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

#581

Post by etripe » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 7:57 AM UTC

oarsinsync wrote: post #375

zaroth wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if there were distinguishing factors which make these cases unique. Like the fact that Microsoft had 90%+ desktop market share and was using it to shoe-horn an unrelated inferior product with powerful network effects into dominance. Whereas Apple has no monopoly and in fact their overall smartphone market share is falling. Let Apple compete how they want to compete, as long as there are viable competitors. O…

> Let Apple compete how they want to compete, as long as there are viable competitors. Agreed. > Of which there are several. I count one (Google). Who are the others in the smartphone space that are viable competitors to Apple in either company's home market (USA)?

I'm not the person you replied to, but I suppose they mean competitors like Samsung, Motorola, Huawei and so on. It depends on whether you see a competitor as someone owning an app store or someone selling a physical device.

I'm not sure "home markets" are really relevant for global entities like multinational companies.

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

#582

Post by sir_brickalot » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 7:59 AM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #520

basscomm wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure there is, but most people don't bother for a few reasons: -Slapping some ad network's code into your site is comparatively easy, and monetizing almost every other way is hard (i.e. "I just want to create awesome content and get paid for it, I don't want to be my own sales department, too, that's boring") -Even if you do monetize other ways, slapping some ad network's code into your site is, effectively, 'free mo…

You're forgetting a major one: there's a whole gulf of things that people just aren't willing to actually take their wallet out for. People even scoff paying $8/mo to Netflix while spending hours watching it daily. Good luck taking payments for your little project. For all sorts of reasons, too: we have been conditioned to think ads = free, none of your competitors ask for money (they use ads, so they're "free"), the…

There is probably an even bigger one:

If you take money, you are (in some countries) legally bound to reimburse if shit happens.

And this is something I'd like to see for products that make their money less directly: If it would be legally the same if you paid with personal data, by watching ads or paid with money like any other product Facebook and the likes would be forced to quality management AND stuff like random blocking wouldn't be possible bcs of customer rights.

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

#583

Post by mflare » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 8:19 AM UTC

fulafel wrote: post #572

cameronbrown wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not when the device is awake or has a wakelock. But since Android's Doze (basically deep sleep battery saving state) GCM is the only service that can wake it up.

I thought the device wakes up from Doze regularly, and then you can poll for the notifications. The SDK docs sound this way too: "While the device is in Doze, apps' access to certain battery-intensive resources is deferred until maintenance windows" But it seems these maintenance windows aren't frequent enough (every 15 minutes?) for some apps.

The minimum interval for periodic jobs is 15 minutes. When the device is in Doze mode, the jobs are defered to the next maintenance window. The longer the device remains in Doze mode, the greater the distance between two maintenance windows.

Do you want to use a messenger or any other social media app where the worst case scenario is that it takes 15 minutes for the message to reach the recipient?

Certainly not, so the app vendor is forced to use FCM to display notifications immediately even if the recipient's device is in Doze mode.

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

#584

Post by jaakl » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 8:33 AM UTC

One golden rule of businesses (or any investments) is that you should not put your eggs to single basket. With development of mobile apps you just do it, you are totally in mercy of a couple of gatekeepers, like it or not. I would rather focus on recognising and mitigating these risks, and make sure that you do have alternatives. Do not buy into some corporation's promises of not to be evil. They all are. Sorry you had to learn it in hard way, but better late than never.

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

#585

Post by slac » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 8:35 AM UTC

pnw_hazor wrote: post #89

aviraldg wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On Android, you do have the freedom to install whatever app you want without having to root. You can also install alternative app stores.

You do have to fight through some dark patterns that discourage side-loading. But at least you can do it on Android. Also, it is getting harder to avoid using Google Play Services in your apps since they are putting more Android features behind that iron curtain as well.

The Play store is not available in China and there is a thriving app ecosystem there.

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

#586

Post by auslander » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 8:44 AM UTC

vortico wrote: post #453

Phillips126 wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also developed a website young (mid teens), which was essentially a "beautiful/unique website ranking" based on visitor submissions and upvote/downvote system. I had the essential pieces done and launched the website, super excited as my first real project. I decided to toss on Google AdSense to see if I could potentially monetize the website by putting a single picture advertisement on the right side of the websit…

How is this system immune to me clicking on an enemy website's ads 100's of times to get them banned from AdWords?

Google knew they were friends. Common contacts, location histories, easy.

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

#587

Post by egorfine » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 9:01 AM UTC

mmathieum wrote: post #561

Hi all, I'm the developer of the app in question. I have regained access to the Google Play Console. Working on publishing the new apps. More details in updated Medium article. Thanks

"your apps hide icon after installation"

Why?

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

#588

Post by finchisko » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 11:14 AM UTC

tylerl wrote: post #369

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…

Fine. You don't have to. Android trivially lets you sideload apps downloaded from anywhere on the internet you wish. Apple not so much, but that's Apple. The vast majority of customers want an app store with tighter controls, and both Google and Apple provide it. There are a hell of a lot more complaints about these app stores not being locked down enough than those in your camp saying that they don't want it locked…

Recently I learned, that you can sideload apps on iOS too. Using tool cydia impactor.

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

#589

Post by Can_Not » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 11:33 AM UTC

theandrewbailey wrote: post #272

ldng wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes there is! At least for Americans. I can not understand why these practices have not lead by now to a class action suit?

License agreements and terms of use forbid class action lawsuits.

At some point, if essentially everyone is forbidding class action and requiring arbitration clauses, do we just not have rights anymore? At some point a judge will have to recognize that the abuse has gone too far and decide it's unenforceable because companies should not have the power to unilaterally "license" our rights out of existence.

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

#590

Post by gargravarr » Fri, Aug 30, 2019, 12:04 PM UTC

Majromax wrote: post #234

huffmsa wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happens to me all the time now too. Even when I put the phrase in quotes it still omits words or says "search for X, do your really want to search for Y" But maybe our use cases are the outliers, and the new search is what works for most people.

> But maybe our use cases are the outliers, and the new search is what works for most people. I think it's a probability problem more often expressed in terms of medical tests / false positives. If a million people search for but 1% of those make a typo and search for instead, whereas a thousand people deliberately search for , Google's observation of a search for is 90% likely to be a typo. However well-intentioned,…

Sure, correcting typos, I wouldn't hold that against them. However, when they intentionally scratch out search terms for no apparent reason and show extremely vague matches, it's completely useless. I was searching for a specific error message that was causing my MacBook to freeze on login. Instead, the only two terms Google preserved were 'mac os'. First result was Apple's own page on the OS. Every result was entirely useless. Fine, if there's no actual result for this error message, tell me, but don't make me scan through a page full of irrelevant links and make me figure out myself why they're irrelevant.