Cloud services are probably the thing that is the farthest away from being open-source non-proprietary software... and he is working on cloud services, so I can understand where he comes from...

I prefer software that is open source. I like to contribute my time, effort, and money to open source software as well, at least that which I find useful and interesting.

I guess I'm not an open source proponent but just whatever you would call the above?

What would you consider to be an open source proponent? Someone who believes all source code should be open source?

> That's you prerogative, but you completely miss the point of the discussion if you ask why should users want to be independent from proprietary services

Well don't just leave me hanging.. what is the point of the discussion? Please do enlighten me.

> Sure, 99% don't want that and would click any colored and shiny button if it promises them a free Justin Bieber ringtone, but this is not the topic of the thread.

Isn't it? I mean the comment was literally asking for an opinion which I gave. I'm not sure I understand why this is off topic? Most businesses would be unbelievably successful if their product appealed to 99% of people.

There doesn't seem to be any point to this discussion for GP to miss because the premise was plainly incorrect. As multiple people have pointed out, Android itself is completely independent from proprietary services. If you buy a Google-flavored Android device (which is a spectrum itself), your device will come with proprietary services on it. That doesn't mean you have to use them, nor does it mean you have to have a Google-flavored Android build. You're free to use apps that use Pushy or some other third party push messaging service, OpenStreetMap or some other map provider, Bing or some other search provider, Fastmail or some other mail provider, etc.