In reply to stp:
> Just bought a new tablet PC and I'm frustrated by the amount of Google malware that it comes bundled with.
> Some years ago Microsoft was taken to court over the fact that Internet Explorer was embedded in the Windows OS and could not be removed. Microsoft lost and had to make IE removable.
> Google's Android is far, far worse. There are bunch of Google programs, many of which can only be used by Google account holders, so completely useless to me. None of them can be removed without rooting the device first. This is a process which makes the file system accessible to the user (just like any normal PC) yet doing so is not only complicated but may invalidate the warranty!
> How come Google can get away with these despicable and presumably illegal practices when Microsoft could not?
Because the Google didn't put it there. Your device producer did. Google supply source code and some apps that can be pre-installed if the manufacturers meet certain conditions.
With Windows you couldn't remove the fact that IE provided core functionality that prevented the use of other browsers. This was really nothing to do with end users "freedom", this was about Microsoft controlling the web server market by control of the end user client. After all, they didn't remove notepad / minesweep / windows paint....
An Android phone requires a Google account, and iPhone requires and Apple ID, a Microsoft Phone requires a Microsoft ID.
You can buy a non-Google approved Android phone, it will have far fewer apps installed, you'll just get the linux kernel and android shell. You may not even get Play Store.
Post edited at 13:02