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Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

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Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#11

Post by torben-friis »

ziggity wrote: post #8

Without knowing more about the "sophisticated anti-piracy system" employed by the app author, it's hard to determine if Google's claim of malicious behaviour is valid. This could be something as simple as bytecode obfuscation, or something as complex as scraping every bit of personal information available through possibly-questionable means and sending to an insecure server. Copy protection schemes are notoriously us…

Regardless of the reason, the fact that you can have your livelihood taken away without an explanation or human contact is pretty worrying.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#12

Post by diminoten »

jarym wrote: post #6
diminoten wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breaking up Google has absolutely nothing to do with this problem, and is exclusively spiteful and childish. You can be better.

Google’s dominant position in the market is enabling it to abuse its position by treating customers unfairly and not as one might be treated if there was more competition. I don’t think it’s spiteful or childish to suggest breaking up a monopoly in these circumstances although I would say less drastic options should be tried first.

It's spiteful and childish because it's not a monopoly, and the only reason anyone wants to break up Google is to lash out.

Build an iPhone app if you're so upset.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#13

Post by brokenmachine »

ImNotTheNSA wrote: post #4
point78 wrote: post #3

Google needs to be clear on what causes apps to be removed, and based on account history should be way more lenient on what would cause account termination... I.e. 4 years good standing 3 strikes, 5 years good standing 4 strikes, etc

I think part of their reasoning is that if they publish the rulebook, then people will find ways to misuse the services in a roundabout way. It’s easier to find bugs in source material you can see, than that you cannot. I don’t agree with this, but I think it’s most likely the reasoning.

They can have a catch-all at the end to cover those situations.

They make the rules, so the rules can include, "you can be removed at the discretion of google" at the end.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#14

Post by brokenmachine »

pnw_hazor wrote: post #10
ImNotTheNSA wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of their reasoning is that if they publish the rulebook, then people will find ways to misuse the services in a roundabout way. It’s easier to find bugs in source material you can see, than that you cannot. I don’t agree with this, but I think it’s most likely the reasoning.

Also, they like to give special privileges to favored entities. Some of these special privileges would likely be counter to any published rules.

True, I think this is likely the real reason.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#15

Post by kevingadd »

noarchy wrote: post #9
jarym wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google’s dominant position in the market is enabling it to abuse its position by treating customers unfairly and not as one might be treated if there was more competition. I don’t think it’s spiteful or childish to suggest breaking up a monopoly in these circumstances although I would say less drastic options should be tried first.

>I don’t think it’s spiteful or childish to suggest breaking up a monopoly in these circumstances although I would say less drastic options should be tried first. You've shown your hand here, in a way, by suggesting that Google is a monopoly in this instance. Android devices can install apps via other sources, like F-Droid or Amazon, or even just by side loading. There's no denying that out of the box , most Android…

The iOS app store is a monopoly. Are you arguing otherwise? There's no way to run an alternative store there.

If it's really so easy to ship an alternative store on Android and Play Store isn't an artificial monopoly why are there no successful alternative stores? Is it because Google's is really the best possible store and thus a healthy, functioning market produces no competition?

Are people really choosing to be stuck giving Google 30% of all sales and recurring revenue because Play Store is that good? They wouldn't rather use one of these other stores to save 30%?

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#16

Post by kevingadd »

torben-friis wrote: post #11
ziggity wrote: post #8

Without knowing more about the "sophisticated anti-piracy system" employed by the app author, it's hard to determine if Google's claim of malicious behaviour is valid. This could be something as simple as bytecode obfuscation, or something as complex as scraping every bit of personal information available through possibly-questionable means and sending to an insecure server. Copy protection schemes are notoriously us…

Regardless of the reason, the fact that you can have your livelihood taken away without an explanation or human contact is pretty worrying.

Doesn't have to be taken away by Google either. They're extremely bad at processing DMCA notices, so a competitor or malicious teen can take you off the store for weeks. No recourse.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#18

Post by noarchy »

kevingadd wrote: post #15
noarchy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don’t think it’s spiteful or childish to suggest breaking up a monopoly in these circumstances although I would say less drastic options should be tried first. You've shown your hand here, in a way, by suggesting that Google is a monopoly in this instance. Android devices can install apps via other sources, like F-Droid or Amazon, or even just by side loading. There's no denying that out of the box , most Android…

The iOS app store is a monopoly. Are you arguing otherwise? There's no way to run an alternative store there. If it's really so easy to ship an alternative store on Android and Play Store isn't an artificial monopoly why are there no successful alternative stores? Is it because Google's is really the best possible store and thus a healthy, functioning market produces no competition ? Are people really choosing to be…

>The iOS app store is a monopoly. Are you arguing otherwise? There's no way to run an alternative store there.

I have to agree, it is a monopoly within the context of iOS devices. Apple works fairly hard to patch iOS in order to prevent the latest jailbreaks, thus removing a major avenue where a user would have the freedom to sideload the apps of their choosing.

In Google's case, while I don't think the Play Store is a monopoly, it is clearly a dominant player on many Android devices around the world.

Re: Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team

#20

Post by _nickwhite »

Google is what, a 3/4 TRILLION dollar company, based on market cap! It's absolutely unfathomable that they have such a prolific reputation of non-customer service and inability to contact them. Any other company would suffer massive consequences with customer service that poor. What will it take for them to turn this around? Maybe they believe they are too big for this to matter?
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