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Why I'm Ditching Android

kevq.uk

171–180 of 258 posts

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#171

I've been coming around to this way of thinking more and more lately. Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I've found at least 5 different privacy settings buried in various places around the Android menus in a confusing way (instead of just having a single switch in the privacy settings menu), an…

> Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I would just be a little cautious about this. Apple is currently sticking it to Google by making it easy to block ads and by offering appealing privacy features. But we don't know what Apple will do if everyone switches away from Android. I would guess that t…

> if everyone switches away from Android

Very little risk of that. Our owners also want phones, and for the moment do not mind sharing the brand/models with the 10 or 20% who can afford, and know enough to choose, it.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#172
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can say that if privacy is important to you, then you are probably more aligned with Apple's business plan. The article says as much. It's not like Apple are being more magnanimous, it's just that they don't profit off of user tracking so they use it as marketing ammo against Google users. As a developer, it constantly burns my biscuits that Apple software only runs on Apple hardware. The fact that I have…

The fact that I have no choice but to buy expensive Apple devices to develop for their platform is irritating. I've never understood this line of thinking. Maybe it's because I've been selling programs commercially since the 1980's. Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64. If you wanted to port it to a TRS-80, you bought a TRS-80. If you needed an Atari version, you…

> Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64.

For testing, yes. To protect their sanity, developers of big projects developed their code using rented CPU minutes on a mainframe.

Maybe apple should provide pay-by-the-minute xcode-as-a-service for the real 1980s feeling?

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that I have no choice but to buy expensive Apple devices to develop for their platform is irritating. I've never understood this line of thinking. Maybe it's because I've been selling programs commercially since the 1980's. Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64. If you wanted to port it to a TRS-80, you bought a TRS-80. If you needed an Atari version, you…

> Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64. For testing, yes. To protect their sanity, developers of big projects developed their code using rented CPU minutes on a mainframe. Maybe apple should provide pay-by-the-minute xcode-as-a-service for the real 1980s feeling?

Could you provide such a service?

There certainly seem to be enough developers who complain about this. I wonder if there'd be a market for a virtual-iphone-dev-box-thing.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#174

I wish people would stop using the term “overpriced”. If it was overpriced, then Apple would lower the price or stop selling it. Apple set the price. They determine if the price is correct based on their sales numbers, not your perceived value of the Bill Of Materials for the phone.

Agreed, I've even had apple fanboy friends rage about the price of apple hardware and then go right out and buy the latest thing. If you're willing to pay sticker price for a product, it is clearly not overpriced. If you want the prices to drop, stop behaving like a price insensitive userbase.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#175

I've been coming around to this way of thinking more and more lately. Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I've found at least 5 different privacy settings buried in various places around the Android menus in a confusing way (instead of just having a single switch in the privacy settings menu), an…

> Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I would just be a little cautious about this. Apple is currently sticking it to Google by making it easy to block ads and by offering appealing privacy features. But we don't know what Apple will do if everyone switches away from Android. I would guess that t…

It's also not going to happen. Normal people don't pay for high-end phones, and way outnumber the people who do in most of the world (those parts that are not California). Even the "cheap" iPhone models are outside the price range the average consumer pays.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#176

I've been coming around to this way of thinking more and more lately. Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I've found at least 5 different privacy settings buried in various places around the Android menus in a confusing way (instead of just having a single switch in the privacy settings menu), an…

For XMPP on iOS I recommend Monal. https://monal.im/

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64. For testing, yes. To protect their sanity, developers of big projects developed their code using rented CPU minutes on a mainframe. Maybe apple should provide pay-by-the-minute xcode-as-a-service for the real 1980s feeling?

Could you provide such a service? There certainly seem to be enough developers who complain about this. I wonder if there'd be a market for a virtual-iphone-dev-box-thing.

I would imagine that's like 95% of MacStadium's[1] business. Macs-as-a-Service.

[1] https://www.macstadium.com

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#178
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting is though how the number's been growing over the years, even though the amount of sold devices's been rather stagnant. Google pays a lot per customer, while Apple allows to use DuckDuckGo and others. I wonder how long will Google feel it's that valuable for them (and what a percentage of users'd swich to Google even though other search engine would be default instead)

Apple really has google over a barrel here. You’d have to imagine that google wouldn’t even toy with the thought of not paying the ransom and testing how many people would switch their search engine from the default to google. Also, let’s say DuckDuckGo was the default and users actually liked it and switched their desktop browser search away from google, they’d be really sorry.

Totally agree (happy DuckDuckGo user here). My point is - is there a point from which Google wouldn’t pay “the randsom”? As it’s spiked and is prone to rise again.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#179
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet now days, cross plat development for any other imaginable combination is possible. Apple is the lone hold out here. But they also have no reason to change.

Really? Is there a practical way to do windows development on Linux?

depends on what you're developing right? If the libraries are there, and you have a cross compiler, then it'd be fine.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#180

The worlds really could use a "free" mobile OS. I was sad that Firefox OS never saw daylight. Im on android and dislike google very much, though not as much as I disslike Apple. Purism is making a Libre 5 mobile, I hope something like that could really break through. Imagine a desktop/server world without linux. Thats would be awefull. Yet thats where we are with mobiles today

Firefox OS is now known as Kai OS, its available on devices like the nokia banana phone. I've still got a Mozilla Flame developer handset and it all runs surprisingly smoothly.
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