The Android community received a hard blow when it learned of the shutdown of services by Cyanogen Inc., which in turn led to the formal cancellation of the CyanogenMod project. CyanogenMod is, by a wide margin, the most important Android-derived operating system variant on the market, and an excellent choice for devices that have been discontinued by their manufacturers. Fortunately, the legacy of CyanogenMod will continue through Lineage OS, a new vision that will carry all development back to its roots.
The news took many by surprise, but those who have closely followed CyanogenMod's development knew in advance that the situation was not good. The commercialization attempts by Cyanogen Inc., conflicts with various developers, the insertion of advertising from Microsoft, and other parallel problems eventually sealed the coffin. CyanogenMod's mistake was classic: putting all eggs in one basket. By depending on funding from Cyanogen Inc., all that was needed for its disappearance was for the company to interrupt the services linked to the project... which will effectively happen on December 31. However, the open source profile of CyanogenMod gives it some possibilities of survival, and that is how we arrive at Lineage OS.
In essence, a good part of the original CyanogenMod team decided to return to the roots and continue their work under the name Lineage OS. The official page only confirms that: a "continuation" of CyanogenMod, which makes us think of a fork. The project also has profiles on Facebook and Twitter, so anyone will be able to follow its news closely, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow at least to receive more details. Quoting Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android Inc., the fact that a company withdraws support from a project does not mean it should die.
In other words, a clean slate for those responsible for the most important alternative ROM in the Android world. CyanogenMod managed to break chains that many manufacturers are interested in maintaining, extended support for officially discontinued devices, gave users superior control, and also served as a base for other secondary projects. It will take some time before the new project gains traction, but we are very happy to know that everything good about CyanogenMod will continue through Lineage OS.
