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Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

blog.pushbullet.com

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Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#61

Post by TheAdamAndChe »

jerf wrote: post #38
grwthckrmstr wrote: post #24

Yikes! I've used PushBullet for since several years and I can't imagine not using it. I can understand why Google is doing this though. They have a "Send to device" feature in Chrome. Killing the top 3rd party app is the perfect way to grow adoption of their new & in-built feature. "Do no evil"

You know, at the very least it would be nice to get something a bit more direct, like, "We are no longer permitting extensions that do X on our marketplace", or heck, even just a "We're permanently rejecting this for unspecified reasons." But if that's what you're doing, don't claim that the extension is being rejected for "overbroad permissions". I understand that Google may not literally come out and say "We've dec…

Outright admitting this may cause issues with antitrust laws.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#62

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I am the proud recipient of many Apple rejection notices from the App Store (I have been releasing iOS apps since 2012). I have not had an app pulled, but I have had many rejections to submitted apps (the latest were received yesterday).

In all of the notices, Apple is usually quite explicit in what the problem is, including attaching screengrabs, and they will respond, if I ask them for further clarification.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#63

Post by fwn »

skinnymuch wrote: post #32
syshum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Firefox is better than Chrome... Mozilla is becoming more and more Google Like as time progresses, where a few years ago I would have believed it would be unthinkable for Mozilla do so something like this to an extension, today I am not so sure I would trust them either

Can you give a few examples of how Mozilla/Firefox have changed? We all know about FF Quantum. Yeah it sucks what happened. Maybe there was an alternative, but any one saying Firefox should’ve just stuck to not being compatible with Chromium extensions is kidding themselves on how badly that would’ve continued hurting Firefox’s market share. The XUL powered extension I’m sure were powerful so the outcry in certain pl…

I'm not the previous commenter, but on Android Mozilla is removing the ability to install extensions from third parties (think GitHub, etc.) and will trim the only left official extension store down to a few extensions. (I think it's below 20 right now.)

An ecosystem where all extensions need to be channelled through one central power broker is pretty much the main requirement to allow them to do what Google is doing in the linked Pushbullet case.

edit: this is all factual, sadly downvotes won't change it.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#64

Post by jtxx »

wlesieutre wrote: post #36
Baeocystin wrote: post #11

Another long-term PushBullet customer here. Anyone at Google who is listening- this kind of behavior kills my desire to continue using your products dead. I need functionality, of the type PushBullet has provided for years, to do my work. The recent nerfing of ublock origin has already had me feeling iffy on things. Behavior like this is simply unacceptable. If you want people to use your services, you need to have s…

Chrome is a trivially easy product to switch off of compared to other Google properties like Gmail and YouTube. Have you tried Firefox recently?

ProtonMail has come a long way as a replacement for Gmail as well. Suuuper happy with them, they're really responsive to feature requests and support inquiries. I requested for an iOS feature to choose browsers so I could open all links from PM in Firefox. They had it implemented in a month or something... it a quick fix but that impressed me. hence me shilling here They recently added ProtonCalendar too.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#65

Post by thatguy0900 »

yorwba wrote: post #22
factsaresacred wrote: post #14

Have been through a similar experience. Developing extensions for Google Chrome is a particular form of masochism. They really don't seem to care. And things took a turn for the worst last December when the approval process went from hours to weeks. Check out the Chrome Google group for a sample of the lost souls who hitched their wagon to the Chrome platform and now cry futilely into the abyss for support: https://g…

This one looks particularly relevant: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chrom... It seems like all extension developers play the same game of guess-and-check to find out which permissions they should remove, and the unlucky ones get banned for trying too often.

When I read something like this I have to assume Google is just trying to kill off extensions, it's such a glaringly obvious problem there's no way any human has seen and okay'd it with good intentions.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#67

Post by mintplant »

skinnymuch wrote: post #32
syshum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Firefox is better than Chrome... Mozilla is becoming more and more Google Like as time progresses, where a few years ago I would have believed it would be unthinkable for Mozilla do so something like this to an extension, today I am not so sure I would trust them either

Can you give a few examples of how Mozilla/Firefox have changed? We all know about FF Quantum. Yeah it sucks what happened. Maybe there was an alternative, but any one saying Firefox should’ve just stuck to not being compatible with Chromium extensions is kidding themselves on how badly that would’ve continued hurting Firefox’s market share. The XUL powered extension I’m sure were powerful so the outcry in certain pl…

FWIW, killing XUL extensions wasn't even really about Chromium compatibility. The changes in the Quantum rearchitecting were going to break everything anyway; the decision was made to move everything onto an add-on system which wouldn't just break again and again with every architectural change (which, yes, did have the benefit of Chromium compatibility).

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#68

Post by jonny_eh »

patwalls wrote: post #18

Chrome extension developer here. Google ripped my Chrome extension off the app store about a month ago. I got a similar cryptic message, and then I scrambled to fix it, like you're doing now. Somehow my extension reappeared the next day. Email me pat [at] trypigeon [dot] co and I can send you some of the things I did that maybe have helped. Tweeting my support as well: https://twitter.com/thepatwalls/status/126063896…

> Email me pat [at] trypigeon [dot] co and I can send you some of the things I did that maybe have helped.

Please post here so everyone else can learn too.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#69

Post by Guzba »

danpalmer wrote: post #53

As much as we can criticise Google's handling of this situation, the fact that the developer was able to reduce permissions from accessing data on _all websites_ down to _their website_, as well as tighten up a few other permissions, shows that Google is correct that the extension is asking for more than it needs. I hope the developer finds another load of permissions they can tighten up, resubmits, and is approved.…

I really did try to call out the benefits that happened when I was told to "give permissions another look". Like all software, needs change and I was able to make a great improvement.

The issue I have is that it's not clear if I'm even addressing the correct issue(s). If I don't make the Correct change, all other changes are irrelevant since they'll never get published.

Re: Let's guess what Google requires in 14 days or they kill our extension

#70

Post by j_koreth »

skinnymuch wrote: post #32
syshum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Firefox is better than Chrome... Mozilla is becoming more and more Google Like as time progresses, where a few years ago I would have believed it would be unthinkable for Mozilla do so something like this to an extension, today I am not so sure I would trust them either

Can you give a few examples of how Mozilla/Firefox have changed? We all know about FF Quantum. Yeah it sucks what happened. Maybe there was an alternative, but any one saying Firefox should’ve just stuck to not being compatible with Chromium extensions is kidding themselves on how badly that would’ve continued hurting Firefox’s market share. The XUL powered extension I’m sure were powerful so the outcry in certain pl…

I don't think the Pocket was owned by Mozilla when they announced their integration. Looking it up, it looks like they bought it 2 years after the initial announcement so I can see it being controversial.
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