Why would anyone expect Google not to eliminate its competitors?

If you are in the information business, Google is in competition with you.

These things are made open source under a permissive license. The whole point is that people can do what they want with the code.

You seem to be trying to wriggle out of this by saying that what people mean by Android today has moved past the 'open beginning' that is all that was ever meant to be open, and that's not Google's fault.

I agree that this isn't Google's fault. But let's speak plainly. Android began as open and that was all that Google intended. Things have changed since then and only a part of Android is open anymore.

Why try to claim otherwise?

If as you say, Google intended to have 'Android' mean the AOSP at one point, and it has stopped trying for that definition now because it failed to make the distinction to the public, then that only strengthens the point that Google (and you) know that what people think of as 'Android' is not open, and so are knowingly exploiting the ambiguity between 'Android' and the AOSP when you perpetuate that idea.

But.. You have certainly claimed to have authority to speak about parts of Google's strategy because you were in certain meetings.

Your comment about 'You don't get to freeride after X years' is perfectly reasonable if google's goal is to stop contributing to the open parts of android.

I am not disputing Google's right to do whatever it takes to compete, or that there is somehow something morally wrong about that.

I am disputing the canard that 'Android is open' when really only a part of it is, and that part is not what most people think of as Android.

I do thing there is something morally wrong with perpetuating this misleading idea, even though it furthers Google's PR goals.

I know that corporations mislead us all the time with communications that are technically true but pragmatically false. I realize it may be naive to expect different behavior, but it's certainly not going to stop if it isn't called out.

I note that you are implicitly conceding that what is commonly considered to be Android is indeed not open.

So no, you absolutely cannot do this with what almost everyone thinks of as 'Android'.

You can do it with a different thing that also has the name 'Android', but isn't the same.

I assume you haven't noticed this, because otherwise you would be deliberately trying to spread a misleading view.

I'm not a naysayer about the product in general (although I am not a fan of google), but I have used Glass, and it is far from being a usable consumer product.

Iteration will change that. However I have doubt that that have got to that point yet.

If this is article is accurate, then I think the operative words are 'invitation only'. The idea would be to get massive celebrity endorsement to create desire without real consumers actually experiencing the product.

So far Glass has done a great job of making Google not look like a boring copycat. If they can keep this up and launch a great product at some point, it will turn out to be a masterpiece of marketing.

The fact that a few hobbyists can back their phones does nothing to change this.