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Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

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Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#121

Post by peterwwillis »

Santosh83 wrote: post #86

A general comment: the need of the hour is to educate the billions of 'ordinary' computer users about the basics of software, privacy, security and trust. We must not fall into the narrative being parroted around off-late that considers end-users as pretty much dumb content consumers who should not be expected to ever know even the minimum about the underlying tech and therefore every decision needs to be made for th…

What you're asking for is technology literacy, similar to science literacy. Adults generally don't care to learn this stuff. But you can teach the next generation.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#123

Post by esotericn »

em-bee wrote: post #115
esotericn wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're stating, essentially, that anyone who wants to publish FOSS software with a donation link should be forced to go through some convoluted procedure and register as a charitable organization. (where? in the US? in their specific region? does it matter? how much time will it take for them to figure out? is this even possible in all regions? does this require ongoing effort e.g. accounting, document submission, ge…

this exactly is how the world works. if you receive money, wherever it comes from, in more and more countries it must be taxed as income. if you want it tax free, you must prove that you are eligible to do so. the question is whether or not it is right for google to act as a gatekeeper here. i think not.

Gifts are trivially tax free in the UK excepting cases of Inheritance Tax whereby someone pretends to 'gift' an inheritance before dying instead of having it taxed normally.

It would surprise me if that were not true globally.

A donation is definitionally a gift. If it's not due to some legal wankery, rename it, doesn't matter.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#124

Post by sunstone »

pkilgore wrote: post #114
segfaultbuserr wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strangest fact is, those donation pages only have some links, there is no in-app payment. I don't understand what Google is thinking about when they banned donations... Wait. I suddenly understand something I've seen previously... There is a workaround! You simply upload two versions of the app, the free edition and the supporter edition. The support's edition is a paid app. You can ask the users who want to supp…

And then Google gets ~30% of your donations.

For sure Google would reimburse that rake off since they have been prodigious beneficiaries.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#125

Post by dewey »

im3w1l wrote: post #116
dewey wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one needs them for discovering new software. There's also people that don't know that they need "Firefox", they just want a browser. Or a tool to print envelopes or crop an image. So they search in the app store and they know it'll probably be okay. If you search for this online you'd get a bunch of SEO spam sites, shady tools among other things. At least due to the developer fee and reviews there's at least som…

In what sense will it be ok? Isn't a lot of the stuff in appstores spyware nowadays?

While there is generally always some small percentage of apps that don't do what they promise and slip through the review I think I can be reasonably sure that if I download something from the macOS / iOS app store it'll do what they say.

I trust it enough to believe it won't start crypto mining in the background or connect to random servers and sending the content of my computer somewhere. For the average user it's probably the better option than downloading the top Google result and just executing it.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#126

Post by jkilpatr »

lm28469 wrote: post #119
dictum wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can act more effectively in the domains in which we are most authoritative, knowledgeable and able to effect change.

Yes, we, as tech workers. Most people aren't "us". It's perfectly understandable for places like the android/apple app stores to be heavily moderated. Same reasoning for forcing people to have their cars serviced by mechanics and not do their own maintenance in their backyards. Otherwise we'd have people driving cars without pipes and DIY break pads. I'd much rather have that enforced by megacorps/govt than by an inf…

In every other field people are reasonably held responsible for their failures.

As a service tech if I fill a car with tomato sauce instead of oil I pay for the car.

As a programmer I can sell all the users data, leak it to hacks, then laugh all the way to the bank.

As a furniture salesman I can requirements on materials transparency. If I break those I'm liable.

As a programmer I can totally change the rules of my application at any time.

If society wants to trust tech it will have to hold it's creators responsible.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#127

Post by zimbatm »

The problem of donation links from Google's perspective is that they are not getting their 30% cut. You might think that this is unfair, but the app is using their distribution platform.

It's possible to make open source applications and still ask for payment on Google Play, either as the asking price, subscription or by adding in-app payments for donations. This is the right way to do it, and will probably also have a much better return since the payment workflow is much easier.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#128

Post by eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7 »

irjustin wrote: post #35

I know this will be against deeply against HNews but I'm open to discussion. I don't see anything wrong with this. Charging vs Donations, I don't see what the difference is. It's people paying money for good/services/software. The primary difference is the open ended pricing model. Google, Apple put up networks and there's value in that network. Whether someone chooses to release their app for free or charge money fo…

I have done open source development for well over a decade, thousands of hours, tens of thousands of lines of code, and I can tell you:

Considering the amount of donations I got, it would have been much more profitable to clean toilets, to just go begging in the streets, collect bottles from public trash cans for the deposit, or just sell my body.

In fact let's have a look how much I got during the past 12 months for 250 hours of work:

$0.

Had I been working as someone who climbs onto roofs and cleans the dirt off of them I would have gotten this much for that in this country:

$16500

And then, as a cherry on top, you now demand that a giant monopoly, which is trying very hard to soak up as much of people's data as possible - without paying them for it! - should get a cut from donations for my work which I genereally give away for free.

Now I can understand that you did not know this when you wrote down your opinion!

But given that you do now, do you understand how insulting this feels? :) It actually itched me so much that I created this account solely for the purpose of telling you, and I would be very happy if you could change your mind :)

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#130

Post by em-bee »

esotericn wrote: post #123
em-bee wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this exactly is how the world works. if you receive money, wherever it comes from, in more and more countries it must be taxed as income. if you want it tax free, you must prove that you are eligible to do so. the question is whether or not it is right for google to act as a gatekeeper here. i think not.

Gifts are trivially tax free in the UK excepting cases of Inheritance Tax whereby someone pretends to 'gift' an inheritance before dying instead of having it taxed normally. It would surprise me if that were not true globally. A donation is definitionally a gift. If it's not due to some legal wankery, rename it, doesn't matter.

it's not.

as far as i know, at least in the US only donations to registered non-profits are tax free. any other donation is taxed like any other income.

if it's a one-off, sure, calling that a donation may be trivial, but if you start getting donations on a regular basis, you have to prove that they are in fact donations, and not hidden payments for a service. if it weren't so, we would not need to have entities register as non-profit.

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