CyanogenMod, the Android alternative that actually makes Android work better, is embracing Microsoft.
Microsoft, one of Google's most implacable competitors, is investing US$70 million in Cynanogen, Inc., the startup responsible for developing CyanogenMod, reported The Wall Street Journal. The investment makes Microsoft a minority investor in Cyanogen.
The deal should expand the puny smartphone user base of Microsoft's Windows Phone that only has three percent of the mobile market, said IT research firm, Gartner, Inc. In contrast, CyanogenMod reported over 12 million active installs on a plethora of devices in June 2014.
Up until this January, CyanogenMod was the chosen OS for the OnePlusOne phone made by Chinese firm, OnePlus, said tech website Ubergizmo. Cyanogen early last year reached a deal with Indian smartphone maker, Micromax, to ship mobile phones installed with CyanogenMod.
Launched a few years ago, CyanogenMod is a free and open source operating system for smartphones and tablets. It's based on the Android mobile platform which, by the way, is an open source OS.
CyanogenMod is based on official Android releases but adds original and third-party code. It's got features and options not found in the official firmware distributed by mobile device vendors.
For one, CyanogenMod is said to increase performance and reliability compared to official firmware releases. It also doesn't come with spyware or bloatware, said Cyanogen.
What CyanogenMod does is to take Google's Android source code and modify it, something Google doesn't allow most of the time. Google currently limits changes hardware makers can make to Android, an irritant to both users and manufacturers.
CyanogenMod is a daring alternative to Android, and features new themes and better privacy tools, among other tweaks.