"Throw unlimited resources at a development target" has been an established F/OSS embrace/extend tactic for at least 20 years.
Red Hat, systemd, Chrome, Webkit, Android, and a few others come to mind. Others might include Kubernetes, OpenJDK, Clang, React, Docker, Git/Github.
Forks are possible but sustained forks are expensive, and <https://xkcd.com/927/> is always relevant.
It's helpful to note that the guy who literally wrote the textbook on lock-in went on to have a career as Google's chief economist: Hal Varian, Information Rules.
Google lacks the authority to unify folding phone software any better than they can unify homescreen launchers or dialer applications. It's a lost cause. They can spend billions on building the best one ever, and then Motorola or LG will ship a worse proprietary version and never update it. This pattern does not arise from a lack of charity on Google's part.
Red Hat, systemd, Chrome, Webkit, Android, and a few others come to mind. Others might include Kubernetes, OpenJDK, Clang, React, Docker, Git/Github.
Forks are possible but sustained forks are expensive, and <https://xkcd.com/927/> is always relevant.
It's helpful to note that the guy who literally wrote the textbook on lock-in went on to have a career as Google's chief economist: Hal Varian, Information Rules.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Varian>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Rules>