Dustin Karnes, on HTC Sense, Motorola Blur and Samsung’s TouchWiz:
I’m not saying I don’t like these UI overlays. I simply think that the manufacturers should give users the options to shut off these overlays without having to hack their devices or download home screen replacements to do it. I know they’re probably just trying to keep us loyal, but hey – we already bought their device, shouldn’t that be enough? So, manufacturers, if you’re listening, take this to heart, and give us the freedom to choose what our open-source experience should look like.
I think the issue here is bigger than loyalty. These UIs are in place by hardware manufacturers so their phones don’t have to stand on the merit of their hardware alone. Without custom skins, every Android phone would have the same software, making the phone market an much more even playing field.
While each different skin does offer various improvements to the stock Android experience, this is all about selling more phones.