Web Notable Tim Bray Joins Google, Will Push Android

by Sam Dean - Mar. 15, 2010Comments (1)

Tim Bray, a well-known web guru who was working at Oracle via its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, has left the company and joined Google, where he will be a developer advocate for the Android OS. "This morning I work for Google," Bray announced in a blog post. Bray is one of the inventors of Extensible Markup Language (XML). He expressed firm support for Google's policies and practices with Android, and raised questions about Apple's closed strategies with the iPhone.

According to Bray's post:

"The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger."

Bray even goes as far as to say, regarding the iPhone: "I hate it."

On the topic of Android, Bray writes:

"The Android user experience is very good and, more important, getting better fast."

As Dana Blankenhorn notes, Bray's hiring will put a public, known human face on Android. According to Comscore, Android's share in the smartphone market nearly tripled last quarter, but is stil under 10 percent. Bray, known for his colorful blog posts, fiercely competitive nature, and open standards will be an interesting steward to watch as Android continues to evolve.

Image courtesy of Flickr user jimjarmo.