Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app • Hacker News Board

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by huffmsa » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

theandrewbailey wrote: post #305

huffmsa wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you're likely not far off. It's a pretty well tested principle that massive familial wealth usually disappears by the 3rd or 4th generation (because the descendents regress to the norm in terms of ability) and it looks like we're seeing the same at Google. They've got too little "real" work for the number of hands they need to keep busy, so unqualified people are going back and "improving" the work of the 1st and…

That doesn't line up with the fact that Google kills existing apps all the time, and look at this new Google communications platform.

Doesn't it line up exactly?

They release a new chat app every year and put the previous years app on a 5 year sunset.

So you get to put a bunch of developers on the roof every year.

It's Keynes "break things to put people to work fixing them" at its finest.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by cameronbrown » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

fulafel wrote: post #253

Macha wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That time has passed. There's functionality on Android that can only be reliably provided through play services these days (push notifications being the big one).

It's just an optimization/convenience to use Google services for push notifications, no?

Basically: Back in the day a ton of apps used their own notification servers, with each one clashing, waking the device up, etc..

Google Cloud Messaging was then set to be the only service that could wake the device up when it was sleeping. Supposedly it batches messages and sends them at optimal times to save battery.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by ghaff » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:19 PM UTC

corrigible wrote: post #301

GhettoMaestro wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your ideal state of Internet / Tech companies is definitely in the minority contrasted to overall expectations the broader population has put on these devices and services. Yeah, we get it, you're smart. I'm smart. Most people here are smart. But protections still matter. What you're saying is I don't want to wear a seatbelt when driving my car. Sure that is your choice - but I think it is a very foolish one.

People are, in fact, free to forego the use of a seatbelt.

Yes and no. You can get a ticket in at least some US states. (In practice, unless you get pulled over for some other reason, you can probably get away with it essentially all of the time.)

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by Frondo » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:21 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #265

ubermonkey wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This suggests you do not understand what "monopoly" means. Apple's iOS model is a feature, not a bug. If you are unhappy with the app rules there, or with Apple being the curator of what's available, then iOS isn't for you.

Apple is more like a government regulating a market. Going somewhere else is possible in theory, but in practice not really.

Apple is a minority of phone sales and market share everywhere in the world.

Going somewhere else isn't just possible in practice, but it's the default no matter where you are.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by otakucode » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:22 PM UTC

gonmad wrote: post #141

Only 12 hours between an email and the account termination, with no real interaction and no way to change what seems not to be a serious problem. That would change the time gap during responsible disclosure, Alphabet/Google is changing its metrics. I mean why only small developers would have to be mistreated. If they play it that way, Android developers community can also report platform bugs to them - and go full di…

'Make game of that which makes as much of thee' is some ancient wisdom. This sort of behavior by Google certainly does justify providing no more than a 12 hour window to Google to fix problems under responsible disclosure. Many in the industry are unhappy with Google only giving companies 90 days with Project Zero as they feel that large corporations should be given preferential and deferential treatment (they are people after all), but when it comes to app developers 12 hours is acceptable? I think not. Those who wish to set the rules must be willing to play by the same.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by matwood » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:22 PM UTC

eightysixfour wrote: post #262

dollar wrote: post #3

The easiest way to identify a monopoly is to look at how badly a company can treat its customers and still get away with it. My company has a half dozen stories like this about Google in the last year alone. Know what Google is doing to its AdSense partners on a massive scale? They wait until your site has just under the earnings when they have to write you a check, then they terminate your AdSense account for “polic…

> Our client was perfectly reputable, ran multi million dollar ad campaigns on television and radio, and was FDA approved. I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but it sounds like your client is selling dietary supplements which Google has been (IMO rightfully) aggressively removing.

I agree with you, but if we give the OP the benefit of the doubt, Google (among others like Amazon and Apple) do often ban innocent bystanders when trying to clean up legit problems. The larger issue with Google in particular is that they have next to zero customer support or appeals process. This stems out of their culture (hubris?) of the algorithm above all else.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by ocdtrekkie » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:23 PM UTC

v7p1Qbt1im wrote: post #79

jacquesm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. But it wouldn't surprise me one bit either if there was an active policy on the part of Google that optimized for profits at the expense of the rest of the world either. See, if a company can do something for years then the least thing you can do is explain why they've been banned, 'policy violation' is such a great fig-leaf for a lot of trickery that it should be a requirement to spell out exactly what the vio…

Ironically you are giving Google to much credit. There is no real way to improve enforcement. At this insane scale, and with the extreme level of sophistication from scammers, and the privacy expectation from users it‘s almost impossible to do more than they are. Someone else said it further up. They can‘t just let employees snoop around in personably identifying data. Nor would you want that, right? The fact is, as…

The problem here is the assumption that scaling up is inherently good and okay, and not being able to enforce good behavior at a certain scale is just an unfortunate and unavoidable result.

If enforcement can't be managed at that scale, things of that scale should be shut down. Platforms are not an inherent good.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by cameronbrown » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:23 PM UTC

input_sh wrote: post #170

javert wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is also a great example. That shit is so absolutely awful, and it's destroying people psychologically. People will eventually learn and get out of it. We will find a healthier alternative and adopt it organically. But chances are the government will force Facebook to be just slightly less destructive, so that people never abandon it en mass, and never find a healthier alternative. Facebook will kill itself i…

Facebook (as in, a social network) is already dead, it's just that nobody pulled the plug yet. They have no people to expand to, no new opportunities to monetize the platform. All they can do is squeeze out every last penny they can from the existing user base. What was the last memorable feature that was added? Stories in like 2015? Facebook (the company) has moved on (to Instagram and WhatsApp), users are less enga…

> Nobody creates a new product and thinks "we gotta have a Facebook presence" anymore.

That's largely because Facebook brings little value unless you're a paying customer.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

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Post by throwaway_law » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

GhettoMaestro wrote: post #284

echelon wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to live in your locked-down Disney with the death sentence world. That's fine for you to want it, but don't impose it on me. I want freedom and liberty to do what I want with the devices I own. I want to develop without fear that these two megacorps can shut me down on a whim for developing something against their ideology. The web isn't like that. Windows wasn't like that. Today we live in a Fischer-Pri…

Your ideal state of Internet / Tech companies is definitely in the minority contrasted to overall expectations the broader population has put on these devices and services. Yeah, we get it, you're smart. I'm smart. Most people here are smart. But protections still matter. What you're saying is I don't want to wear a seatbelt when driving my car. Sure that is your choice - but I think it is a very foolish one.

>What you're saying is I don't want to wear a seatbelt when driving my car.

As others have said there may be more apt analogies...sticking with the car theme, it may be closer to a market where you buy a Ford and then you can only fill your Ford up with Ford gas from a Ford gas station.

That market doesn't exist for clear cut reasons, but if it did you can bet Ford and other car manufacturers would claim the same thing, that limiting Ford owners to using Ford gas is for their safety, if Ford owners started putting gas into their Ford from a 3rd party, there could be all kinds of harmful additives or other quality issues with the gas that will damage the Ford. Of course Ford won't mention on their tax to "Ford gas suppliers" (of 33%) for access to the Ford car market.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#320

Post by pahool » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #238

cooljacob204 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they have a computer? Might as well take that away from them with that kind of outlook.

That's a very viable approach. We got my wife's grandmother an iPad because she kept getting fleeced by Geek Squad after opening email attachments. Smooth running for years now. A lot of people don't have any need for a full-on computer.

I feel like my life would be a lot easier if I just got my parents and in-laws using Chromebooks. I don't like sacrificing family members on Google's altar, but the ecosystem really just fits their use cases.

I've considered something like Solus-based laptops for them, but I haven't gotten around to testing out a configuration yet.