blackberry do something like this?". Let's not forget how they did the Playbook. Also, BB10 users should be fine for at least three more years, OS wise. BBOS 7.1 hasn't gone 7.2 in three years, and my 9810 still receives updates.

[Alejandro Nova]

It's really disturbing to see the lengths that CB members are going to, to deny the inevitable. It's like listening to a skinny person, with body Dismorphism, complain about how fat they are... Or reading an iMore thread.

Anyway, my grandma has an old saying. No, not the "...have nothing nice to say... " saying. The "you're so smart... " saying. I'll just up a few screen shots instead...

First pic... Yep, my OnePlus One has a kernel. A custom one at that. Helps me control lots of cool things like my battery.... Or, or my processors. I have 4 by the way. I didn't even have to mod my SELinux either.

No, CyanogenMod, as a company, has no kernel. They have made some mods to Linux, that's all. Their 3.4.108 kernel is fairly old, in fact, that's the LTS version of Linux for Android. Watch it in your own screenshots

When I say BlackBerry has a kernel, that's because they have a kernel that isn't Linux, owned by BlackBerry. That's completely different stuff.

This is not denial. I'm not denying the switch to Android. In fact, I said from the beginning: I have no facts on my side, only speculation. A fanboy or an attention grabber would show a completely opposite behavior, so your comment is out of place.

[IanWood62]

Alejandro Nova has come up with a great speculation that, to me, aligns with a number of other things that have been leaked. One of the items that comes to mind is the one about choosing which O/S to install when you first fire up the slider, or after you reset to factory state.

If a kernel was not already there, that type of interaction would not be possible.

As has been stated many times before, in other threads/discussions, QNX is the base kernel in millions of devices out there, especially many car "infotainment" systems.

QNX's long history, long before BlackBerry bought them, shows a wide versatility of their kernel.

As BB10 is built for running on top of QNX, and blackberry has provided the Android runtime as part of their OS, shows they know how to get it to run using the QNX kernel.

It makes sense to me for BlackBerry to provide this option to users. I've seen android folks say their app only runs if they have rooted the Android OS. Rooting is a security nightmare. It opens up the system to extreme abuse of privilege, which is what all these "escalation of privilege" vulnerabilities are. Locking a system down, as QNX does, so that root access is not accessible, helps to reduce, if not eliminate, that backdoor route.

As one who works for a company, and has to go through all these wonderful audits, here in the USA (i.e. SOX, PCI etc), eliminating that type of backdoor access to root privilege helps in improving the ecosystem.

If BlackBerry is doing this on the slider, then it would seem, to me, that this could be provided to all current BB10 owners, the same thing, as part of the next O/S upgrade.

Imagine the possibilities that it would then open up for BlackBerry!

Posted via CB10

[mania626]

Alejandro Nova has come up with a great speculation that, to me, aligns with a number of other things that have been leaked. One of the items that comes to mind is the one about choosing which O/S to install when you first fire up the slider, or after you reset to factory state.

If a kernel was not already there, that type of interaction would not be possible.

As has been stated many times before, in other threads/discussions, QNX is the base kernel in millions of devices out there, especially many car "infotainment" systems.

QNX's long history, long before BlackBerry bought them, shows a wide versatility of their kernel.

As BB10 is built for running on top of QNX, and blackberry has provided the Android runtime as part of their OS, shows they know how to get it to run using the QNX kernel.

It makes sense to me for BlackBerry to provide this option to users. I've seen android folks say their app only runs if they have rooted the Android OS. Rooting is a security nightmare. It opens up the system to extreme abuse of privilege, which is what all these "escalation of privilege" vulnerabilities are. Locking a system down, as QNX does, so that root access is not accessible, helps to reduce, if not eliminate, that backdoor route.

As one who works for a company, and has to go through all these wonderful audits, here in the USA (i.e. SOX, PCI etc), eliminating that type of backdoor access to root privilege helps in improving the ecosystem.

If BlackBerry is doing this on the slider, then it would seem, to me, that this could be provided to all current BB10 owners, the same thing, as part of the next O/S upgrade.

Imagine the possibilities that it would then open up for BlackBerry!

Posted via CB10

Sounds good and exciting to me!

Posted via CB10

[siung6]

I don't understand most of the jargon you guys are talking. I felt that I knew too much now, shoot! I love BlackBerry and QNX even more now. I don't care about the truth. This thread is da best. Even better than the suspense of Playbook getting an OS10 era.

Posted via CB10

[The Big Picture]

Troy what do you think? Where art thou?

Posted via CB10

[RigoMonster]

Thanks Alejandro Nova for the theory and thread. I, like many here, have found it very insightful! I am not a techie by any means (liberal arts background), but the things that come to mind for me when reading about your theory is that it fits well with hints Chen has given in the last 6-9 months. Recall that earlier in the year that he mentioned some kind of software solutions that would be the basis for having folks turn to one device instead of having a BB and some other phone (this phone would presumably have BB security and fill the "app gap"). He indicated that this solution would come by June. There was nothing in June, so suspect that BB had a setback in terms of the timing for this software solutions. This fits with a prior post in this thread talking about how the Silver Edition was going to be an Android phone but that Google wasn't yet happy with the Android implementation. In more recent statements, Chen has said that they are working hard on addressing the app gap and that it's a lot of work (reason for the delay and reason to expect something big, which your theory does provide). In the June earnings call, he also disclosed that he's expecting another large IP licensing deal in the 2nd or 3rd quarter. This deal may be with Google and involve the licensing of QNX. This deal would presumably be disclosed with the announcement of the Venice. The delay in Android implementation may also be the reason for Chen's extension of the turnaround/stabilization period. Believe he added another 6-12 months at the last earnings call. If the Venice is in fact not out for full sale until Nov/December/early 2016, then this would have a major impact on what may have been a summer rollout (June) of the Silver Edition with Android. This also provides some understanding of why the Silver Edition was even conceived (think the BB10 version became the fallback since I don't expect much volume to come out of it). All this is just a layperson's interpretation of how your theory could fit into what I have been hearing on the business communication side. I am also not an investments expert, but am in deep with BB. Hope you're on the right track! #TeamBlackBerry

[kfh227]

Even if this is technically possible, does it matter as users? As investors?

It will happen or it will not. With either outcome, most will not be impacted.

Posted via CB10

[kfh227]

Wow, interesting thoughts on qnx making android unrootable.

Posted via CB10

[tonythecanuck]

I don't know what you all are yacking about, except that BlackBerry rules!

Posted via CB10

[3yE]

Too good to be true.

Posted via CB10

[pat-wallace]

intteresting

[Merboy6969]

I know we are mainly talking phones here (slider section post). But would this theory not fit in perfect to allow Android and therefore Google to be the go to ecosystem for the new wave of IOT? Which would make Google very happy with their data mining etc.

We hear weekly of how scary it will be when hackers can break into our nest thermostats or take control of our cars while driving or turn our cell cameras on etc.. I really do think Android will be them common OS of the future connected world, and if there is a way to lock down and secure the the process right from hardware through to the apps themselves it will make the expansion of the IOT much easier as to alleviate the security hold backs currently experienced.

So for the discussion to be only if this is how the slider will or will not be really doesn't matter, if BlackBerry can lock this down for all of Android devices. Sky's the limit with the possibilities. But hopefully the slider is the major unveiling to the world.

Also I'm totally addicted to this thread.

Posted via CB10