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

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

#531

Post by grawprog »

IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #525
grawprog wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The vast majority of customers want an app store with tighter controls, Most people I've talked to don't even realize you can allow apps to be sideloaded on android. Most people don't even really look at their settings menu other than to change backgrounds and stuff. I mean, at least on the latest phone I bought, I had to go to the build number, tap on it a bunch of times to get to the developer options, scroll down…

What are 10 crucial things that you need to side load on Android? I keep hearing about "all the customization" that you can do on Android vs iOS and I wonder exactly what is it that is life altering, or even 20% more efficient in the use of the device based on this, versus stock Android or stock iOS.

Well, I've personally got f-droid, newpipe, both Facebook lite and messenger lite as I was not able to install them based on where I live through the play store. Both of those are far better on battery life, and messenger lite lacks ads. I also then use f-droid to install as many apps available both there and the play store as I can because I prefer to avoid Google's services as much as I can. I use apkmirror sometimes to get older versions of apps if i dislike the updated one.

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

#533

Post by delfinom »

cbanek wrote: post #74
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…

This also makes me feel even more strongly that the FTC should really clamp down on these very strict app stores. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/amicus_briefs/app... Both the App Store and Google Play stores I think are basically illegal monopolies. I should be able to install whatever app I want, without having to jailbreak my phone and deal with warranty nonsense from the manufacturer. Just like my comp…

>Both the App Store and Google Play stores I think are basically illegal monopolies. I should be able to install whatever app I want, without having to jailbreak my phone and deal with warranty nonsense from the manufacturer. Just like my computer, which I can also install whatever software I want on it.

I'm on the fence about it. In the ideal world, yes. In the real world, you get the Windows problem where everyone ends up with 40 toolbars in Internet Explorer and bitch and whine their computer is slow.

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

#534

Post by ericmay »

mindslight wrote: post #507
ericmay wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you have parents or relatives that call you for iPhone tech support, but I do. Even something like resetting a locked iPad requires a call sometimes. It's crazy. Now imagine people downloading all sorts of scam apps, having personal data uploaded, ransomware, you name it. And they are going to take that sucker straight to the Apple store if they don't have friends/family to fix it. Aside from that, I…

Any whole device reflash could also easily be done at an Apple store, even in a self-serve manner. > people downloading all sorts of scam apps, having personal data uploaded, ransomware, you name it Obviously if you just get rid of Apple's current solution and don't replace it with anything , then those things will happen like the jungle that was Windows. But that does not make for an argument in support of Apple's c…

If large companies are banning security tools in the interest of safety that’s a failure of government, and third party app stores will face the same restrictions.

Aside from that, the iPhone app ecosystem is perfect for me. Maybe it’s not perfect for you but I like it how it is and don’t want it to change and I don’t want more people in my family bothering me with tech stuff. If you want custom stuff why can’t you use Android and a Pixel 3 or something? Plenty of other options out there.

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

#535

Post by liability »

JaRail wrote: post #515
soulofmischief wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't strawman this argument into a conversation about intelligence. This is about personal freedom. Not wearing a seatbelt can put others at risk for injury liability. Installing an app will not do that. Let's stay on topic. And while we're at it, you and I both know that majority opinion has never been strongly correlated with truth.

> Not wearing a seatbelt can put others at risk for injury liability. Wow, I'm surprised that has never occurred to me before. I guess that to most people, such as myself, the trade-off is so obvious from a personal safety point of view that we don't think too deeply over it. This is a great point.

Beyond legal liability, there is also the matter of the psychological trauma inflicted on the other driver when you die.

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

#536

Post by alexmorley »

IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #526
spaginal wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a wrong analogy. If you want to stay with cars, it’s like Google saying when you buy their car, you are only allowed to go to 6 pre determined destinations in their vehicles. Some people find comfort in the lack of choice, since they know the drive won’t be “dangerous”, but for the rest of us, we want to make the choice of destination ourselves. We simply want the choice to open our options without these compa…

Then should it not be possible for the smart folks here to fork Android and provide a linux style experience on top of phones that run Stock Android OS? Can you do that with target hardware like a Pixel or Samsung or Motorola phone? The App store then becomes github, gitlab, or an apk you get from anywhere. Right?

AFAIK integrating an android fork with the hardware on modern devices is a LOT of work and usually done by the hardware manufacturers themselves (and this layer is not shared openly). These folk https://itsfoss.com/open-source-alternatives-android/ have tried or are trying to do related things.

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

#537

Post by dragonwriter »

zaroth wrote: post #514
cube00 wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be more then happy to pay a fee if it means an actual human, who actually had access to all the case information, would actually review the appeal and provide a detailed personalized account of my crimes. As a bonus, if my appeal is found to be genuine and my account reinstated I'd like that fee refunded.

That’s an interesting approach - not only do you not want to pay if you get the best possible result, you want to financially incentivize them to find something wrong!

Yeah, the perverse incentives of it is “pay if you want to challenge a violation” that get even worse if it is “get a refund if we agree with your challenge” are why it pretty much had to be “pay up front to get into the store”.

Even were the store owner perfectly honorable in performing initial and appeal reviews, the perverse incentives would lead to a perception of unfairness.

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

#538

Post by bduerst »

ebg13 wrote: post #508
bduerst wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FDA approves certain substances for specific uses. One loophole that dietary supplement companies will use to stamp the FDA approval on themselves is to include one such substance, even if the specific use isn't what their product is being used for. Another loophole that these dietary supplement companies use is the "FDA Inspected" stamp.

> One loophole that dietary supplement companies will use to stamp the FDA approval on themselves is... Can you link to a supplement that claims to be FDA approved as opposed to claiming that some included component has been approved for something unrelated, which is not the same thing? > Another loophole that these dietary supplement companies use is the "FDA Inspected" stamp. That's not a loophole. That's just prey…

It took me 20 seconds to find one example on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Forge-Excellence-Supplement-Metabolis...

It is a loophole in that they can list "FDA something" on their product and prey on consumers who do not know any better.

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

#539

Post by javert »

iSnow wrote: post #100
javert wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not this again. (pardon my sarcasm, no intent to offend.) There was a point in time when Microsoft was deeply embedding its really shitty and uber insecure Internet Explorer into Windows and causing all sorts of very severe problems problems. If that had continued, the world would have switched to free software. It was inevitable. But the government stepped in and forced Microsoft to make a just marginally better pro…

>the world would have switched to free software. It was inevitable The world was in no way thinking about switching, that's just a libertarian pipe-dream. As to why: the costs of the MS browser monopoly didn't hit either MS or the user, it accrued at website developers and MS's competitors. They had to jump through burning hoops to make their sites work both in IE and any other browser. In fact, the easiest and cheap…

Let's get one thing straight: My comment was not "extremely dishonest."

It's opinionated, sure. It's my judgement of the situation.

Second: In my opinion, IE was becoming non-viable for end users for security reasons, and baking it into Windows was making the entire system non-viable. If you can't surf the Internet without contracting multiple virii, it's just not a viable product anymore. Especially for businesses and individuals who have bank accounts, credit cards, etc.

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

#540

Post by cameronbrown »

GhettoMaestro wrote: post #390
cameronbrown wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no reason the App Store can't hang around, we just want the ability to sideload. Comparing it to not wearing a seatbelt is a straw man, as it's more like being able to use your car however you like without the manufacturer's say so.

I agree with your desire to side-load. My only caveat I would apply to that is to put some super really scary warnings to the user (as they will be no longer within the security of the walled ecosystem). I don't want users to accidentally side-load something because someone told them to, and not be aware of the extra risk the are potentially introducing.

That's exactly how Android works.
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